"The Girl From Ipanema" Sunship are back!

Monday 1st July 2024

Release date: Out now Label: Dorado Records

UK Garage producer Sunship, the producer behind the seminal Sweet Female Attitude anthem ‘Flowers’ and viral hit ‘Friendly Pressure’ by Jhelisa, makes a return to collaborate with vocalist Tracy Ray to release a UKG take on Brazilian bossa nova classic ‘The Girl From Ipanema’ on 5th June 2024 on Dorado Records.

Sunship, aka Ceri Evans, is releasing music with Dorado Records once more, the label where he debuted and first made his mark in the mid 90s as a UK Garage artist and producer. 60 years on from its original release, ‘The Girl From Ipanema’ is enjoying a UK Garage makeover, as Sunship joins forces with London vocalist Tracy Ray to create a new summer anthem.

Sunship’s past work is also currently having a resurgence. Jhelisa & Sunship ‘Friendly Pressure (Into The Sunshine Mix)’ has blown up on TikTok in the last month. 30 years since Jhelisa released her original version of ‘Friendly Pressure’ and 26 years since Sunship remixed it, the track has become a TikTok phenomenon. The track is shaping up to be a summer hit, and in just 6 weeks has achieved over 600 million views and 210,000 video creations, with over and 600k streams a day across all digital platforms.

Sunship is Ceri Evans, who first released on legendary Factory Records with group Swamp Children in 1980, then later on in original lineup of The Brand New Heavies. He started out at Acid Jazz Records and then progressed to Dorado/Filter Records, where he began to make his mark as Sunship when he released his MOBO Award winning self-titled debut album in 1997.

His UK Garage remix of Jhelisa’s ‘Friendly Pressure’ marked his first foray into the genre. This was followed by ‘Is This Real’ a UK Garage album in in 1998, which cemented his presence in the UKG scene with tracks ‘Cheque One Two’ and ‘Try Me Out’.

Breakthrough success came from the Sunship remix of Sweet Female Attitude’s all time banger and double platinum smash ‘Flowers’, which went to No. 2 in the UK chart in 2000.  Then followed the Sunship remix of Mis-Teeq’s ‘All I Want’, which became another No. 2 hit. More UK Garage hits came via Lonyo’s ‘Garage Girls’ and ‘Almighty Father.

Posted by Craig Jones