Blue Café

Current lead singer Dominika Gawęda

Blue Café are a Polish musical group with jazz, soul and Latin influences. The band was formed in Łódź in 1998 and had three consecutive hit singles in Poland in 2002-03. They were nominated in the category Best Polish Act at the 2003 MTV Europe Awards, and are also known internationally for representing Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.

Band members

The original line-up of the band was leader, composer, arranger and keyboardist Paweł Rurak-Sokal, singer Tatiana Okupnik, Viola Danel (guitar), Sebastian Kasprowicz (guitar), Marcin Markuszewski (bass), Łukasz Moszczyński (drums), Piotr Sławiński (trumpet) and Michał Niewiadomski (trombone).

History

Their first single "Español" was released in 2001, with album Fanaberia following in late 2002.

Blue Café submitted "You May Be in Love", a track from Fanaberia, to the 2003 Polish Eurovision Song Contest selection, where it made the final, finishing in third place.^[1] It subsequently topped the Polish chart when released as a single. The following year, the band took part in the Eurovision selection again with "Love Song", a Latin-flavoured track from their second album Demi-sec. In a close televoting and SMS result, "Love Song" emerged the winner, earning Blue Café the Polish ticket for the 49th Eurovision Song Contest.^[2] 2004 was the year in which a pre-qualifying semi-final was introduced to Eurovision; however, Ich Troje's top 10 finish for Poland the previous year meant that Blue Café gained automatic entry to the final, which was held in Istanbul on 15 May. Five members - Okupnik, Rurak-Sokal, Sławiński, Niewiadomski and newcomer Piotr Grąbkowski - appeared on stage on the night of the contest, when "Love Song" finished in 17th place of 24 entries.^[3][4]

Okupnik decided to leave the band in 2005, and was replaced as lead singer by Dominika Gawęda. The band's fourth and most recent album, Four Seasons, was released in 2008.

Discography

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions	Sales	Certifications
		POL [5][6][7][8][9]
Fanaberia	Released: 20 May 2002[10] Label: Pomaton EMI Formats: CD, digital download[11]	3		POL: Platinum[12]
Demi-sec	Released: 8 December 2003[13] Label: Pomaton EMI Formats: CD, digital download[14]	3	POL: 35,000+[15]	POL: Gold[16]
Ovosho	Released: 18 September 2006[17] Label: EMI Music Poland Formats: CD, digital download[18]	10	POL: 15,000+[15]	POL: Gold[16]
Four Seasons	Released: 14 April 2008[19] Label: QL Music Formats: CD	4
DaDa	Released: 28 March 2011[20] Label: Universal Music Poland Formats: CD, digital download[21]	7	POL: 30,000+[15]	POL: Platinum[12]
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

References

1. "POLISH NATIONAL FINAL 2003". Natfinals.50webs.com. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
2. "POLISH NATIONAL FINAL 2004". Natfinals.50webs.com. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
3. "Eurovision Song Contest : Details : Poland 2004 : Blue Café, Love Song". Esc-history.com. 2004-05-15. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
4. "Love song - info - Diggiloo Thrush". Diggiloo.net. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
5. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLIS. 2004-03-21. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
6. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLIS. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
7. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLIS. 2003-04-13. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
8. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLIS. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
9. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLIS. 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
10. "Blue Cafe - Fanaberia - Muzyka w Interia.pl". Muzyka.interia.pl. 2002-05-20. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
11. "Fanaberia by Blue Cafe on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
12. Archived August 18, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
13. "Blue Cafe - Demi sec - Muzyka w Interia.pl". Muzyka.interia.pl. 2003-12-08. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
14. "Demi-Sec by Blue Cafe on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. 2003-12-04. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
15. https://web.archive.org/web/20140714000448/http://www.zpav.pl/rankingi/wyroznienia/regulamin.php. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2011. Missing or empty |title= (help)
16. Archived October 14, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
17. "Blue Cafe - Ovosho - Muzyka w Interia.pl". Muzyka.interia.pl. 2006-09-18. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
18. "Ovosho by Blue Cafe on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. 2006-09-29. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
19. "Blue Cafe - Four Seasons - Muzyka w Interia.pl". Muzyka.interia.pl. 2008-04-14. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
20. "Blue Cafe - DaDa - Muzyka w Interia.pl". Muzyka.interia.pl. 2011-03-28. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
21. "Dada by Blue Cafe on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2016-01-11.

External links

• Official Site in Polish