Daphne and Celeste

Daphne & Celeste
Origin New Jersey, U. S.
Genres Teen pop, bubblegum pop (earlier)
Indie pop, electropop (later)
Years active 1999–2002, 2005(reunion), 2015-present
Labels MCA, Balatonic
Website daphneandceleste.tv
Members Celeste Cruz
Karen DiConcetto

Daphne & Celeste are an American pop duo composed of Celeste Cruz and Karen DiConcetto. They are best known for their songs "Ooh Stick You" and "U.G.L.Y.".

Success and album reaction

They released three singles in the UK: "Ooh Stick You!", "U.G.L.Y." and a cover version of Alice Cooper's "School's Out".[1] A full-length album, We Didn't Say That!, was released in June 2000 to generally positive reviews (Melody Maker awarded it four out of five stars). Another single, "Party", was due in November 2000, but was never released.

During the Reading rock festival in 2000, the crowd's negative reception towards Daphne & Celeste's incongruous music resulted in the duo being bottled by the audience.[2]

Many pop fans were also vociferous in their dislike for Daphne & Celeste. "U.G.L.Y." in particular was criticised, many feeling that it promoted bullying. Daphne & Celeste countered this by saying their lyrics were meant to be tongue-in-cheek. In an interview included on the "U.G.L.Y." single, Daphne stated: "Everyone is indeed ugly in their own special way." Daphne & Celeste made an appearance at Feet First.[3] Daphne & Celeste also had a television and film deal.[4]

Following relatively low album sales, and the backlash against them, Daphne & Celeste were dropped by their label. Their official website closed down in October 2001, and their management company, Perfect Noise Limited, was dissolved in November 2002. After the band broke up Celeste went back to school.[5]

Later activities

In a "Where Are They Now?" interview with Q magazine in 2005, Karen DiConcetto stated that the whole project was "100% manufactured", and that the girls auditioned for it in New York in 1998: "I just talked about shoes for an hour." She considered the Reading Festival to be the highlight of the whole experience, and mentioned her work in theatre afterwards, specifically a play called Tourrettaville, written by a boy with Tourette's syndrome. DiConcetto received positive reviews[6] for her portrayal of "CB's Sister" in the FringeNYC award-winning Peanuts spoof Dog Sees God. That production was adapted for an Off-Broadway debut featuring a number of big-name celebrities, including Eliza Dushku and America Ferrera.

In the same interview, Celeste Cruz said that she had also worked in theatre and that the duo were planning to break into television. In 2004, Celeste also took the role of "Maria" in the movie Brooklyn Bound. Although not a main character, she is involved in a pivotal scene which fuels the tragedy of the denouement. She also features quite prominently on the DVD cover. In 2009 she appeared in an Emmy-nominated episode of 30 Rock entitled "Generalissimo". Celeste can also be found on Twitter. Unlike DiConcetto, she considered the Reading Festival incident the "end of the party for us".

Daphne & Celeste were also interviewed by Bad Horsey towards the end of 2005, with the questions coming from the B3ta web community. The interview was posted on the Estudio Caballito Malo website and featured in the Popbitch newsletter. An edited version was published in the January 2006 edition of the UK publication Fused Magazine.

DiConcetto has a role in Holger Ernst's The House Is Burning, which premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival on 26 May.[7] The film was produced by Wim Wenders, and is considered a German production, despite being filmed around New Jersey. In 2005 Daphne & Celeste had a mini reunion tour in the UK with Lolly.[8] Celeste Cruz sang guest vocals on a song for Kent Odessa.[9]

On 29 March 2015, the duo announced that they had reformed, and released a new single titled "You and I Alone",[10] produced by Max Tundra.

Discography

Studio albums

Title Details Peak chart positions
NZ
[11]		 UK
[12]
We Didn't Say That! 4 140
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)		 Album
AUS
[13]		 CAN
[14]		 NZ
[15]		 UK
[16]
1999 "Ooh Stick You" 54 — 5 8 We Didn't Say That!
2000 "U.G.L.Y." 40 18 7 18
"School's Out" 96
[17]		 — — 12
2015 "You and I Alone" — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

References

  1. ↑ SUMMER SCHOOL' FOR DAPHNE AND CELESTE
  2. ↑ Reading Diary 3: Daphne & Celeste's battle
  3. ↑ DAPHNE AND CELESTE JUMP IN FEET FIRST
  4. ↑ TV AND MOVIE FOR D&C
  5. ↑ 'OOH STICK YOU' 2002!
  6. ↑ David Ng (7 September 2004). "Good Grief! - Page 1 - Theater - New York". Village Voice. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  7. ↑ James, Alison (27 April 2006). "More competish at Cannes". Variety. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  8. ↑ Whatever Happened To... Daphne & Celeste
  9. ↑ Bushwick Music Crush: Kent Odessa
  10. ↑ Popjustice. Popjustice http://www.popjustice.com/interviewsandfeatures/daphne-celeste-comeback-interview/134785/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ "charts.org.nz > Daphne & Celeste - We Didn't Say That! (album)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  12. ↑ "Chart Log UK 1994-2010 > Asher D – Dyverse". Dipl.-Bibl.(FH) Tobias Zywietz. Archived from the original on 2015-10-19. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  13. ↑ Australian (ARIA Chart) peaks:
  14. ↑ Billboard - Google Books. Books.google.ca. 30 September 2000. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  15. ↑ Steffen Hung (19 March 2000). "New Zealand charts portal". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  16. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  17. ↑ "ARIA Report Issue 568" (PDF).

External links

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