Banaroo

Emerging from the 2005 German reality series Banaroo: Das Star-Tagebuch, the Europop quartet Banaroo achieved broad initial acclaim through its first single, "Dubi Dam Dam," before its audience support faded swiftly. The lineup featured Robbert "Bobby" Dessauvagie (born October 13, 1982, in Monster, the Netherlands), Stefanie "Steffy" Dreyer (January 21, 1982, in Weimar, Germany), Kathrin "Cat" Geißler (March 19, 1987, in Hamburg, Germany), and Vittorio "Vito" Magro (February 12, 1980, in St. Nicolas, Belgium). Massive exposure generated by Banaroo: Das Star-Tagebuch, broadcast during spring 2005 on the Cologne-based channel Super RTL, propelled the act forward. On May 23, 2005, five weeks after the program began, Sony BMG issued the debut single "Dubi Dam Dam," which registered an instant commercial breakthrough and reached four national charts (number two, Germany; number two, Austria; number five, Switzerland; number 36, the Netherlands). All Banaroo recordings, beginning with this track, were performed in English. Before 2005 closed, Sony BMG delivered two full-length projects—Banaroo's World in June and Christmas World in November—both of which performed strongly, the first attaining the top position in Germany and Austria. Amazing appeared in March 2006, once the television exposure had become a remote recollection and the group’s momentum had already started to wane, yet the album still reached number two in Austria. The 2007 release Fly Away, the quartet’s fourth album, produced the notable single "Ba Yonga Wamba," although overall sales remained modest, missing the German Top 40 and confirming a continuing contraction of its listener base.