A Touch of Class (group)

A Touch of Class (often shortened in initials as ATC) were an international Eurodance group based in Germany. The pop group was active from 1997 and their most successful release was "Around the World (La La La La La)", released in 2000. The group disbanded at the end of 2003.

The original members of ATC each came from different countries^[1]—Joseph "Joey" Murray from New Zealand, Sarah Egglestone from Australia, Livio Salvi from Italy, and Tracey Elizabeth Packham from England. The four met together in Hamburg, Germany as cast members of the international Broadway theatre German production of the stage musical Cats from October 1997 to April 1998.^[2] Egglestone played Bombalurina, Salvi played Mungojerrie, Packham played Syllabub, and Murray played as Munkustrap/swing dancer. The four quickly became friends and decided to form a dance group together.^[3]

The group was active from as early as 1997. Egglestone noted, "We were there sitting watching television one day, seeing groups and saying 'there's no reason [...] why we can't do this.'"^[4] The group first met with producers Alex Christensen and Thomas M. Stein in 1999 and began working on material under the name ATC.^[5] The group experimented with merging male and female vocals together. "Producers don't seem to want to mix the voices so often [...] that helps give us that little bit of an edge," Murray remarked.

Their first single, "Around the World (La La La La La)" (which was an English cover of the song "Pesenka" by the Russian group Ruki Vverh!) was first released on 1 April 2000 and went number one in Germany for six weeks in summer 2000. In the United States, the song peaked at number 28, and in the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 15.^[6] Their debut album Planet Pop, featuring songs from Alex Christensen and Clyde Ward, was released on 6 February 2001 by Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Republic Records, for which they were awarded an ECHO for Best Dance Act.

En 2001, el grupo lanzó el sencillo " I'm in Heaven (When You Kiss Me) ", que tuvo un éxito moderado en algunas partes de Europa. En 2002, "Set Me Free" se lanzó como sencillo, pero no tuvo éxito. En 2003, el DJ y productor alemán ATB demandó con éxito al sello discográfico de la banda, y esta se vio obligada a abandonar formalmente las iniciales ATC . ^{[ 1 ]} Tras el cambio de nombre, el grupo lanzó un último sencillo, "New York City", y su segundo álbum, Touch the Sky, en 2003, pero no lograron igualar el éxito de sus discos anteriores y el grupo se disolvió cuando sus miembros decidieron tomar caminos separados. ^{[ 1 ]}

Tras la disolución del grupo, los miembros de la banda se dedican a diferentes actividades; Egglestone dirige un estudio de pilates en Australia y Packham trabaja como cuidador. ^{[ 3 ]} Murray y Salvi formaron juntos una banda de versiones, Démodé Trio, con Yvette Robinson en 2016. ^{[ 3 ]}

En 2019, el DJ neerlandés-marroquí R3hab hizo una nueva versión de All Around the World (La La La), acreditando a ATC y colaborando con el grupo para hacer la versión remezclada. ^{[ 7 ]} En 2021, la cantautora estadounidense Ava Max incluyó la canción en su sencillo My Head & My Heart . ^{[ 8 ]}

En 2020, los cuatro miembros originales de la banda se reunieron para una foto, dando a entender que podrían reunirse para actuar en festivales de música de los 90. ^{[ 1 ]} El grupo tenía previsto reunirse para una gira antes del brote de COVID-19 . ^{[ 3 ]}

• Un toque de clase en YouTube