overground

by David Jeffries
The boy band Overground were brought together in late 2003 in front of millions of German television viewers thanks to the reality program Popstars -- Das Duell. In its third season when Overground were born, Das Duell pitted a boy band against a girl band, both of which were formed out of 10,681 contestants. Overground members Ahmet "Akay" Kayed, Ken Miyao, Marq Porciuncula, and Meiko Reißmann barely beat their female competition by earning 51.8-percent of the vote with their cover version of Color Me Badd's "I Wanna Sex You Up." Their first single, "Schick Mir Nen Engel" was released as soon as the competition was finished and became an instant German hit. Their debut album, It's Done, arrived in time for the 2003 holiday season and quickly went double-platinum. A cover version of Montell Jordan's hit "This Is How We Do It" announced the coming of their sophomore album, 2.OG, which landed in late 2004.