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Amber (Performer)Amber is a Dutch pop and house singer who is best known for her debut 1996 single "This Is Your Night". It quickly became an international hit and managed to cross over from the rhythmic and club charts to the Hot 100 (peak #24) in America; it also just barely charted at Adult Top 40 radio, where it achieved a #40 ranking . Amber followed its success up with an album of the same name, which was a European hit but did not fare successfully in America, where dance musicians' singles are usually far more commercially successful than their entire albums. The album's second single, 1997's "Colour Of Love", was much smaller in America (#74 pop peak), despite American club success and European success. It was followed in early 1998 by the Hani Remix of "One More Night", a song which was originally a slow ballad on the This Is Your Night album but had been given a dance beat by Hani. It became a pop hit in America, peaking at #58 on the Hot 100. Amber's string of Billboard hits was a first for a techno act in America and she is, to date, the first and only European dance act not to become an American one-hit wonder since the dance craze of the early 90's. In 1998, Amber also teamed up with fellow international dance divas Jocelyn Enriquez and Ultra Nate to record a remake of "If You Could Read My Mind" for the 54 movie soundtrack, and which was released under the group name Stars On 54. It became an American hit that summer. In 1999, Amber released her sophomore, self-titled album. Its first single, "Sexual (Li Da Di)" became a pop hit, peaking at #42 on the Hot 100 and also a number one American club hit. Its followups, "Love One Another" and "Above The Clouds" did not become mainstream hits in America, although both also became number one club hits in 2000, a year in which Amber's three singles dominated the dance clubs. All three singles were also very big pop successes internationally. Cher liked the sentiment in "Love One Another" so much that she covered it on her latest album, and Cher's rendition was nominated for a Best Female Vocal Performance award at the 2004 Grammys; Amber herself, among some others, earned the nomination, as that category's award goes to the songwriter. In 2000, Amber released an album, Remixed, which contained remixes of all her previous singles, including "If You Could Read My Mind". Amber's third album, Naked was released in early 2002 and displayed a more stripped-down and honest Amber. Musically, Amber continued the path she had started with its predecessor: she continued to write more of her own lyrics and attempted even more of a depature from her original Eurodance sound. Its lead single, "Yes", was a perfect example of the newer, deeper direction Amber was trying to take her work in. "Yes" borrowed its chorus from the final few lines of James Joyce's controversial novel Ulyssess. The song began getting radio play in 2001, but was the most relatively muted reception given to an Amber lead single yet, as it did not become a real mainstream crossover hit in America. Nevertheless, it still became a #1 smash hit in the American dance clubs, her sixth consecutive #1 on that chart. Despite some pop and rhythmic radio play, it failed to make any radio charts in America. "Yes" was followed in 2002 by "The Need To Be Naked" and "Anyway (Men Are From Mars)". Both were American club hits, "The Need To Be Naked" Amber's seventh consecutive club number one, but neither received much American radio airplay. The album and its singles were all European hits. At present, Amber rivals the Chemical Brothers and Paul Oakenfold as being possibly the most well-known exclusively dance act in America, where dance music is most popular when done as remixes of mainstream pop or R&B hits, such as is common with Madonna, Whitney Houston, and Toni Braxton. This hardly means she is a household name there, however, as most dance acts, even despite possibly several mainstream hits, remain very underground and unknown relative to the bigger and flashier pop and rock stars. Very few dance acts, especially European ones, are invited to American MTV and VH1 either, which is a likely reason why they usually remain under-the-radar and relatively anonymous there; instead the networks choose to invite such acts to their European stations, since they are almost always more popular in Europe than in America. However, along with the Chemical Brothers and Oakenfold, Amber may be gradually changing this American preconception. To date, Amber's most high-profile American public appearance took place in 2002, as the host for an episode of MTV2's now-cancelled show MTV2 Dance. In late 2004, Amber plans to release a fourth studio album. Its first single, "You Move Me" was released to radio and clubs in late August. It swiftly climbed the dance and club charts following its release, though it has received no mainstream radio support. "You Move Me" achieved a #4 peak on the Billboard club charts in September.
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