Deep Obsession

Deep Obsession
Origin	New Zealand
Genres	Pop, Dance
Instruments	Singing
Years active	1997–present
Members
Zara Clarke Charlie Lawson
Past members
Vanessa Kelly Christopher Banks

Deep Obsession are a New Zealand dance/pop group formed by producer/songwriter Christopher Banks in 1997 with singers Zara and Charlie Lawson.

They became the first unsigned New Zealand group to receive widespread commercial radio airplay when a demo recording of their first single, “Lost In Love” (a cover version of the 1980 hit by Australian group Air Supply), was picked up by the nationwide More FM network. The group had sent a gift-wrapped copy of the demo to then-programme director Andrew Szusterman.

Subsequently, Deep Obsession became the first New Zealand group to sign with Universal Music, after airplay of “Lost In Love” brought them to the attention of several major record labels.

“Lost In Love” was remixed by Malcolm Welsford, previously known as a producer of rock music, and released in late 1998. It went to number #1 on the New Zealand singles chart and achieved gold sales status. The next two singles, “Cold” and “One & Only”, also went to number #1, making Deep Obsession the first New Zealand group to achieve three consecutive number #1 singles in their home country.

The album “Infinity” was produced in Australia and New Zealand by Michael Lloyd and Christopher Banks in conjunction with Australian producers Steve Peach and Paul Goodyear. It was released in 1999 and went to number #8 on the New Zealand charts. A new version of the album, featuring remixes of “Lost In Love” and “One & Only” by Grammy Award-winning Cher producer Brian Rawling was released internationally the following year.

By 2003, Deep Obsession had parted company with both their founding producer and songwriting partner Christopher Banks, and record label Universal Music.

“Miracles”, which reached number #34, was never released as a single but charted due to radio play.

Members

Current Members

• Zara Clarke (1997-)
• Charlie Lawson (1997–1998; 2001-)

Past Members

• Vanessa Kelly (1998–2001)
• Christopher Banks (1997–1999)

Discography

Albums

Date of Release	Title	Label	Charted	Country	Catalog Number
1999	Infinity		#8 (Platinum)	New Zealand
1999	Infinity (Remix Album)		-	-

Singles

Year	Single	Album	Charted	Certification
1998	"Lost in Love"	Infinity	1 (NZ)	Gold
1999	"Cold"	Infinity	1 (NZ)	-
1999	"One & Only"	Infinity	1 (NZ)	Gold
2000	"You Got the Feeling"	Infinity	17 (NZ)	-
2000	"I Surrender"	Infinity	25 (NZ)	-
2003	"Miracles"	Single only	34 (NZ)	-

See Also / References

• NZ Music article documenting their record three #1's
• Last.fm page linking to RDF semantic web info
• Discogs commentary
• Vanessa Kelly biographical details