Captain Jack is an American-German

Eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...

and

dance-rock Dance-rock is a dance- infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and dis ...

project formed in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

in 1995. The project is best known for its single " Captain Jack", which reached the top 10 in many countries in Europe.

History and career

1995: Career beginnings

The original group consisted of Sharky Durban and Liza da Costa. They recorded the songs "Dam, Dam, Dam" and " Captain Jack". The latter is the only song featured on the band's debut album ''The Mission''.

1995–1998: Second lineup, ''The Mission'' and ''Operation Dance''

Sharky left the group and was replaced by Francisco Gutierrez alias Franky Gee. Gutierrez and Liza da Costa released the albums ''The Mission'' and ''Operation Dance'' and the singles "Drill Instructor" and "Holiday" before Liza da Costa left in December 1998, forming a jazz band called Hotel Bossa Nova in 2005.

1999–2000: Third lineup and ''The Captain's Revenge''

Liza da Costa was replaced by the singer Maria Lucia Lozanes who went by the stage name Maloy. In this formation they released one album, called ''The Captain's Revenge'', and the three singles: "Dream a Dream", "Get Up" with the

Gipsy Kings Gipsy Kings (originally Los Reyes) are a musical group founded in 1979 in Arles, France. The band, whose members have Catalans, Catalan heritage, play a blend of Catalan rumba, flamenco, Salsa music, salsa, and Pop music, pop. They perform mos ...

, and "Only You" before Maloy left in November 2000.

2001–2005: Fourth and fifth lineups, Franky Gee's death and hiatus

Maloy was replaced by Ilka Anna Antonia Traue, alias Illi Love, who stayed until 2005. In this formation they released the five albums ''Top Secret'', ''Party Warriors'', ''Cafe Cubar'', ''Music Instructor'' and their first "Greatest Hits" totaling eleven single up to the release of "Capitano", which by this point Illi Love was replaced by Sabine Repas. Soon after, Franky suffered a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

while walking with his son in Spain on 17 October 2005. Doctors predicted that the damage was fatal, and Franky Gee died at the age of 43 on Saturday 22 October 2005, after spending five days in a coma. The producers paused the project.

2008–2009: Reunion, new lineup, and ''Captain Jack is Back''

The Captain Jack name was revived in summer of 2008 with Bruce Lacy and singer Jamie Lee. The new lineup's first single, "Turkish Bazar", released on 18 September 2008, was of the

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

and

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

genres, dropping the original lineup's

eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...

roots. It was followed by the album "Captain Jack is Back", released on 17 October 2008, and two more singles "Push It Up" and "We Will Rock You" before Captain Jack and Jamie Lee parted ways.

2010–present: Seventh lineup, ''Back to the Dancefloor'', and Illi Love's return

In 2010 Laura Martin, participant of the fourth installment of ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', the German version of

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

, and the first season of ''The Voice of Germany'', joined Bruce Lacy and replaced Jamie Lee. They released the album ''Back to the Dancefloor'' in April 2011, which featured Captain Jack classics in new DJ remixes with new songs. The album was followed by three singles "Crank It Up/Deutschland schieß ein Tor", "People Like to Party" and "How Does It Feel". In the end of 2012 Laura left the band to focus in her solo career. Michelle Stanley replaced her, and toured with Bruce Lacy until 2020. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Bruce Lacy continued to appear as a featured artist on a number of tracks, credited as Captain Jack. In 2021, he released "Summersun", a collaboration with former Mr. President member LayZee and Illi Love, one of the vocalists from Franky Gee's era.

Musical style

Captain Jack's music was stylized as a form of military training mixed with Europop, dance-rock and dance pop music. They were musically influenced by the eurodance genre that was popular in Europe, Oceania, and South America in the 1990s. The style of eurodance was dance music with a female singer and a male rapper to follow a traditional verse-chorus structure. Captain Jack are best known for dance tracks like "Captain Jack", "Drill Instructor" or "Little Boy", although they also made slower tracks such as "Back Home", "7 Days" and "I Feel" that strayed from the europop genre. There are also some

Ace of Base Ace of Base is a Swedish pop group formed in 1987, originally consisting of siblings Jonas, Linn, and Jenny Berggren, with Ulf Ekberg. They achieved worldwide success following the release of their debut album, '' Happy Nation'', in 1992. L ...

influenced reggae pop songs like "Soldier, Soldier" on their early albums. Captain Jack covered numerous songs such as

A-ha A-ha (often stylised as ''a''-h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ros ...

's "Take On Me",

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

's "Another One Bites the Dust" or

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

's "Holiday". They also sampled classical elements like

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

's "

In the Hall of the Mountain King "In the Hall of the Mountain King" () is a piece of orchestral music composed by Edvard Grieg in 1875 as incidental music for the sixth scene of act 2 in Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play ''Peer Gynt''. It was originally part of Opus 23 but was later ex ...

" in their dance song "Dream a Dream" or Johann Pachabel's "Canon in D major" in their ballad "Children". During the early 2000s Captain Jack changed their musical style from eurodance pop to summer vibe tunes, following the styles of the previous single releases "Soldier, Soldier" and "Holiday". They covered numerous well-known famous summer songs, such as

Chico Buarque Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque (), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, econom ...

's "A Banda" (in their version, "Get Up"),

Captain Sensible Raymond Ian Burns (born 24 April 1954), known by the stage name Captain Sensible, is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He co-founded the punk rock band the Damned in 1976, originally playing bass before switching to guitar. He is kn ...

's "Say Captain, Say Wot", Huey Smith & His Clowns's "Don't You Just Know It (Don't Ha Ha)" or

KC and the Sunshine Band KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits " Get Down Tonight", " That's the Way (I Like It)", "⁠ (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", ...

's "Give It Up". They continued that style til the band's hiatus in 2005. In 2008 Captain Jack returned with the song "Turkish Bazar".

Other endeavours

Fans of the

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...

'' know them from the numerous songs that, through the

Dancemania ''Dancemania'' is a series of remix compilation albums by i-DANCE. The series deals primarily with dance music, especially Eurodance. Despite many of its tracks being made by various musicians from all over the world and mainly from the European ...

series of albums, have been used in the game series. The group's music was also featured in other

music games such as ''

beatmania (styled as ''beatmania'') is a rhythm video game developed and distributed by Japanese game developer Konami and first released in December 1997. It contributed largely to the boom of music games in 1998, and the series expanded not only w ...

'' and '' Dance Maniax''.Captain Jack Franky Gee , Mallorca TV Teleweb
Their songs "Children" and "Children Need a Helping Hand", collaborations with Hand in Children e.V., a supergroup charity collective, were released in 1996 and 1997.

Members

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Video games

Captain Jack has a total of 12 songs which appear in the ''

'' arcade series. The band's premiere appearance was in the home release of '' Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix'', with three songs that were also featured in the arcade release of ''Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix''. This included a remix the band's signature song, " Captain Jack (Grandale Remix)", which appeared in a total of eight arcade releases. Additionally, two Captain Jack songs are available in the ''

StepManiaX ''StepManiaX'' (abbreviated ''SMX'' and pronounced "Step Maniacs") is a rhythm game developed and published by Step Revolution, a studio formed by former developers of In the Groove (video game series), ''In the Groove'', ''ReRave'', and Pump ...

'' arcade game. "Dream a Dream ~Cheeky Trax UK Remix~" is available on all versions, while "My Generation (Fat Beat Mix)" requires a free online update released on 20 December 2020.

References

External links

Official Captain Jack WebsiteOfficial YouTube ChannelUpcoming GigsRussian Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Captain Jack German musical duos German Eurodance groups Video game musicians English-language singers from Germany English-language musical groups from Germany Musical groups established in 1995 Musical groups disestablished in 2005 Musical groups reestablished in 2008