In 1986, the band started as a duo with the (romantic) couple Lady Miss Kier (real name Kierin Magenta Kirby) and Super DJ Dmitry (real name Dmitry Brill). Emerging in New York’s nightlife, they performed every month. After purchasing the highly influential Akai Sampler in 1987, they established their own production company, Sampladelic. It did not take long for the group to gain a loyal group of followers. Towa Tei was one of them, and he sent a demo tape to the group. Soon after, he began working with them. Tei joined the band in 1988 and went under the name Jungle DJ Towa Towa.
It is a pity that the album houses this one hit, “Groove Is In The Heart.” Even though it’s a fantastic song, it conveys the wrong idea that Deee-Lite is a one-hit-wonder. While they may have eluded further hits of the same scale, Deee-Lite’s moment did not come and go with “Groove is in the Heart.” In 2018, Time Out listed the song at number 23 on their list of “The 100 Best Party Songs.” In the updated list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, Rolling Stone put the track at number 223 in 2021, calling it “a collage across different generations of funkateers.”
