Break Machine was an American rap act, fronted by Keith Rodgers and produced by Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo, the team behind the Village People.

Break Machine
OriginNew York City
GenresHip hop
Years active1983–present
Past members
  • Cortez Jordan
  • Keith Rodgers
  • Lindell Blake

Career

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Keith Rodgers was a musician and presenter of a rap radio show on the New York station WHBI 105.9. In 1981, he recorded a single, "Searching Rap" under the name 'Bon Rock'. This brought him to the attention of Morali and Belolo, the French producers, who were looking for new styles after the decline of disco. In 1983, together with Fred Zarr, they released "Street Dance", which was an international hit and one of the earliest mainstream breakthroughs for hip hop.

"Street Dance" peaked at #3 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1984,[1] and was the 39th best-selling single of that year. It hit #1 in Sweden and Norway.[2] In Germany, it was the 78th best-selling single of 1984.[3] It charted #11 in Italy. "Street Dance" saw its strongest chart performance in Norway, where it was #1 for five weeks. In France, the song reached #1 for two weeks, selling over a million copies and becoming the 86th best-selling single of all time according to a list released in 2004 by the Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique[4]

Subsequent singles "Break Dance Party" and "Are You Ready?" both reached the UK chart, peaking at number 9 and number 27 respectively.[5] Their album, Break Machine, reached number 17 in the UK Albums Chart.[5]

Discography

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Album

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Year Album Label UK
[1]
1984 Break Machine Record Shack Records 17

Singles

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Year Song Peak chart positions
AUS
[6]
DEN
[7]
FIN
[8]
GER
[9]
IRE
[10]
NL
[11]
NOR
[12]
SWE
[13]
UK
[1]
US
[14]
1983 "Street Dance" 21 3 6 12 11 7 1 1 3 105
1984 "Break Dance Party" 73 4 11 13 3 6 9
"Are You Ready?" 27
1988 "Tomorrow"
1993 "Now I Want You Back"
1998 "Sounds to Me"
2006 "A New Beginning"
2008 "I Want to Thank You"
2011 "Young Love"
"I'll Be Standing Here"
2013 "Realize"
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "BREAK MACHINE - full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  2. ^ "Break Machine - Street Dance". swedishcharts.com.
  3. ^ "Top 100 Single Charts 1984".
  4. ^ "France's best sellers of all time! [Archive] - Moopy".
  5. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 77. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  6. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 45. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  7. ^ "Danish Chart Archive - Singles 1979 - ____ (B.T./IFPI DK)". UKMIX Forums. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  8. ^ Timo (August 13, 2015). "Sisältää hitin: Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1960: Artistit BRA - BÅG". Sisältää hitin. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  9. ^ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts - Offizielle Deutsche Charts". www.offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  10. ^ "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  11. ^ "Dutch Charts - dutchcharts.nl". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  12. ^ "norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  13. ^ "swedishcharts.com - Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  14. ^ "Break Machine Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography". Music VF. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
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