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Wikipedia / Inner City (band)

Inner City is an American electronic dance music band formed in 1987 in Detroit, Michigan. The group originally consisted of record producer and composer Kevin Saunderson (born September 5, 1964 in New York), and vocalist Paris Grey (born November 5, 1965 in Glencoe, near Chicago, Illinois). Saunderson, along with Juan Atkins and Derrick May, is one of the Belleville Three, high school friends who later pioneered the Detroit techno, the first techno musical scene. In February 2018, Billboard magazine ranked them as the 69th most successful dance music artists of all-time.

Musical career

Inner City topped the US Billboard dance chart five times, and had nine top 40 hits on the UK Singles Chart. The group's early dancefloor-pop music crossover tracks were "Big Fun" (UK No. 8, US Dance No. 1) and "Good Life" (UK No. 4, US Dance No. 1). Other hits include "Do You Love What You Feel" (UK No. 16, US Dance No. 1) and "Whatcha Gonna Do with My Lovin'" (UK No. 12, US Dance No. 8). The group recorded three albums for Virgin/EMI Records and two singles for Columbia/SME Records.

In the early 1990s, Tommy Onyx was brought on to be the band leader for Inner City live shows. Onyx co wrote the hits “Hallelujah”, “Fire” & “Bad Girl” and produced the Spanish language version of Good Life, “Buena Vida”.

In 2017, a new incarnation of the group was formed with Kevin Saunderson's youngest son Dantiez joining as a permanent fixture. Dantiez and Kevin’s first single as Inner City, “Good Luck”, was released April 14, 2017 on KMS. “Good Luck” features vocals from LaRae Starr and includes remixes from DEAS, Sure Is Pure and Chuck Daniels. In 2018, Steffanie Christi’an was added as vocalist.

In 2020, the Saundersons (Kevin and his son Dantiez) released a new Inner City album with Christi'an as the main vocalist. Called We All Move Together, the title track which featured a spoken word performance from actor Idris Elba. Elba also featured on the single "No More Looking Back", which was the first Inner City project to be released by Defected Records, a British independent record label specialising in house music.

Discography

Albums

Year

Album

Peak chart positions

Certifications(sales thresholds)

UK

US

AUS

GER

NED

NZ

SUI

CAD

1989

Paradise / Big Fun

3

162

38

21

74

29

18

55

1990

Paradise Remixed

17

—

119

—

—

—

—

—

1990

Fire

—

—

166

—

—

—

—

—

1992

Praise

52

—

135

—

—

—

—

—

1993

Testament ’93

33

—

166

—

—

—

—

—

2003

Good Life—the Best of Inner City

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2020

We All Move Together

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

"—" denotes releases that were not released in that country or did not chart.

  • Album was released as Big Fun in North America.

Singles

Year

Single

Peak chart positions

Certifications(sales thresholds)

Album

UK

US

USDance

AUS

AUT

GER

IRE

NED

NZ

SUI

1988

"Big Fun"

8

—

1

57

15

5

5

3

—

4

  • BPI: Silver

Paradise

"Good Life"

4

73

1

52

12

2

6

6

8

5

  • BPI: Platinum

1989

"Ain't Nobody Better"

10

—

1

67

—

21

24

26

40

9

"Do You Love What You Feel"

16

—

1

76

—

—

22

—

—

—

"Whatcha Gonna Do with My Lovin'"

12

76

8

86

—

—

24

12

—

—

Big Fun

1990

"That Man (He's All Mine)"

42

—

15

143

—

—

—

—

—

—

Fire

1991

"Till We Meet Again"

47

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

"Let It Reign"

51

—

—

—

—

—

—

40

—

—

Praise

1992

"Hallelujah '92"

22

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

"Pennies from Heaven"

24

—

1

122

—

—

—

51

—

—

"Praise"

59

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

"Follow Your Heart"

—

—

2

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1993

"Till We Meet Again" (remix)

55

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

rowspan="15" style="text-align:left;"

"Back Together Again"

49

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1994

"Do Ya"

44

—

5

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

"Share My Life"

62

—

24

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1995

"Ahnonghay"

97

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1996

"Your Love"

28

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

"Do Me Right"

47

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

1999

"Good Life (Buena Vida)" (PIAS re-recording)

10

—

—

—

—

—

—

73

48

—

2001

"Good Love"

81

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

"Pump It Up Dub" (with E-Dancer)

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2003

"Big Fun" (remix)

86

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2004

"Say Something"

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2011

"Future" (as Kevin Saunderson featuring Inner City)

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2014

"Bad Girl" (as Kevin Saunderson featuring Inner City)

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2017

"Good Luck"

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2019

"It Could Be" (with Armin van Buuren)

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

Balance

"—" denotes releases that were not released in that country or did not chart.

Articles, interviews and reviews

See also

References