Dario G

Formed in 1997, Cheshire, England, dance trio Dario G was founded by DJs / producers Scott Rosser, Stephen Spencer, and Paul Spencer. Dario G is best known for the 1997 hit "Sunchyme," which was built around a sample of The Dream Academy’s "Life in a Northern Town.” The single made it into the Top 5 in several European countries. The sports-obsessed group, who took its name from the long-serving manager of local football team Crewe Alexandra, scored their own unofficial World Cup anthem in 1998 with follow-up single "Carnaval de Paris," which reached number 3. Their debut album, Sunmachine, arrived that year, with the album’s final single "Voices" (number 37) featured on The Beach soundtrack, which led to a nomination for Best Dance Act at the MTV European Music Awards. A line-up change saw the group re-emerge in 2001 minus founding member Stephen Spencer. They also added a new full-time vocalist by the name of Ingfrid Straumstoyl. Dario G earned another Top 10 single with their Cranberries-hooked comeback effort "Dream to Me." A second album arrived in 2001, In Full Colour, and was followed by a rework of Fiction Factory's "Feels Like Heaven" – re-titled "Heaven Is Closer" - in 2003. In 2006, their cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" became an anthem for Liverpool fans during the 2005-2006 Champions League season. Hola, album number three, landed in 2020, and a new collaborative single with Sonique, "Keep on Lovin," emerged in 2021. By this time, Stephen Spencer had left the band, leaving Paul Spencer as the sole founding member.  While Dario G was the group’s name and not the name of any individual in the band, the press and fans began to refer to Paul as ‘Dario G.’ Paul Spencer died of rectal cancer on June 17, 2024, at the age of 53.