Once upon a time, around the start of the millennium, something rather unique was happening (for that time). R&B was booming, but Dutch R&B acts were struggling to really gain ground between the heavyweights from the US. So, in an attempt to stand out from the rest and direct all attention to them, upcoming R&B group DeAnté took part in the National Song Contest with their song “We Don’t Live Too Long”.
It was the best move ever for Rojay, Marc, IJ and Tye, because it exposed them to an audience they would’ve never reached and with their runner-up position, at the end of the night, everyone was talking about them the day after. They were just the odd ones out and something new gets tongues moving.
The group had a few good years in which they worked with some big names, like the Co-Stars, and even had one of their songs recorded by Jazz from Dru Hill, but then the group called it quits.
Little ol’ me was sort of part of their story, as I was running their official website throughout most of their career. It’s a time I look back on fondly. I worked closely together with one of the members, but I had all the freedom in the world to try things out.
I actually don’t remember exactly when the group split, but for the longest time the members have had a moment in each year where they met up and either had dinner together or just spent some time talking about their DeAnté days. And each time when pictures of this were posted onto Facebook, all the fans jumped for joy and hoped for a reunion or a performance, or anything. It never happened…. Until last year.
Last year, three of the members suddenly announced a one-time-only performance in Amsterdam. I wrote an article about it for my website and it was the most viewed article I had ever written. The performance went well and it got some reunion rumors going, but that faded pretty quickly. However, now the guys have announced a rare follow-up performance. On February 3rd 2017, they’ll actually do a repeat of last year’s performance, at the same location.
Now, slowly but surely, this might be looking like it could turn into an annual thing.
