Whatfor
Encyclopedia
Whatfor is also the name of the band created by the second season of the popular French reality-TV show Popstars
aired on RTL Group
TV channel M6 in fall 2002. The group consisted of Cyril (from Marseille
), Erika (from Marseille too), Nicolas (from Toulon
) and Monia (from the Lyon
suburbs).
Their first hit "Plus haut" (Higher in French) reached rank #1 in the French charts and so did their first and only album called Popstars. Their musical style was a mix of modern dance
music, pop
and R&B, with a clear late 1970s disco
/funk
touch that is mainly because the mastermind behind this album, Philippe Saisse, was the one behind the most successful albums of some great artists of that era like Chic
and Chaka Khan
.
But the success story ended as their second single called "L'amour n'a pas de loi!" (meaning Love knows no law!), a cover of Swedish singer Carola
's song "A Kiss Goodbye" (from her album My Show) was a flop.
The group disbanded 6 months after its launch. Erika and Cyril founded a band together (Everton), and Nicolas tried a solo career, but none of their tries went successful, so Nicolas went back to being comedian, with some success.
Popstars (France)
Popstars was a musical French fashioned around the international series Popstars. The French television series was broadcast on M6 for 4 seasons and was a pioneer in musical competitions in France....
aired on RTL Group
RTL Group
RTL Group is Europe's largest TV, radio and production company, and is majority-owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. It has 45 television and 32 radio stations in 11 countries...
TV channel M6 in fall 2002. The group consisted of Cyril (from Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
), Erika (from Marseille too), Nicolas (from Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
) and Monia (from the Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
suburbs).
Their first hit "Plus haut" (Higher in French) reached rank #1 in the French charts and so did their first and only album called Popstars. Their musical style was a mix of modern dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
music, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and R&B, with a clear late 1970s disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
/funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
touch that is mainly because the mastermind behind this album, Philippe Saisse, was the one behind the most successful albums of some great artists of that era like Chic
Chic (band)
Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
and Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
.
But the success story ended as their second single called "L'amour n'a pas de loi!" (meaning Love knows no law!), a cover of Swedish singer Carola
Carola Häggkvist
Carola Maria Häggkvist , better known as simply Carola, is a Swedish singer and occasional songwriter. She has been among Sweden's most popular performers since the early 1980s, and has released albums ranging from pop and disco to hymns and folk music...
's song "A Kiss Goodbye" (from her album My Show) was a flop.
The group disbanded 6 months after its launch. Erika and Cyril founded a band together (Everton), and Nicolas tried a solo career, but none of their tries went successful, so Nicolas went back to being comedian, with some success.