La Bouche

La Bouche (pronounced [la buʃ]) is a German-American music duo. Formed by music producer Frank Farian in 1994, the duo originally comprised Lane McCray and Melanie Thornton. The duo began their musical career as part of Groovin' Affairs, a German band. After years of limited success, McCray and Thornton were signed to Frank Farian's music label MCI Records, distributed by Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG). After gaining recognition with the top-charting single "Sweet Dreams", they released their best-selling album Sweet Dreams (1995), which spawned the international Top 10 single "Be My Lover". Friction between Farian and the distributor label BMG resulted in La Bouche's follow-up album, A Moment of Love (1997), performing less successful than its predecessor, respectively. After the poor performance of the second album, Thornton embarked on a solo career and was briefly replaced by Natascha Wright in 2000. Thornton's debut solo album, Ready to Fly, was released in May 2001 on X-Cell Records. However several months later in November 2001, Thornton was killed in a plane crash in Bassersdorf, Switzerland. Following the news of Thornton's death, McCray stopped performing and went on a musical hiatus. In 2007, McCray reformed La Bouche with several female counterparts including Kayo Shekoni, Dana Rayne, Deidra Jones, Sophie Cairo, Belle Johnson, and Melissa Bonilla. La Bouche has sold over 12 million records worldwide. La Bouche has received several accolades, including a Echo Award, a Goldene Europa, and three MTV Video Music Awards nominations.