Eurodance legend Alexia is going to be headlining tomorrow night’s Trui’s Love the 90s festival at Son Fusteret in Palma.
Before recording in Italian in the 2000s, Alexia made records in English in the 1990s. Many of those were international hits. Before her solo career she was the vocalist of Ice Mc.
In her career she has sold over 6 million records with 10 top-ten single, of which 4 number-one hits and numerous international sales certifications.
She has performed at the Festivalbar for nine times, and four times at the Sanremo Music Festival in which she has earned, besides several music critic awards, three second-places, and has won one in the 2003.
But, she will always be known for her global chart topping hit Uh La La La, a slower pop track that became her breakout hit and a European summer anthem for 1997, hitting the top 10 in many countries.
Heading for an acoustic gig on Wednesday evening, she told the Bulletin that she is really looking forward to coming to and performing in Majorca tomorrow night.
“I love performing live. The first time I sang in front of a live audience, I was only four years old and I loved it and from that moment on I knew I wanted to be a singer.
“Even though I was born and grew up in Italy, as soon as I could I went to the UK.
“I don’t want to knock my colleagues, but at the time, the Italian music scene didn’t really get me. There were some great musicians, but it was all very romantic, a bit slow and I was into the blues and funk, all the sounds that were coming out of the States and I wanted some of that action so I started travelling the world and finally headed to England.
“At the time the Manchester Sound was pumping, there was a lot of house music, techno, the Euro beat so with Uh La La La I slowed things down a bit and it worked.
“The song became a summer anthem, it was a bit more fun than some of the other tracks being played and it was easy and proved very catchy,” she said.
“I was an American pop child I guess and, at the time, funk didn’t not really translate well in to Italian,” she added.
Gradually she moved from Eurodance to Europop, enjoying massive success all around the world and in 2002, Alexia abandoned Eurodance and started singing almost exclusively in Italian. She made her first appearance at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2002, coming second with Dimmi come…, which was on her fifth album Alexia. The following year, Alexia returned to San Remo with the song Per Dire Di No and winning.
“Those were huge achievements to me and very important because I had made a huge change in my musical career and I paid off, I was back home, singing in Italian and a different style.
“But, I still love the blues and old school funk, I still listen to it, I’m not a great fan of commercial music and I think there’s too much Reggaeton at the moment, everyone seems to be doing it and it’s too much, it’s getting a bit boring.
“But, I still love performing live at festivals all around the world celebrating the sounds of the 90s.
“It was a great decade for dance and I hope that every one who comes to the festival on Saturday is ready for a good time and to have some summer fun.
“I will be performing many of my classic hits, but there’s going to be a surprise in store, so don’t miss it.”