Time to salute another mid-90s dancefloor classic – U Sure Do.
We all know the song – but did you know it was composed of samples from a number of other tracks? (Don’t worry, neither did I. All but one of them are pretty obscure.) Even more interestingly… did you know about Strike’s strong Australian connection?
Read on, and all will be revealed.
As I said, U Sure Do is made up of quite a few tracks. Obviously there’s Tone Loc (the “Let’s do it” bit). But then the chorus comes from American R&B artist Donna Allen and her track Serious, and that weird electronic hook prior to the chorus comes from Taiko’s Echo Drop (I’ve cued it up to the sample).
But wait a minute, what about all the verses and hooks? Who’s singing all that? Well that’s where Strike’s Australian connection comes in. Victoria Newton grew up in Perth and became a jazz singer. In the early 90s she moved to London to perform jazz and Latin music.
During this time Victoria was doing a recording session at Fresh records when she met DJ/Producers Matt Cantor and Andy Gardiner. They needed a vocalist for a track they were working on – Victoria gave it a go, and Strike was born.
Initially the group were a bit of an underground fave. But once the club mix of U Sure Do took off in UK nightclubs, the song was released as a single and chart success followed. Number 9 in Ausrtalia, Number 4 in the UK- with sales of over 400,000. Big sales in Ireland, Spain, Italy, Norway, Iceland, Holland, Germany and Japan.
These days, Victoria Newton is back in Perth, doing jazz gigs and running the Jazz Voice program at Western Australia’s Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Matt Cantor went on to from the electronic music outfit Freestylers (Push Up, Get a Life). Andy Gardner formed the group Plump DJs, considered breakbeat pioneers in the UK.
So, what memories do you have, when you hear U Sure Do?
Can you picture the first time you heard it?
