Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This- The Sunday Mail 4/8/96 Neil Melloy

Ther are some dolphins down Texas way which are probably wondering  
where daily musical performances have gone.
While the rest of us shell out good bucks for the latest Top 10 dance tunes by
La Bouche, the dolphins at Texas Seaworld were once getting free shows.
D. lane McCray Jr, one half of the of the German dance sensation 
( who had a huge hit with Sweet Dreams), was once a singer at Seaworld.
Both Lane and Melanie Thornton are American, even though they base
their musical career in Germany.
Lane, 34, who lives in Luxumbourg, said part of his early musical 
career was working at the aquatic tourist attraction.
"I've practised and performed out at Seaworld of Texas  as a principal
vocalist," he said. "Personally, I've been singing since I was in church."
But it was as a member of the US Air Force that brought Lane to 
Germany after being stationed in Alaska.
Proir to the Air Force, he had worked as a singer in musical theatre
and television commercials in San Antonio. Despite joining the armed 
forces he was able to maintain his music.
"When I was in the Air Force I was in the singing unit for five years."
he said.
At the same time, Mel was singing across America in cover bands and 
thenwent to Europe to continue her singing.
Mel and Lane had been working together in a band for just a few weeks
when they linked up with some top producers to form La Bouche.
" And then, BOOM, it happened," Lane said of their instant success. 
"Actually,the La Bouche project took off really quick and it does 
seem overnight to  a lot of people. But individually, Melanie and 
myself  both have been working insome facet of the business, for a lot
of years now."
The success of Sweet Dreams, has been worldwide but Lane said he had 
been a little frightened of returning home to the US to perform.
"Actually, I was a little bit apprehensive about going to the States 
with the music because so many people have tried and failed," he said.
As expected their welcome home went beautifully.
"To be home was a good feeling," Lane told TV Scene.

Sweet Dreams Of Oz- TV Hits August 1996. By John Karpathakis

They've Eurodanced their way into our charts with "Be My Lover" and "Sweet
Dreams" and they even popped into Oz recently. It can only be Melanie and
Lane from La Bouche!

How has Australia lived up to what you've heard about it?
Melanie: Well, I guess we came at the wrong time of year, so it's not as hot as we've
heard it could be! At least we haven't  seen any rain!

What else did you know about us?
Melanie: Not a whole lot! OK, you hear about the kangaroos, and the koala bears,
which you can only find in Australia.

In "Sweet Dreams", you sing "Ola ola ay" ...just like  The Real McCoy did last
year in "Love And Devotion". So what's the story there?
Melanie: Actually, "Sweet Dreams" was recorded first, about two years ago, even
though theirs was popular here first. That phrase, "Ola ola ay" came from an older
song, I don't remember which. It was something I did in the studio when we were
doing "Sweet Dreams", and it came to mind, so I sang it. The producers were like,
"Put that in! Do that again."

Did the Real McCoy say, "Yeah we heard it from you song and we did it as
well?"
Melanie: Well they say that is not the way it happened. They say it was just a
coincidence, but it's kinda close for a coincidence. People think we copied them, but
we were first. Check the label dates! (laughs)

When people see you on the street, do they sing, "La da da dee da da da da"?
Melanie: Yeah, I've had that happen a lot.

Do you start singing back?
Melanie: No, no! (laughs) I don't acknowledge it. Well, I'll smile to let them know that
I recognise their appreciation for the song or that they recognise me. But no, I
wouldn't bring much attention to it because it might cause other people to notice, then
you might have problems with people saying, "Can we have your autograph?" while
you're trying to eat!

In "Be My Lover", Lane raps the phrase: Like Boyz II Men, I'm on bended
knee." Have they thanked you for that?
Lane: Yeah it is an unusual phrase, isn't it? But no, they have not. They are probably a
little beyond us at this time! They have, like, multi-platinum selling albums.

Do people think you two are an item?
Melanie: All the time. Always. But no, we're not. People are like, "Come on, tell us
your secret, come on!"
Lane: Actually it's not so much lately. When we first started out, it was a real common
question. "Are they? Or aren't they?"
Melanie: We would tell them no. We're just good friends.

La Bouche means "the mouth" in French. What the name? Does one of you have
a really big mouth or something?
Melanie: It was a joke! It was a joke! I was singing in the studio and I was opening my
mouth really wide when I was singing, trying to sing my heart out. The producers were
making fun of me, saying, ""We should call it The Mouth since you have such a big
mouth." And I'm like, "ha, ha very funny, I don't think so." Then Frank, one of our
producers, says "OK, what about La Bouche? That's French for the mouth." I thought
he was still joking, but we liked it.

How do people mispronounce it?
Melanie: Oh we get L.A. Bouche...
Lane: La Boochie, La Bowch...
Melanie: La Bouchay, La Botch... One time, we were even introduced as La Douche!

How do Aussies say it?
Melanie: La Bush. But the correct pronunciation is "La Booch".

Was it weird coming from America and cracking the world with Eurodance
music?
Melanie: Yeah it was kind of strange, but we didn't start off that way. I mean, I didn't
star recording until I went to Germany, so it wasn't like we tried America, couldn't
make it and decided to go to Germany.
Lane: We didn't even know each other!
Melanie: Yeah, so neither of us was even recording. I was singing with a cover band in
the States, but I wasn't meeting anyone. I was just an employee, basically, with this
band and that's why I decided to move to Germany.
Lane: What actually is pretty cool was once we got there and started making it, we
were calling back home saying "Hey guys, guess what? We're on TV, and we're on the
cover of this magazine..."
Melanie: And they're all like, "Really?! Wow!" They didn't really believe us.

OK, time for some song-title fun! What's a "sweet dream" you've had lately?
Melanie: I don't really have time for dreams! (laughs) I mean, as soon as I go to bed,
I'm in, like, a deep, coma-like sleep 'cause I've been working all day. I don't remember
any dreams. My dreams are normally stupid anyway! Like, I'm running from someone
and they change into someone else. It's stupid I know!

Has anyone ever tried to pick you up at a night-club with the words, "Hey babe,
won't ya be my lover?"
Melanie: No, no. Rarely have I gone to a club, you know, since I started singing in
clubs. It's the last thing I want to do. Or if I am, I'm with a guy, and nobody is going to
come up to me- and my guys are normally BIG guys! (laughs)

Do you "love to love"?
Melanie: Oh yeah. Simple as that! Love makes the world go around.

Techno and Dance instead of Cruise
 Missiles: La Bouche play for American
 soldiers at Persian Gulf 

Copyright 1998 Berlin Morning Mail  By Stefan Meyer 

 Their current album carries the title "
A Moment Of Love ", their over-
multicolored video turns around love
of all generations, but the next "
Mission Impossible " will lead the
euro Techno project La Bouche into at
present a not at all lovely area: Persian
Gulf. In co-operation with in
Washington settled organization "
United service organization " to
maintain, which worries about the
appearances of artists in crisis areas,
Melanie Thornton, the singer, and Lane
McCray, the rapper , to which next
days to the crisis area fly, in order on
three aircraft carriers and in U.S.
Camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia the
American soldiers with Shows, for
which also Hillary Clinton announced
itself. 

 Art with the military, that is not new.
Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich,
Greta Garbo before-made, also it for
Bob Hope or William Strienz ("
homeland, your asterisks "). Which
sense and purpose, which moral behind
such a venture puts, are not thereby
however yet answered. That sees Lane
McCray quite differently: " Natural am
I also for the peace. The current danger
may be banished, but the situation
remains risky, so long the moved
Sadam Hussein makes so further. " 

 What do La Bouche want particularly
to arrange by such internal messages
for their young fans? " We have only a
short time on earth ", say Lane and
continued: " Therefore it we must
return also something and be able to
do not always only something of others 

Umm, I got this off MTV.com or something. Heh. :-)

LaBOUCHE
S.O.S.
(BMG) 

"Sure to escalate their posture from a dominant
dance force into a mainstream pop mainstay," says
the PR release accompanying this German duo's
long-overdue second US CD. Dance-music fans
know this scam all too well: the first CD has fiery,
lurid, over-the-top music so fast and metallic it
scares your ears off and arouses lots of
controversy. Then comes the second CD: tempos
slow down, melodies get polish, the group quote
hooks from previous pop songs.

As always with LaBOUCHE, the ballads lack drama.
As for the covers: do we really need to hear
LaBOUCHE render Lime's 1984 tender-voiced cult
classic "Unexpected Lovers" in their own
inappropriately screaming style? Or listen in
"S.O.S." to a false replay of Rhetta Hughes's
"Sending Out an S.O.S.," a 1975 disco secret? Only
in the lushly dreamy "Whenever You Want" and
"Sweet Little Persuader" and in the gothically
Latinized "Bolingo" do Lane McCray, Melanie
Thornton, and their German studio cohort offer the
dangerous lusts and spacy idealism that made
LaBOUCHE 's first CD Eurodisco's best ever. 
-- Michael Freedberg

La Bouche's Come-Back 

"I think it's important for the public to know that we can do a bit more than just hooks and dance
music. And hopefully they'll embrace it because it's a great song" -La Bouche 

It's been three years since La Bouche exploded on the international musical landscape with its
hit-laden debut album Sweet Dreams. Since then, male/female duo comprised of American singers
Melanie Thornton and Lane McCray, watched Sweet Dreams reach multi-platinum and gold status
in fifteen countries, including the US, Germany, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Brazil, Switzerland, and
Canada. Additionally, the album yielded two top ten hits on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart with
"Be My Lover" and the title track "Sweet Dreams". Now, it's the critical sophomore slump. They
have to re-initiate themselves in musicland. Now, after having been around the world more than once
(thanks to a non-stop touring schedule), La Bouche has finally completed its second album for RCA
Records. A dazzling showcase for the duo's Euro/pop/dance sound, "SOS" finds La Bouche, once
again, creating some great dance music. Recorded in Miami and Frankfurt, Germany, "SOS" is a
decidedly more mature album. both lyrically and musically. While the majority of the fourteen tracks
on "SOS" pound that familiar eurodance beat, a few tracks showcase the depth and diversity of La
Bouche. 

"A Moment of Love" is a dramatic pop ballad; "Sweet Little Persuader" finds the duo offering
contemporary pop with a touch of the 60's; "Bolingo" boasts an appealing, funky Latin vibe;
"Unexpected Lovers" is a faithful remake of the Lime classic; and "I Can't Stand The Rain" finds the
duo injecting new life into a soul standard. The first single, "You Won't Forget Me", is signature La
Bouche - classic Eurodance, 1998 style. Of the fourteen songs on "SOS", four were co-written by
Melanie and Lane; "SOS", "Whenever You Want", "Say It With Love", and "You Won't Forget
Me". 

With this album, La Bouche firmly established itself as an influential pop act with universal appeal.
Fortunately for all of us, they haven't forgotten where they came from... 

They live in a split between two countries. They both have apartments in Germany, so they have a
place to stay rather than a hotel, but Mel is now living in the greater Metropolitan Atlanta area. Lane
is in the Lone Star State in San Antonio. Prior to the record coming out, they were mostly in Europe
because they still had some obligations over there.. finishing up some videos. They had some twenty
six tracks that they did and they whittled those down to the thirteen tracks that they thought were
representable of how they've developed over the last few years. It took some time because they
were doing the album while they were still doing gigs. Their label mates, "No Mercy" brought
"Unexpected Lovers" to them, which was a remake of a song by Lime. Lane said if he could cover
an album it would probably be Rick James and Teena Marie's "Fire and Desire". Mel said she's
always loved Rose Royce ("Wishing on a Star"). Their hope is to express their diversity and they
have come a long way. 

La Bouche Interview on Club DC with Bryan Davis

Transcript by Jessica Hodgins. 

Bryan Davis: Now Lane, when you first met Melanie, did you immediately,
 and the band, did you immediately have a good feeling about it?

Lane McCray: Actually, I had a really good feeling talking to Melanie
on the phone, before I met her face-to-face. Um, and it's like, well
the story goes- this guy gave me her phone number to call her about 
the band gig....

Bryan Davis: Oh, of course....

Lane McCray: And, heh heh heh, so I called her and we spoke on the 
phone, you know, and we talked about, you know, when we could meet get
together, rehearse, blah blah blah, and um, I went over to her house 
in, I guess in the next couple of days, to pick her up, and she stood 
there a bit shocked. She thought I was....well...not black!  
 So, so that was kinda funny, but um, it was a good chemistry, 
you know. I was looking for something to do, you know, with my energy, 
with my talents, you know. I was kind spinning my wheels and this was 
a wonderful opportunity to work with a great group of musicians and I 
was in heaven and getting paid a little money for it was nice.

Bryan Davis: Now you were in Germany because you were stationed there 
with the Air Force, but you [Melanie] went there voluntarily to live 
with your sister.

Melanie Thornton: I was in a band in the states ???? Georgia, and it 
got to a point where I wasn't growing anymore with the band, I was at 
a standstill, and I needed a new direction, and my sister gave me that
opportunity. Actually she wanted me to come over earlier, but I said 
no no no, I'm fine here. And then she said 'Come on Mel, come to Europe 
while we're still here'. Um, her husbands uncle had also been doing 
the entertainment scene, he's a piano bar, uh, entertainer, and he had 
heard me on a tape and he said if I ever to Germany he could find me 
work. And that was the direction, you know, something new to do, to 
experiment with. And I said 'Ok hey why not!?', you know, now I feel 
like I need a change and it turned out to be the best move I ever made 
in my life.

Bryan Davis: What is it really like to be on the road? Do you enjoy it?
Does it get really hard at time? It's worth it but....

Lane McCray: Um....Life on the road is no picnic. It's a 
lot of work, it's a lot of waiting, it's a lot of hurry up and wait. 
You know, it's a lot of 'I'm hungry'- 'You can't eat now'. There's a 
lot of um....

Melanie Thornton: A lot of stress.

Lane McCray: A lot of stress. There are a lot of people to deal with,
from the record companies, to the tour managers, to agents, to promoters, 
to whatever you know. So it's not as glamorous as people think. The 
few minutes of fame come when we're on the stage for 30 minutes, then 
it's back to 'Who were you?'

Melanie Thornton: I would have to say the good far out-weighs the bad. 
Sometimes it's a close, you know, balance, but most of the time the 
good far out-weighs the bad.

Bryan Davis: Do you ever feel like giving up? Or do you ever feel like 
this is not what I want to be doing anymore?

Melanie Thornton: I never feel this is not what I want. I do feel like 
not doing something I'm supposed to be doing.

Bryan Davis: Like all of us, right?

Melanie Thornton: Yeh, yeh, um....

Lane McCray: Like when you get off an international flight, and go 
straight into a show after that flight. Um, I don't think it's that 
bad coming to the US, but going back to Europe and arriving the next 
day, and you jump right into a car and drive 3 or 4 hours, do a sound 
check, and then have a couple of hours to get ready to do the show, 
and be perked and perky  and full of life, you know....

Bryan Davis: Enthusiastic.

Lane McCray: Because the people don't know what you've been through, 
so it's like every show is like opening night, and every show is the 
first those people there and we try to give them that.

I hope you liked reading it as much as I enjoyed typing it- JH