ATC

ATC, originally A Touch of Class, was a pop and electronic project based in Hamburg (Germany), led and produced by Alex Christensen.

The group comprised four members from different countries: Joey ‘Joe’ Murray (New Zealand), Tracey Elizabeth Packham (England), Sarah Eggelstone (Australia) and Livio Salvi (Italy). They met in 1999 while taking part in a German production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical ‘Cats’.

They broke into the mainstream with their electronic crossover single Around the World (La La La La La), from their debut album ‘Planet Pop’ (2001). The track, which samples the song Pesenka by the Russian dance project Ruki Vverh, became a number-one hit in several European countries and received massive radio airplay worldwide.

In 2000 the group won an ECHO for Best Dance Act. They released a second album, ‘Touch The Sky’, in 2003; after its commercial failure the label BMG terminated their contract in May 2003. The band had mentioned a two- to three-year hiatus to change musical direction, but each member ultimately returned to a ‘normal’ life with no sign of a comeback.

Before the release of the second album, the group had to stop using the abbreviation ATC following a legal dispute.