Absolom was a Belgian dance project produced by Christophe Chantzis and DJ Jimmy Goldschmitz. The group was popular in Europe by the end of the 1990s. For remixer and main-producer Chantzis the project was his first major effort in the Belgian dance scene. Vocals were done by Pascale Feront who gained some attention by entering the final of The Soundmix Show. A live-act was put together, consisting of singer Pascal Feront, two professional female dancers (Cindy and Ellen) and Christophe Chantzis on keyboard. He also supplied the additional vocals on some singles. Christophe Chantzis produced several remixes under the Absolom project name for artists like

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( , ), is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He was voted "The Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix (magazine), Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, h ...

, Fiocco, Zohra,

Praga Khan Maurice Joseph François Engelen (born 7 January 1959), known by his stage name Praga Khan, is a Belgian electronic musician. Khan is considered one of the leading pioneers of the new beat/acid house/techno electronic dance music scene that origi ...

, DJ Visage, Future Breez and

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”Secret”

The debut single “Secret” was Absolom's most successful single. The B-side, the more trance-based track “Baby Boomers”, was also very popular. The 12” release of “Secret” topped the Belgian and Spanish Dance Charts by the end of

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. A few weeks later the CD-single reached the top 10 in both countries. Several other countries followed in 1998 and Absolom was signed in France, Italy, UK, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Israel and South-Africa. “Secret” was later on remixed by famous DJ's as Quicksilver and

Vincent De Moor Vincent de Moor (; born 1973) is a former Dutch trance artist. He is most notable for his work with the record producer Ferry Corsten under the working title, " Veracocha," and for his 2001 single, "Fly Away". Musical career Early career De Mo ...

. In Belgium they were signed by Antler Subway, the record label with other (inter)national Eurodance acts like

Milk Inc Milk Inc. is a dance music group that formed in the commercial dance scene in Belgium in 1996. The discography of the group includes a total of seven studio albums and 41 singles. History The group started out as "Milk Incorporated" ("La Vac ...

, Fiocco, Jessy,

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and

Ian Van Dahl Ian Van Dahl is a Belgian vocal trance and Eurodance music project created by Christophe Chantzis and Erik Vanspauwen, with first singer Martine Theeuwen (aka Marsha), who also co-wrote and sang the song " Castles in the Sky". Cindy Mertens was ...

. At the same time Christophe Chantzis became involved with

Astroline Astroline were a Belgian Eurodance project by DJ/producer Bart Smolders, Christophe Chantzis (Absolom, Ian Van Dahl) and Stefan Wuyts (DJ Jimmy Goldschmitz & Heliac), who were together from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. They are best known for ...

, another Belgian dance project.

Other singles

After the successful debut single, both producers worked on a follow-up single. In October 1998 they came up with “Where?”, a song that only reached to #21 in the Belgian charts. One year later a third single was released. “The Air” peaked at No. 16, the second highest position since "Secrets". By the time Jimmy Goldschmitz was no longer credited as producer, Absolom returned with one more single called “Stars” in August 2000, but the song failed to chart in Belgium and the rest of Europe. In 2001 the

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

–based house/trance label Xtreme Records signed Absolom for “Stars”. After its release in the US the single spent several weeks on the dance charts. In January 2002 the CD-single was released.

Split

By the end of 2000 an album was announced but never released. Instead Christophe Chantzis decided to stop recording songs in 2001 as Absolom after the disappointed European release of “Stars”. He moved on to another successful project and joined the team behind international dance group

. Jimmy Goldschmitz became a resident DJ in Belgian clubs like Bar-a-Bar. Singer Pascale Feront went solo and released an album called ‘Real Life” in 2002. Dancer Ellen moved to

Discography

Singles

References

External links

Absolom
on EuroDanceHits.com – US based website devoted to European dance music
List of releases
from the online music database

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

Jimmy Goldschmitz
official website {{Authority control Belgian trance music groups Belgian Eurodance groups Belgian dance music groups English-language musical groups from Belgium Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups disestablished in 2001