The world wide hit, The Rhythm of the Night, is a song that still gets a lot of attention and airplay since it was released by Italian Eurodance group Corona in 1993.
Jenny B, the voice behind the hit, now lives in New Zealand and has a performance coming up this week.
She talks to Jesse Mulligan that hearing the song still makes her smile.
Giovanna Bersola AKA Jenny B, who is known for featuring in the hit song 'Rhythm of the Night'. Photo: Supplied.
“It’s a beautiful thing, I’m happy to be in so many people’s hearts and beautiful memories about those years when they were going out and dancing. It’s a happy place for me.”
Jenny says she did well out of the song given its considerable success, use in film soundtracks, and remixes that have come out in the years since – including one by the Black Eyed Peas which came out just last year.
At the time she got the gig, she says she was crippled by stage fright and only doing studio work.
“The studio was safe for me, it was no windows, just me and the music. It was a time when dance and euro house music was very prolific in Europe and I was living in Italy at the time, so I was singing three or four songs a day as a session voice.”
Many of those songs went on to be successful and Corona’s Rhythm of the Night became a global sensation.
Jenny says she always thought she would quit singing at age 40, live on an island and help young artists and performers overcome the stage fright that afflicted her early in her career.
“I turned 40 and I started my journey to find a place where I wanted to live. Three years later I was in Pacific Ocean and then I came to New Zealand on holidays and saw the police walking about on the streets with no guns and was like, I’m staying, I am so staying.
“Three years later, I’m here and I’ve implemented my stage presence programme in three colleges here in Auckland and also Victoria University.”
For her, the stage fright stemmed from a fear of judgement.
“I couldn’t stand the thought of people not knowing me but having an idea about me or judging me. I was afraid to make a fool of myself, I was afraid of making a mistake, I was afraid of not being enough, I was afraid of not being accepted… the list is long but these were the main things.
“When you’re a performer, it’s very crippling because you’re called to do the exact opposite. When I found out how to overcome it, it became a priority for me, my passion, to help little me somehow.”
Jenny never toured with Corona, who had a singer of their own, and they didn’t use her image on the single cover – but that suited her.
“That gave me the freedom to be absolutely no one.”
Anyone expecting club bangers at Jenny’s upcoming concert in Auckland might be disappointed to know she will be joined by a string quartet and singing jazz standards.
“It’s going to be a beautiful, intimate, environment where the audience will be welcomed with a glass of champagne. We’re going to have little fairy lights and candle lights. For me, it’s the best connection I can establish on stage because there’s less people and the type of music actually brings in emotions that are more mellow.”
While she’s no longer terrified of being on stage, Jenny still gets butterflies in her stomach before going on stage.
“That’s not going anywhere for me. I’ve learned how to handle it, I’ve learned how to face it, but my job is not to try suppress emotions, my job is to offer tools to deal with uncomfortable emotions and get through and be successful.”
Jenny B is performing on Saturday night at the PumpHouse Theatre in Takapuna.
