They were massive back in the early 90s. So much so that I had a cassette copy of the 'No Limits' album when I was about 8 or 9 years old. While in primary school, my class took part in a "time capsule" project where a container full of items from the present day would be buried in the school grounds, to be exhumed decades later. Having been into music for a while by that point, I decided to contribute the 2 Unlimited album to the time capsule. I hope it brings joy to the kids of the future who eventually dig it up...
One of the first dance acts to take the sounds of house music to the very top of the mainstream, 2 Unlimited were originally formed in 1991 by producers Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde. The pair needed vocals for 'Get Ready For This', and approached Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard. "We had worked with him on "Money Money", an unreleased single by Bizz Nizz. By September he returned the tape to us. To our surprise, he had also added the female vocals of a certain Anita Doth, a traffic warden from Amsterdam. He told us she was a good friend of his out of the city's nightlife. Ray discussed the possibility of forming a duo to front the project." Slijngaard and Doth became the faces and voices of 2 Unlimited, achieving several years of worldwide mainstream success. The act scored a total of 16 chart hits, and sold over 18 million records worldwide.
In 1996, the duo announced that they were splitting, after becoming dissatisfied with lack of creative input and unpaid royalties. Since De Coster and Wilde still owned the rights to the name, the producers continued 2 Unlimited with two new members. The new line up achieved minor success in the Netherlands, but the commercial failure of the 1998 album II led to both the new recruits leaving.
A decade later in 2009, Slijngaard and Doth reunited under the name Ray And Anita, touring and releasing new material. In 2012 the pair joined forces with De Costa once again, to bring back 2 Unlimited. After a few years of touring with the reformed unit, Anita Doth left in 2016, to be replaced by new singer Kim Vergouwen.
