John Rocca

John Rocca
Born	July 23, 1960 (1960-07-23) (age 51) London, England
Genres	R&B, Dance, Post-disco, Freestyle, Electro
Occupations	Singer, record producer
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Beggars Banquet
Associated acts	Freeez

John Rocca (born 23 September 1960, London, England) became known first as a dance music performer, remixer and record producer. During the early 1980s, John Rocca formed, played with, wrote for, produced and managed his first musical band, Freeez, with success. After his first self-funded and self-released effort, Keep in Touch, song number 1 in the UK Blues & Soul Magazine Dance Charts and 49 in the United Kingdom Gallup charts - partly by sales from the back of a van - his next effort, Southern Freeez by Freeez—- now considered a jazz funk c- lassic—was not only a UK Blues & Soul Dance Chart number 1 but a popular music chart success in various other countries in Europe, scoring the United Kingdom Gallup Charts at number 8.

During 1983 one of the first records to use digital sampling—- "IOU" by Freeez—- featured John’s falsetto voice and became one of the major dance successes of the 1980s electro music style. It scored number one in dance charts in Europe and the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play and had popular music chart success across the world spending 3 weeks at number 2 in the United Kingdom Gallup Charts. As a solo artist John Rocca scored number one yet again, this time with I Want It To Be Real, number 1 on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart during 1984. After these and various other successes John engineered, produced and mixed for various other artists as well as recording by his own name and several other pseudo names. John Rocca retired from the music business during 1993. His last recording, by the pseudonym Midi Rain, John wrote, played all of the instruments, recorded, engineered, produced, and mixed all of the songs. Midi Rain scored the Billboard US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with the album Shine, which scored number one during 1993.

Singles

Year	Song title / singles	UK Singles Chart[1]
1983	"I.O.U." (Freeez) (Streetwise, Beggars Banquet)
1983	"Pop Goes My Love" (Freeez) (Streetwise, Beggars Banquet)
1984	"My World Is Empty Without You" (Streetwise, Beggars Banquet)
1984	"Once Upon a Time" (Streetwise, Beggars Banquet)	-
1986	"I.O.U." (featuring Freeez) (Criminal Records)	-
1987	"I Want It To Be Real" (City Beat)	-
1987	"Extra Extra"/"Move" (City Beat)	-
1987	"Move" (Criminal Records)	-	1985	"Can't Get Enough Of Your Love" - Pink Rhythm Feat. John Rocca	-

Albums

Title	Release date	Chart positions
		U.S. Billboard 200	U.S. R&B albums	UK Albums Chart[2]
Extra Extra	June 1987	-	-	-

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of number-one dance hits (UK)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

1. ^ Search for "Freeez" performed at Everyhit.com database.
2. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 214. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 

External links

• John Rocca at Allmusic
• Blues & Soul Magazine Online

Persondata
Name	Rocca, John
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 July 1960
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death