Cascada

Originally called Cascade until legal conflicts forced them to change their name, Cascada is the slick, uplifting Euro-dance trio featuring producers DJ Manian and Yanou along with vocalist Natalie Horler, although Horler is sometimes presented as Cascada herself. Horler was born in Bonn, Germany, to English parents and grew up loving all sorts of music. At age 18 she was doing studio work for various producers when she met DJ Manian and Yanou, the latter of whom had worked with DJ Sammy on the worldwide dance hit “Heaven.” The trio recorded the single “Miracle” in 2004 under the name Cascade, which was soon changed to Cascada — Spanish for “Waterfall” — for the second pressing. The single took off in German clubs and eventually caught the ear of the U.S.-based Robbins Entertainment label, which had previously turned Euro-dance acts DJ Sammy and D.H.T. into American chart-toppers. Robbins re-released “Miracle” along with follow-up singles “Bad Boy,” “Everytime We Touch,” and “How Do You Do!,” which was a cover version of a Roxette song from 1992. The big hit came at the end of 2005, when DJ Sammy and Yanou encountered the song “Everytime We Touch” by Scottish vocalist Maggie Reilly. The trio re-recorded the tune and by mid-2006 their version was a worldwide smash, including in America, where it topped the dance charts and made it into the Top Ten of the pop charts. The album Everytime We Touch also arrived that year, and featured all the previous singles along with covers of Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply” and Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America.” In 2008 Cascada returned with the single “What Hurts the Most plus the album Perfect Day. Two years later, “Evacuate the Dancefloor” became a worldwide hit and the title track to their 2009 album. Original Me followed in the summer of 2011, featuring a disc of new material and a bonus disc of all the singles the group had released internationally up until that point, while in 2012 Cascada released It’s Christmas Time, featuring their take on well-known festive songs. ~ David Jeffries