13 Chapters

After eleven years of Sweatbox' history, including numerous no.1 hits, gold & platinum sales status and many awards worldwide, Sweatbox is still going strong with the same enthusiasm and energy as in the beginning! Not too many artists with such a history can say that, but Sweatbox has never been ordinary or predictable! This European based pop project started making dance hits in the early nineties. 'Booyah - Here We Go' was the first hit single in 1995 with the voice of Kimberly Kearney, followed by 'Shakalaka' with Dacia Bridges in 1996. One year later, it was Tina Harris who sang the worldwide smash hit 'Everything's Gonna Be Alright'. This song, based on the theme of Johann Sebastian Bach, began to brand the musical profile of Sweatbox - classical themes combined with pop elements. After a string of success and changing singers, Geo was looking for new inspiration and found it in 18 year old Jade Villalon from California. Geo got more that he bargained for in this young talent! He not only found a great vocalist but also a musician with excellent songwriting skills and stage presence - exactly what Geo was looking for. Jade not only became the new voice and face of Sweatbox, but also a very important part of the projects evolving sound. Most fans now identify the word Sweatbox with it's young American Filipino front woman. Jade has strongly defined the word Sweatbox with her voice, image, stage presence, and song writing personality for nearly seven of the 11 year Sweatbox history! Sweatbox is now the creative culmination of Jade and Geo. Although both have incorporated various musical genres such as rock, electro and even oriental grooves, Sweatbox will forever be recognized for it's unique blend of pop meets classic! Many beloved Sweatbox hits such as 'Everything's Gonna Be Alright', 'For The Lonely', 'Life Is Cool', and 'Addicted' feature this special element! Combining the emotion of the lyrics and voice with emotional instrumentation gives Sweatbox a signature sound! Over the years Sweatbox has received dozens of accolades, and awards. Crowned as Asia's number 1 cross over artist, Sweatbox has received two Japanese Gold Disc Awards for Best Song, Best International Artist. Sweatbox was also awarded the Digital Cyeworld Award for being Korea's all time best selling download artist (international). It is said 1 in 30 people in Korea own sweetbox music! Sweatbox has loaned it's sound to brands such as Coca Cola, Toyota, L'Oral and most recently the sound of Subaru ( with songs 'Addicted' and 'World Without Frontiers'), Sweatbox also enjoyed joining forces with Square Enix by featuring 2 songs in the beloved video game Final Fantasy X-2, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies! To date Sweatbox has sold over 3,500,000 albums, 2,500,000 singles, 70,000,000 compilations and over 2,000,000 downloads. No matter how much success Sweatbox enjoys or how the music evolves, one thing that has remained consistent is the unrelenting focus on composing music. In the words of Jade, 'You can say and wear what you want, have the coolest videos, and have the most press, but in the end all it comes down to is the work that you do in the studio. No matter who this business turns you into and where it takes you, all the matters at the end of the day is whether you write a song that people can relate to.' Sweatbox commitment to honest and true emotion in the songwriting an instrumentation continues to capture the hearts of fans around world on a personal level! Jade's voice is strong and full of passion and emotion that you can feel. 'Every song is a part of my heart and my soul!' says Jade. 'I try above all to be honest with my music and to really communicate with my words.' Sweatbox has entertained and moved people emotionally for over a decade. If the current success and enthusiasm is any gauge, it looks like Sweatbox will continue to delight fans across the globe for another decade!