Ian Van Dahl is a Belgian vocal trance and

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 ...

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 the second singer and can be seen in the music video for "Castles in the Sky"; her vocal contribution was limited to live performances only. In 2001, she was replaced by

Annemie Coenen Annemie Anne Francine Coenen (born 14 July 1978) is a Belgian singer and songwriter who was in the duo AnnaGrace (formerly known as Ian Van Dahl). Life Coenen sang in school musical comedies and choral in Antwerp. She joined a dance band at the ...

, who would become front singer of the project.

History

The project's first single was " Castles in the Sky", with lyrics co-written and vocals performed by Martine Theeuwen. The single never became a major hit in Belgium but did very well in the European clubscene. With popularity peaking in party locations like

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

where the single got massive support from DJs 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 ...

and Armin van Buuren. This all led to the record being picked up by Dave Pearce, a

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

DJ, and owner of the English dance label Nulife. Many other countries followed and Castles in the Sky got licensed to over 65 countries with labels like

Robbins Entertainment Robbins Entertainment LLC is an American dance music record label. It is owned by Cory Robbins and has released music by Cascada, such as their hit single " Everytime We Touch". It is also the company responsible for the ''Dance Party Like It's.. ...

in the US and Central Station in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Thanks to the huge amount of radio airplay and DJ support, Castles in the Sky became a big hit in many countries around the world. Reaching No.3 on the UK Singles Chart while also spending seven weeks in the top 10 in the summer of 2001. The single had also managed to crossover onto the American Charts and reached the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

where it peaked at No.91. In 2021, 20 years after the original release, "Castles in the Sky" reached platinum status in the United Kingdom with sales surpassing 600,000 copies. The follow-up singles, recorded with

, became major hits on the UK singles charts as well. The single " Will I?" peaked at No.5, "Reason" at No.8 and "Try" at No.15. The ''Ace'' album reached No.7 in the UK where it achieved Gold status. Ace is an acronym for Annemie, Christophe and Erik, the first names of the 3 group members. The single Castles in the Sky was the biggest-selling dance single of the year in the UK. The album Ace became the biggest-selling dance album of the year in the UK. A unique achievement for a Belgian band. In 2004, recordings of the second album '' Lost & Found'' began with Belgian producers Peter Luts and David Vervoort joining Christophe Chantzis and Erik Vanspauwen for the production of this album. The album singles "I Can't Let You Go", "Believe", "Where Are You Now?" and "Inspiration" were all successful, but failed to match the massive commercial sales of the previous singles from the first album. Two final singles, "Movin On" and "Just a Girl", were released in 2005 and 2006. In 2008 Annemie Coenen decided to leave Ian Van Dahl and start her own solo project,

AnnaGrace AnnaGrace was a Belgian progressive house, electro house, and deep house music project fronted by Belgian singer Annemie Coenen and produced by DJ and record producer Peter Luts. The project first achieved success in 2008 with the hit singles " ...

. Christophe Chantzis, founder of the group and writer of the hits, is still touring the world performing as a DJ under the Ian Van Dahl banner.Ian Van Dahl tour dates
''Ents24''. Retrieved 1 June 2024.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ian Van Dahl Belgian Eurodance groups Robbins Entertainment artists Belgian trance music groups Belgian musical duos Male–female musical duos Electronic dance music duos English-language musical groups from Belgium Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Female-fronted musical groups