Milk Inc.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Milk Inc. | ||
|---|---|---|
 Milk Inc.'s latest album, SUPERSIZED
Cover features Regi Penxten and Linda Mertens |
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| Background information | ||
| Genre(s) | vocal trance / house / dance / techno | |
| Years active | 1996–present | |
| Website | www.milkinc.be | |
| Members | ||
| Regi Penxten (1996-) Filip Vandueren (1998-) Linda Mertens (2000-) |
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| Former members | ||
| Ann Vervoort (1998-2000) John Miles Jnr. (1998-2000) |
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Milk Inc. (also known as Milk Incorporated) are a dance band from Belgium. The current members are:
- Linda Mertens (singer)
- Regi Penxten (keyboards, producer)
- Filip Vandueren (keyboards, producer)
When the band started in 1996, their lead singer was Nikki Van Lierop (a.k.a. Jade4U, lead singer of Lords of Acid at that time) and their first single was called "La Vache" (French for "The Cow"). This song was successful across Europe, especially in France and the United Kingdom.
Milk Inc. started as a studio-project of 3 young Belgian producers: Regi Penxten, Filip Vandueren and Ivo Donckers. All three were already active in the commercial house-scene in Belgium, doing successful things under various names, such as K-Lab (for Dance Opera), Regg & Arkin, Karnak-X, some of the "Illusion"-compilations and remixes for different dance-projects.
Their first release La Vache under the name Milk Inc got a vocal remix by Praga Khan and this one took a flying start. The vocals were done by Nikki Van Lierop (aka Nikki Mono aka Jade4U). The tune became a huge hit in France. After a while, Regi had to look for a new stage act because Jade4U was way too busy with Praga Khan when Praga Khan got successful in the US.
He found Sofie Winters which was present only on the second single 'Free your mind'. From the third single on (Inside of me), An Vervoort was the frontstage girl and singer. (Regi being the frontstage boy). She was a dancer for Pat Krimson and graphic designer.
On September 15th 2000 she announced her departure from Milk Inc. She had decided to leave for Ibiza to start a dance-label Benimusa with her husband Patrick Claesen alias Pat Krimson (who has/had projects such as Nunca, 2 Fabiola). Linda Mertens became the new singer and face of the group.
It has been confirmed from various sources that Ann didn't really sing live and the real singer was actually Karine Boelaerts (also the studio singer of projects like 2 Fabiola and Maurizzio). Ann could sing but for some parts her voice was not good enough.
Since their debut, they have released over 20 singles and three albums, and made numerous tours across Europe. Their songs are so successful in Belgium that Milk Inc. hold the record for "most top ten hits by an artist" in Flanders' Ultratop chart ever, followed by Britney Spears.
Contents |
[edit] History
- 1996
In 1996, Milk Incorporated was founded. It started out as a studio project. The very first release was a EP on the underground label of Dance Opera, including Cream, W.O.O.W., Cowmen, Back To The House Of Pain.
- 1997
In April 1997 Milk Inc.'s first song with the name "La Vache". It wasn't a success in Belgium, but in the UK and France, they loved this record! So Milk Incorporated couldn't profile itself as a studio project anymore, but as a real group. Vocalist Jade 4 U (aka Nikkie Van Lierop) and producer Regi Penxten performed a lot in the UK and France. In France, they released under the label Hottracks of Scorpio Music France. Because they had so much success with "La Vache", the recordcompany decided to rename the group into "La Vache", so people could remember it! In October '97, a second song "Free Your Mind" was released! Because Jade 4 U was also the frontgirl of Praga Khan, she left the Milk Incorporated as Praga Khan became very popular in the USA. Sofie Winters took her place for a few months.
- 1998
"Inside Of Me" was released in February '98. This time, the vocalist was Ann Vervoort. The song was popular in the clubs, but there was no commercial success. In March, they released a first album in France, with the name "Apocalypse Cow", still under the name "La Vache"! In December '98, they finally got a huge hit with "In My Eyes". The Belgian breakthrough was a fact. With this release in Belgium, they changed their name to Milk Inc. The French public didn't like this song at all and it was the last release in France for Milk Inc.!
- 1999
"In My Eyes" turned into a gold record and in February they did a tour around France and Spain. In March '99, the next song "Promise" was released and did very well in the Belgian charts. In April '99, Milk Inc. received a "Donna Award" for "In My Eyes". It was time for a first album in Belgium, called "Apocalypse Cow". This album was released in May '99. "Oceans", the fifth Milk Inc. song, was released in June '99 and it was even called out as the summer hit of '99. "Losing Love", number 6, was released in November '99. Milk Inc. did so well they even received the TMF Award for "Beste National Dance Act". They toured a lot in Spain but also in Australia. With the artists from Antler Subway, they performed at a big "TMF Christmas 2000" show. Their was also a song together with all the artists, "Antler All Stars", a coversong "Do They Know It's Christmas", but each artist sang a coversong on their own, Milk Inc. made a new Christmas song called "Alone at Christmas".
- 2000
In April '00 they received a special Donna award "Best HolidaySong of The Year". A new song was released "Walk On Water". In May '00, Ann announced that she was going to leave the group because she wanted to start a record company "Benimusa" at Ibiza together with her boyfriend Pat Krimson. She officially left the group at 15 September '00. September '00 was an exciting month for the Milk Inc.-fans. The new singer, Linda Mertens, was presented at the show "Hitkracht" together with the newest song "Land Of The Living". In October '00 they performed 5 days in South-Africa. In Belgium, they received the award for "Best National song 'Walk On Water'". In November '00, they released a second album "Land Of The Living".
- 2001
In February 2001, the single "Livin' A Lie" was released together with a video that was filmed in Brussels and Antwerp. In March, Milk Inc. was nominated for the TMF-Awards in The Netherlands. On April 7, they won the award for "Best International Dance-Act" and their show was, as usually, wonderful! The next single, number eleven, was "Never Again". During the summer, they had a lot of shows in Belgium, The Netherlands and Spain. In September, they went to Germany with a Tourbus. The video for "Walk On Water" was shot during that tour. Meanwhile, they were nominated again for the TMF-Awards from Belgium in 3 categories: "Best Dance National", "Best Single National 'Never Again'" and "Best Video 'Never Again'". On October 27, they won 2 of the 3 awards. "Best Dance National" and "Best Video National". Linda even cried when they received the award for "Best Dance National". Their performance was again really great and they did present "Wide Awake". On November 3, the newest single "Wide Awake" was released together with a Best Of-Album, with songs from the two other albums but also a CD with all the video's. At TMF there was a Milk Inc. Special in November! They had a lot of shows and completed the successful year with a big show at Sylvester-evening in Madrid (Spain).
- 2002
In January, they were nominated for the award "Best International Dance-Act". They didn't win this award! In February, Milk Inc. was nominated again for "Beste Dance Act International" at the Hitkrant Awards in The Netherlands! They didn't won this award either! Linda came in the "Notenclub" to prove she can really sing! They performed together with Sylver at Donna's 10th birthday! togetherhey performed the greatest hits of ABBA and were also dressed like them! In March, they started a tour in Canada! A video was made for "In My Eyes" in the UK! In May there was also a video made for "Sleepwalker" in Portugal! On May 13, the single was finally available! They started their conquest of the UK with "In My Eyes" and reached the top 10 of the charts! In July, they made a video for the second single in the UK, "Walk On Water"! During the summermonths they toured a lot in Belgium, The Netherlands and Spain! In September "Walk On Water" was released in the UK, and also an album "Milk Inc.". The promotion began in the UK! But they also performed a lot in Spain. "Walk On Water" also reached the top 10 of the charts! They got nominated for the Belgian TMF Awards for "Best Dance Act" and "Best Video - Sleepwalker". On October 26 , they received the award for "Best Dance Act" and they performed their newest song "Breathe Without You"! From October, 27 , they toured with the Smash Hits Tour in the UK, together with big stars! Land Of The Living became a top10 hit in the UK. They also worked on a Dutch song, for a good cause togheter with other Belgian artists, called "Feest voor iedereen". After touring in Belgium and abroad, Milk Inc. had a successful year.
- 2003
2003 started with a short vacation for Milk Inc.! After that, they began touring again, in Belgium and abroad. At the end of April, the newest single "Time" was presented at Radio Donna's 11th birthday. A first visit to Scandinavia was a fact. In August the new single "The Sun Always Shines On TV" was presented and it was released in September. The next release for Germany was "Time" and "Breathe Without You". Thanks to their newest hit, they had a lot of performances on TV, like 'Tien Om Te Zien', Top of The Pops,... This year, Milk Inc. was nominated for 3 TMF Awards. And again, they won the award for Beste Dance. The opening of this event was also really special, they performed "Insomnia" by Faithless together with Lasgo and Sylver. This performance was so great everybody was ready for the show. Milk Inc.'s performance was, as usual, a big success. On October 6th, their newest album Closer was released. 14 songs, from which 6 already released. Some highlights on this album are the ballad "November", the duet between Linda and Silvy which is called "I Don't Care", the duet between Regi and Linda called "Maybe", but also the only instrumental song on the album called "Blown Away" is a nice piece of art. Of course, the other songs are completely songs like we are used to, all with the special Milk Inc. sound. During their performance at Base Pop, Milk Inc. had the chance to perform for the French part of Belgium. In October, an almost worldwide release for "The Sun Always Shines On TV" started. The album Closer also was released in several countries. On JimTv the fans could see a program about Milk Inc., how one of their days looks like. In November, Linda posed for a 3rd time for the magazine P-Magazine. To promote their work, they performed in Poland. The last month of the year was also really busy. Performing in Germany and Spain, visiting the Big Brother house, a showcase at JimTv, TV performance for Hitparty 2004,... This year was a very good one for Milk Inc., the yearreviews are the prove of their success.
- 2004
At the beginning of 2004, "The Sun Always Shines On TV" was released in several countries like Germany, Switzerland, Australia,... Their next single was "I Don't Care", the duet with Silvy (from Sylver). In Poland, the album Closer was released. Furthermore, "I Don't Care" almost reached the top of the Belgian charts, but it couldn't get higher then the 3rd position. In March, they were nominated for the Dutch TMF Awards, the award for Best Dance International went to Special D. In April, they performed 3 shows in America and also once at a big dance event in Russia. In the UK, the Sun Always Shines on Tv was released on 12" with 2 brand new remixes. On May 31st, www.milkinc.be became the official Milk Inc. site. Like every summer, their agenda was full with performances in Belgium and The Netherlands. Several times, there were duoshows together with Sylver, including their hit "I Don't Care". In August, a Best Of 3cd box was released in Australia. In September, they released "Whisper" with a nice video. This song became another number 1 hit on the day they received the award for "Best Dance Act" and the "Life Time Achievement award" during the TMF Awards 2004. The very first DVD with all the videos and an acoustic set was released after the TMF Awards in October. The promotion for "Whisper" went on and the DVD also had a lot of media attention, many TV shows (like Swingpaleis, Kids Top 20, Top Of The Pops,...) and radio programs invited Milk Inc. to present this DVD. On Christmaseve there was a special (prerecorded) TV performance Swingpaleis Christmas edition where they performed "Do they know it's Christmas time" together with other dance artists and on sylvesterevening a prerecorded TV performance at Tien Om Te Zien and Hitparty 2005.
- 2005
At the beginning of 2005, Milk Inc. supported the Tsunami 1212 show in Belgium. They performed a lot in Belgium and Spain. On March 1, "The Sun Always Shines On Tv" was released in the USA. At the end of March, a big dance event BelgaDance was organized. Milk Inc. performed Blind for the very first time and Regi won the award for Best Producer. "Blind" was promoted on TV and radio on several shows. In May, Milk Inc. had a 2 day tour in Norway. In June, "Time" was released in the USA. The summer was very busy, with performances in Belgium and abroad. In August, the album Closer was released in the USA. As every year, they got nominated for "Best Dance Act" at the annual TMF Awards. On October 1, they won their 10th TMF Award and also presented their newest single "Go To Hell". In October, "Go To Hell" was released together with a smashing new video. Also another Best Of album was released, called Milk Inc. Essential. At the end of November, they were the "warm up act" at the Junior Eurosong Festival. To end another great year, in December, Milk Inc. performed in Norway, Spain, Scotland and of course Belgium.
- 2006
On September 30, a very first concert at the "Sportpaleis" at Antwerp called Milk Inc. Supersized will be the highlight of 2006. Hopefully with several new Hits and awards...
[edit] Year Charts In Belgium
YEAR CHART 2004
Top 50 Belgium Singles
- 2: I Don't Care [feat. Silvy]
- 8: Whisper
Top 100 Singles
- 12: I Don't Care [feat. Silvy]
- 26: Whisper
YEAR CHART 2005
Top 50 Belgium Singles
- 16: Go To Hell
- 21: Blind
Top 100 Belgium Dance
- 86: Blind
Top 100 Singles
- 42: Go To Hell
- 54: Blind
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Album | Peak BE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Cream | Apocalypse Cow | - |
| 1996 | La Vache | Apocalypse Cow | - |
| 1997 | Free Your Mind | Apocalypse Cow | - |
| 1998 | Inside Of Me | Apocalypse Cow | - |
| 1999 | In My Eyes | Apocalypse Cow | #2 |
| 1999 | Promise | Apocalypse Cow | #3 |
| 1999 | Oceans | Apocalypse Cow | #8 |
| 1999 | Losing Love | Land Of The Living | #2 |
| 2000 | Walk On Water | Land Of The Living | #1 |
| 2000 | Land Of The Living | Land Of The Living | #2 |
| 2001 | Livin' a Lie | Land Of The Living | #3 |
| 2001 | Don't Cry | Land Of The Living | Not released in Belgium |
| 2001 | Never Again | Land Of The Living | #17 |
| 2001 | Wide Awake | Closer | #2 |
| 2002 | Sleepwalker | Closer | #6 |
| 2002 | Breathe Without You | Closer | #7 |
| 2003 | Time | Closer | #10 |
| 2003 | The Sun Always Shines On TV | Closer | #5 |
| 2004 | I Don't Care | Closer | #3 |
| 2004 | Whisper | Supersized | #1 |
| 2005 | Blind | Supersized | #5 |
| 2005 | Go To Hell | Supersized | #4 |
| 2006 | Tainted Love | Supersized | #7 |
| 2006 | Run | Supersized | #7 |
| 2006 | No Angel | Supersized | #10 |
[*] charting
[edit] Albums
- Apocalypse Cow (La Vache) (France)
- Apocalypse Cow
- Apocalypse Cow Spain
- Apocalypse Cow Millennium Edition
- Land Of The Living
- Double Cream (Europe)
- Double Cream (Poland)
- Double Cream (Canada)
- Double Cream (Singapore)
- Milk Inc. (UK)
- Milk Inc. (US Import)
- Closer
- Best Of Milk Inc. Australia
- Closer USA
- Milk Inc. Essential
- Supersized
- Supersized XL
[edit] Videography
| Year | Title | Director | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | La Vache | Caswell Coggins | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 1997 | Free Your Mind | Caswell Coggins | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 1998 | Inside Of Me | Caswell Coggins | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 1999 | Oceans | Steven Buyse | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2000 | Land Of The Living | Filip Vandueren | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2001 | Walk On Water | Frank Schneider | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2001 | Livin' A Lie | Peter van Eyndt | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2001 | Never Again | Peter van Eyndt | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2001 | Wide Awake | Peter van Eyndt | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2002 | Walk On Water | Stuart Fryer | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2002 | In My Eyes | Damian Bromley | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2002 | Land Of The Living | Andreas Tibblin | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2002 | Sleepwalker | Peter van Eyndt | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2002 | Breathe Without You | Peter van Eyndt | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2003 | Time | Peter van Eyndt | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2003 | The Sun ALways Shines On TV | Alex Diezinger | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2004 | I Don't Care | Raf Verbeemen | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2004 | Whisper | Peter van Eyndt | Milk Inc. The DVD |
| 2005 | Blind | Peter van Eyndt | not yet released on DVD |
| 2005 | Go To Hell | ? | not yet released on DVD |
| 2006 | Tainted Love | The Black Sheep | not yet released on DVD |
| 2006 | Run | Peter van Eyndt | not yet released on DVD |
| 2006 | No Angel | Peter van Eyndt | not yet released on DVD |
[edit] DVDs
- Milk Inc. - The DVD (2004): acoustic sessions & all the music video's
- Milk Inc Supersized (Live Concert DVD 2006)
[edit] Trivia
- To celebrate its 10th anniversary (2006) Milk Inc. decided to surprise its fans with a two-hour live concert in Sportpaleis (Belgium), where Milk Inc. performed its well-known hit songs and the newest album Supersized.
