S'Express (pronounced ''ess-express''; sometimes spelled S'Xpress or S-Express) was a British dance music act from the late 1980s, who had one of the earliest commercial successes in the

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

genre. "

Theme from S'Express "Theme from S-Express" is an acid house song by British electronic dance music group S'Express, from their debut studio album, ''Original Soundtrack'' (1989), written and produced by Mark Moore and Pascal Gabriel. One of the landmarks of early ac ...

", which contained elements from

Rose Royce Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B group. They are best known for several hit singles during the 1970s including " Car Wash", " I Wanna Get Next to You", " I'm Going Down", " Wishing on a Star", and " Love Don't Live Here Anymore". Career ...

's "

Is It Love You're After "Is It Love You're After?" is a 1979 song by Rose Royce from the 1979 album ''Rainbow Connection IV'', which was the last album with lead singer Gwen Dickey before she left to embark on a solo career. It was also the band's fourth highest-chartin ...

", was one of the earliest recordings to capitalize on the emergence of sampling culture. The song went to number one in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in April 1988. It made the

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart in the US (also scraping into the U.S. '' Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 91). In 2016

Mark Moore Mark Moore (born 12 January 1965) is a British dance music record producer and DJ. He was founder of dance/ sampling pioneers S'Express, and runs the London nightclubs Electrogogo, and Can Can. Biography Moore began his DJ career in 1983 play ...

released a remix album called Enjoy This Trip which retooled S’Express’s music for the 21st century through working with guests such as Punks Jump Up and

Chris & Cosey Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter (electronics) and Cosey Fanni Tutti (voice, electronics, guitar, cornet), both previously (and as of 2020 the sole surviving) ...

Biography

The main player in the act was

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

and producer

. In 1989, the group released its debut album, ''

Original Soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured ...

'', which featured a line-up of Moore,

Pascal Gabriel Pascal Gabriel (born 15 December 1956) is a Belgian-born musician based in London, England and Provence, France. Background Pascal Gabriel's musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors (bass guitar). He left Belgium for Lo ...

, Jocasta, Mark D, Linda Love, and Michellé. The album consisted of slightly longer versions of S-Express's "Theme", its follow-up hits "

Superfly Guy "Superfly Guy" is a song by British dance music act S'Express, released as the second single from their debut album, ''Original Soundtrack'' (1988). The song was a hit on the charts in Europe and reached number five on the UK singles charts in ...

" (UK No. 5) and a cover version of

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

's "Hey Music Lover" (UK No. 6; its b-side was remixed by minimalist composer

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

). By the release of the second album ''Intercourse'', the act was reduced to a duo of Moore with new vocalist and DJ Sonique. Although not as successful as its debut, ''Intercourse'' spawned several mid-charting UK singles and club hits, including "Nothing to Lose", co-written with

Martin Gordon Martin Gordon (born 3 May 1954) is an English musician who plays bass guitar, double bass, and piano. After a long period as band member and session musician, he embarked on a solo career in 2004. His most recent album release was in 2024. Bi ...

, as were several other tunes on the record. Sonique, already a successful DJ, eventually embarked on a solo career and produced one of the biggest club hits of the late 1990s ("

It Feels So Good "It Feels So Good" is a song by British singer Sonique from her album '' Hear My Cry''. It was originally released on 9 November 1998 and peaked at number 24 on the UK Singles Chart. In May 2000, in the wake of the song's success in the Unite ...

"). Moore went on to release many singles, remixes and albums on his own and also formed the band Needledust.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

EPs

Singles

Notes

References

External links

Mark Moore's official website

Sonique

Mark Moore/S'Express Facebook

Mark Moore's Twitter

Discogs: S'Express

S'Express at WorldMusicDatabase
{{DEFAULTSORT:SExpress English house music groups English electronic music groups English dance music groups Acid house groups Sire Records artists Capitol Records artists Musical groups established in 1988 Electronic music groups from London Kitsuné Musique artists Rhythm King artists