Mai Tai is a Dutch

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

(named after the tropical cocktail

Mai Tai The Mai Tai ( ) is a cocktail made of rum, Curaçao liqueur, orgeat syrup, and lime juice. It is one of the characteristic cocktails in Tiki culture. History Victor J. Bergeron claimed to have invented the Mai Tai in 1944 at his restaurant, ...

) that was formed in 1983 by the Dutch

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Eric van Tijn Eric Job van Tijn (born 2 November 1956, in Amsterdam) is a Dutch music producer and judge on the Dutch versions of the music competitions '' Idols'' and ''X Factor''. He comes from a musical family. His parents Eli and Lena van Tijn founded ' ...

and

Jochem Fluitsma Jochem Fluitsma (; born 1 June 1958 in Amsterdam, Netherlands), is a Dutch music producer and musician. With Eric van Tijn, he is also part of the musical writing duo Fluitsma & Van Tijn. He has written songs for The Scene, Guus Meeuwis & Vagan ...

with three former

backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

s Jetty Weels, Mildred Douglas and Caroline de Windt.

Career

1984–1988; classic line-up

Their debut

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "Keep on Dancin'" (1983) was only a

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

in the Dutch

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

s. In the summer of 1984, they released a second single, "What Goes On". It became their first hit in the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

, peaking at No. 24. Following up tracks "Body and Soul" and "Am I Losing You Forever" also hit the

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

, peaking at No. 23 and 24 in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In 1984, they released their debut album, which won a Dutch

Edison Award The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed by ...

and a Silver Harp. Their international breakthrough came with "History" from the debut album. This song was successful all over

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and became a No. 8 hit in the UK Singles Chart and reached the top 30 in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It was also a top ten hit in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and entered the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

chart, peaking at No. 3 in 1985. "Body and Soul" was re-released in the UK in 1985 and became their second UK top 10 hit, peaking at No. 9. "Am I Losing You Forever" was also re-released, but it only peaked at No. 78. In 1986, their song "Female Intuition" became a top 40 hit in both the Netherlands and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It would also peak at No. 71 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States. The follow-up single, "Turn Your Love Around" from the second album, ''1 Touch 2 Much'', peaked at No. 12 in the Dutch Top 40. In 1987, Mai Tai released their third album, ''Cool Is the Rule'', with the singles "Bet That's What You Say" and "Fight Fire with Fire", which were only modestly successful. After releasing one last single, "Dance in the Light", and a ''Best Of'' compilation in 1988, the group broke up. Jetty Weels released a few solo singles in 1989 and 1990 under the name Oscare. Mildred Douglas released a solo album, "Face One", in 1990; she went on to collaborate with other artists including her guitarist brother Franky and the supergroup J.A.M. with

Angela Groothuizen Angela Groothuizen (born 28 September 1959) is a Dutch singer and television personality. Her initial fame came as a member of the Dolly Dots. Biography Angela Groothuizen was born in Alkmaar, and has four brothers and sisters. She joined the ...

and Julya Lo'ko.

1993–present; reformations

In 1993, Weels and de Windt re-teamed with new member Lisa Noya (niece of the acclaimed percussionist

Nippy Noya Nippy Noya (born 27 February 1946) is an Indonesian, Netherlands-based percussionist and songwriter, specialising in congas, kalimba, bongos, campana, güiro, cabasa, shekere, caxixi, triangle and the berimbau. History Son of Japanese Taiko d ...

). Over the next three years they released several moderately successful Eurohouse singles. From 2001 onwards, Mai Tai occasionally reformed for various performances. Douglas appeared at selected dates and was replaced in 2004 by Marjorie Lammerts (later known as B-Yentl). This line-up participated in the Dutch heat of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

and made it to the semi-finals. Nevertheless, as a result of this exposure they recorded and released several singles, both in English and Dutch, over the next couple of years, as well as the album ''Onder Voorbehoud'' in 2007. They also released a new version of

the Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...

' song "

Automatic Automatic may refer to: Music Bands * Automatic (Australian band), Australian rock band * Automatic (American band), American rock band * The Automatic, a Welsh alternative rock band Albums * ''Automatic'' (Jack Bruce album), a 1983 el ...

". Despite the success of the singles they split up. In 2010, Weels re-recorded and released a remix of "Body and Soul" and enlisted two new members, Maureen Pengel and Edna Proctor. They premiered this line-up in 2011 at the Disco legends Festival. The song "History" was featured in the video game ''

Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's ''Grand Theft Auto: San And ...

'' (2008), on the radio station Vice City FM. Since the return of singer Carolien De Windt, the group consists of two original singers joined by Eve L'Kay together they released "Baby I Want You Back" and "One Night Man".

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

* ''The Best of Mai Tai'' (1988) * ''The Very Best of Mai Tai'' (1991)

Singles

References

External links

Mai Tai's official site

Discography
at

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 ...

. {{Authority control Dutch dance music groups Dutch all-female bands Dutch girl groups English-language musical groups from the Netherlands Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups disestablished in 1988 Musical groups established in 1993 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups established in 2004 Dutch disco groups