| Undercover | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | London, United Kingdom |
| Genre: | Electronic, dance |
| Years Active: | 1991–2004 |
| Label: | PWL International |
| Past Members: |
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Undercover is a British dance music group which was formed in 1991 and had three UK top-30 hits, two of them top-five, in 1992. The group's vocalist, John Matthews, continues to perform solo as Undercover across the UK, Europe and South America. The keyboard player, Steve Mac, went on to become a songwriter and music producer for other artists.[1] Bass guitarist Jon Jules worked in the UK soul music scene as a DJ, radio presenter and event organiser.
The group's first single, a cover version of Gerry Rafferty's 1978 UK/US chart success "Baker Street", was their biggest hit, reaching No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1992,[2] held off from the top by another dance track, "Rhythm Is a Dancer" by Snap!. It was the 11th-biggest-selling single of 1992 in the United Kingdom and had chart success across Europe, selling over a quarter of a million units in Germany alone.
Undercover released five more chart singles. The group's second single, a cover of Andrew Gold's "Never Let Her Slip Away", also originally a 1978 track, reached No. 5 and stayed in the charts in the United Kingdom for 11 weeks.[2] After the success of these two singles, an album, Check Out the Groove, was released, reaching No. 26 in the UK Albums Chart.[2] "I Wanna Stay with You" (a cover of the Gallagher and Lyle song) and "Lovesick", both from 1993, managed No. 28 and No. 62 respectively.
In 1994, Undercover released a new single, "Best Friend", and their second album, Ain't No Stopping Us.[2]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [3] | AUT [4] | EUR [5] | GER [6] | NED [7] | |||||||||||
| Check Out the Groove |
| 26 | 29 | 73 | 56 | 34 | |||||||||
| Ain't No Stopping Us |
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | AUT | BEL [8] | DEN [9] | EUR [10] | GER [11] | IRE [12] | NED | SWE [13] | SWI [14] | ||||||
| 1992 | "Baker Street" | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 2 | Check Out the Groove | |||
| "Never Let Her Slip Away" | 5 | 23 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 16 | 2 | 8 | 23 | — | |||||
| 1993 | "I Wanna Stay with You" | 28 | — | 14 | — | 66 | — | 8 | 43 | — | — | ||||
| "The Way It Is" | — | — | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Lovesick" (featuring John Matthews) | 62 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Ain't No Stoppin' Us | ||||
| 1994 | "Best Friend" | 79 | — | — | — | — | 67 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1995 | "Every Breath You Take" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="4" | |||
| 1996 | "Bring Back Your Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2000 | "If You Leave Me Now" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2004 | "Viva England!" | 49 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||