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D:Ream is a Northern Irish/English pop rock and dance group. They had a UK No. 1 hit with " Things Can Only Get Better" in 1994. Eight more top 40 hits followed, including " U R the Best Thing" and "
Shoot Me with Your Love "Shoot Me with Your Love" is a song by Northern Irish band D:Ream, released in June 1995 as the first single from their second album, '' World'' (1995). It was.the first of a three-single UK Top 40 run in 1995 for the band and also the highest ...
". They released three albums, two of which reached the UK top five. The group had an all-male line-up which varied in number, but mainly centred on lead singer Peter Cunnah. The live band included keyboard player Brian Cox, who is now a renowned physicist and television presenter; although Cunnah, as the only official member, normally played keyboards (along with all other instruments) on studio recordings.


Early career

D:Ream first came to prominence with the euphoric single " U R the Best Thing" in the summer of 1992, an anthemic piano-house tune which did not chart but thanks to a
Sasha Sacha, Sasha, Sascha, or ''variant'' may refer to: People * Sasha (name), includes list of people with the name and the variants Sascha or Sacha Musicians * Sasha (DJ) (born 1969), born Alexander Coe * Sasha (German singer) (born 1972), born Sas ...
remix was
Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio s ...
's Essential Tune of 1992. "Things Can Only Get Better", released in the spring of 1993, gave the group their first chart success. "U R The Best Thing" was eventually re-released in April 1993 and gave the group their second chart hit. The band were nominated for Best Dance act in the
MTV Europe music awards The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an a ...
in 1994 and for Best Single in the
Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
in 1995. The band's first album, ''D:Ream on Volume 1'', which was promoted for almost two years, produced seven singles ("Star" and "I Like It" came on a joint release as a double A-side). It was the track " Things Can Only Get Better" that gave them UK success and international fame. After they supported
Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead sin ...
on their
tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...
, "Things Can Only Get Better" topped the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, in early 1994. Originally released in early 1993, when the track reached No. 24 in the UK, it was later adopted by the Labour Party as their theme for the 1997 UK General Election, and consequently released for the third time; this time reaching No. 19 on the UK chart. Between 1992 and 1997, the band released two studio albums, ('' D:Ream on Volume 1'' and ''
World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
''), ten different singles (two of which were released three times), and an official
greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...
, ('' The Best of D:Ream''). The group's record label released their first compilation, '' The Best of D:Ream'', in 1997 instead of their third studio album, which remains unreleased. In 2006, a second collection was released, for '' The Platinum Collection'' series. When D:Ream broke through into the charts, the band's main touring line-up consisted of core member Peter Cunnah (vocalist, songwriter), Al Mackenzie (musician), and Cian McCarthy. Other main performers included physicist Brian Cox who played keyboards for several years while working towards his physics
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...
before being replaced by Richard Garbutt, Derek Chai on bass, and drummer Mark Roberts. The group also used a number of guest vocalists – such as
T.J. Davis Teresa Jane Davis (born 8 January 1968), also known by her stage name TJ Davis, is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. She started as a backing vocalist for Gary Numan, D:Ream and Blur, and quickly developed a career of her own. ...
, who is featured as co-lead vocalist on "The Power (Of All the Love in the World)", one of the singles taken from their second album, as well as providing backing vocals on many other songs.


Reunion, and split-up

In 2008 D:Ream reformed after a chance meeting by Cunnah and Mackenzie. They recorded a new album released in 2011 on their own label User Records and their single, "All Things to All Men" was released on 7 September 2009. They also planned concert dates to follow. Meanwhile, Brian Cox became a
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...
professor and science broadcaster and is currently working on the
Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundr ...
project. In late 2010 he announced that he was to provide some keyboard work for the new album, but would not be re-joining the band full-time. As part of their 2012 commitments, the band played main support to
Wheatus Wheatus are an American rock band from Northport, New York, formed in 1995. They are known principally for their 2000 single " Teenage Dirtbag", which appeared in the films ''Loser'' and '' Bully'', as well as the HBO miniseries '' Generation ...
at the LeeStock Music Festival in
Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...
, Suffolk.Sky News report. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012
/ref> On July 23, 2021 Cunnah and Mackenzie released a new studio album “Open Hearts Open Minds” marking their first album since 2011’s “In Memory Of…”.


Discography


Studio albums


Compilations


Extended plays


Singles


See also

*
List of number-one dance hits (United States) This is a list of number-one dance hits as recorded by '' Billboard'' magazine's Dance Club Songs chart – a weekly national survey of popular songs in U.S. dance clubs. It began on October 26, 1974, under the title ''Disco Action'' chart. It i ...
*
List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart This is a list of recording artists who have reached number one on ''Billboard magazine's'' Dance Club Songs chart. ''Billboard'' began ranking dance music on the week ending October 26, 1974, and this is the standard music popularity chart in t ...


References


External links


D:Ream's official website

Discogs Detailed bio-discography with links to all releases
{{DEFAULTSORT:D-Ream Pop music groups from Northern Ireland Electronic music groups from Northern Ireland Musical groups from Derry (city) Musical groups established in 1992 1992 establishments in Northern Ireland Magnet Records artists Sire Records artists