2 Unlimited

2 Unlimited biography

2 Unlimited was a Dutch eurodance group formed in 1991. The project was the brainchild of Belgian producers Jean-Paul DeCoster and Phil Wilde, and was fronted by a Dutch duo, rapper Ray Slijngaard and singer Anita Doth. During five years of enormous worldwide popularity, the act scored 16 chart hits, including "Get Ready for This", "Twilight Zone", "No Limit" and "Tribal Dance". During their career, they have sold more than 18 million records worldwide.

On 11 April 2009, Slijngaard and Doth performed together for the first time in 13 years at the "I Love The 90s" concert in Hasselt, Belgium. In January 2010, they released a new single together called "In Da Name Of Love", under the name of Ray & Anita. It has become a top 5 hit in the Netherlands.

Formation

Jean-Paul DeCoster and Phil Wilde met in their hometown of Antwerp, Belgium, and their first collaboration under the name of Bizz Nizz, the single "Don't Miss The Party Line", was a substantial hit across Europe, including in the United Kingdom where it reached no. 7 in the national singles chart in April 1990. Its success came as a great surprise to the duo and encouraged them to continue working together.

In early 1991, a 19-year-old Ray Slijngaard was working as a chef at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Slijngaard was a friend of Quadrophonia rapper Marvin D, and whilst attending one of their gigs he took a microphone and started to rap in order to hype up the unenthusiastic crowd. Marvin was impressed and introduced him to DeCoster and Wilde, who got him to record a rap for "Money Money", a track that was being planned as a future Bizz Nizz single. Meanwhile, Anita Doth (Dels is her stage name), also 19, was an administrator in the parking ticket division of an Amsterdam police station. In her spare time she performed in a female rap group called Trouble Sisters and she was spotted by Marvin, who asked her to be a backing singer for him. Slijngaard and Doth became good friends, and some people believe they had a relationship.

DeCoster and Wilde created an instrumental track called "Get Ready For This" and they decided that it needed some vocals. They asked Slijngaard for his input and he duly recorded a rap for it. The band was initially meant to be a solo project with Slijngaard fronting the act but then he added female vocals from Doth. They were so pleased with the result that they agreed to work with them as a duo, and thus 2 Unlimited was born.

Get Ready! (1991-1992)

They were signed to Byte Records (Belgium) and were licensed to many other record labels, including PWL Continental in the UK, run by Pete Waterman of Stock, Aitken & Waterman fame, who had produced dozens of hits for the likes of Kylie Minogue and Rick Astley. However Waterman, deciding that the rap was unsuitable for the UK market, where instrumental rave music had become extremely popular, removed most of the vocals from the track except for the line "y'all ready for this?", which was sampled from The D.O.C.'s "It's Funky Enough". "Get Ready For This" was an instant hit, peaking at no. 2 in the chart and was the twelfth best-selling single of 1991, earning a silver sales certificate. It went on to reach no. 4 in Belgium, no. 10 in the Netherlands and no. 2 in Australia. It also worked its way up to no. 7 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.

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