Sqeezer
Sqeezer (also known as Squeezer) was a German bubblegum dance project founded by Jim Reeves in 1995. Their initial lineup consisted of Jim Reeves, vocalist Yvonne Spath, and dancer Tee-Jay.
Sqeezer are best known for their unique style which blends 50's-style pop with Eurodance and bubblegum dance, made popular from their 1996 album "Drop Your Pants." Their later music moves away from traditional bubblegum dance and focuses on more mature pop/dance, although the group resurrects the bubblegum sound throughout their career.
Biography
Sqeezer was founded by Jim Reeves, their only consistent member, in 1995. The then trio consisting of Reeves, Spath and Tee-Jay released their first single, "Scandy Randy", in 1995, to great success. This release was followed by a remix single for the track in early 1996. After one song, Yvonne Spath was replaced with Lori Stern, and with her, they released their next single, "Blue Jeans." They released their first album, "Drop Your Pants", in 1996.
Their third single, "Sweet Kisses", was released in 1997, and was their last single with Tee-Jay. The single was highly successful, spending 11 weeks at #1 on the Spanish music charts. The song was covered by Combayah for their "Fantasy Dreamworld" album a year later. After this, Tee-Jay was replaced as a dancer by Marc Theven, and the group released their fourth and final single, "Saturday Night". This single was not quite as successful, reaching only #43 on the German charts.
Death of Theven and new single
In 1997, Marc Theven tragically committed suicide, leading Sqeezer to cancel their upcoming tour. The group almost split up when a letter written by Theven before his death claimed that Reeves, Lori and Sqeezer management was to blame for his death. However, the group managed to stay together and a new single was released in September.
"Tamagotchi (Tschoopapa...)" was recorded in collaboration with Saban Worldwide, the rightsholders for Tamagotchi, for the compilation album "Tamagotchi Smash Hits". They followed this up with the single "Get It Right", the lead single from their second album. "Get It Right" was recorded for their second album, "Streetlife".
Streetlife and style change
"Streetlife" did not include the track "Tamagotchi (Tschoopapa...)", and moved the group away from bubblegum dance, instead using a more modern pop sound made popular by groups such as The Backstreet Boys. "Without You" was the second single from the album, and reached #8 on charts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The album spawned one final single, "Wake Up". Their next single, released in 1999, was titled "Wishing You Were Here". After this single, Lori Stern left the group to start a career as an actress, and was replaced by a member named Veronica. Veronica's only track with Sqeezer was called "Lonely Nights". The song was never officially released, but it leaked in full onto YouTube in 2018. These songs were possibly intended for a third album, but said album never materialized.
After a couple years of silence, their next single, "Remember Summertime", was released in 2001. The song was previously released on their "Tamagotchi" single back in 1997, and reworked as "Summertime" for their Streetlife album. This single saw the departure of Veronica and the return of Lori, as well as the addition of a new member named Heidi Goldstein, but Lori left again shortly after the single's release.
Return to bubblegum
In 2002, the group experienced yet another lineup shift, with an audition bringing in singer Eve and dancer Andreas Höhnke. With these members, the group released the single "3 Times". 3 Times was a nod to their original 50's bubblegum pop/euro blend, and sounded very similar to the singles from their first album.
The group then went silent again until 2004, when they released the single "Hot Ski Teeny" as the anthem for German winter show Apres-Ski Hits 2004. They re-released the single in the summer with rewritten lyrics as "Hot Bikini". 2006 brought the release of "Drop Your Pants", an EP containing four remixes of "Blue Jeans", now with a new title but the same vocal recordings originally released in 1996.
Name change to Squeezer
In 2007, the group reformatted their name into Squeezer, and began work on a third studio album, "Squeezer Reloaded". They released three songs intended for this album in 2008. "High Heels" was released as a single, "Anybody" was released on compilations, and "No Goodbye" was uploaded onto their MySpace page. 2008 also saw them feature on the single "Hey Helicopter" with DJ Beatboy. In 2010, they re-released the "High Heels" single with new remixes.
2013 revamp and sudden death of Reeves
The group went quiet again for a few years, before resurfacing in 2013, having reverted to the spelling Sqeezer. This era's lineup was Jim Reeves, Olivia Rehmer, and Mikey Cyrox. Jim Reeves was once again trying to record the "Sqeezer Reloaded" album, this time starting completely anew. He recorded new versions of "High Heels" (now titled "Nice Evening") and "Anybody", as well as two new tracks, "Crazy Love" and "Sex With A Rockstar". Samples for all four of these tracks were uploaded to his Facebook page, although "Sex With A Rockstar" was later deleted. They also often participated in 90's festivals during this period.
Tragedy struck in January 2016 when Jim Reeves was violently murdered, effectively bringing an end to the Sqeezer project.
Real Vocalist
In 2006, rumors surfaced that all of Sqeezer's early tracks were really sung by Alexandra Prince, rather than Yvonne, Lori, Veronica, and Heidi. Evidence of these rumors is most apparent in live performances with both Lori and Heidi, where they both lip-sync despite only one female vocalist being present on the track. These rumors resurfaced in 2016, shortly after Jim's death, when Alexandra started a petition to pay tribute to Jim Reeves by re-recording their hit "Without You" with Delroy Rennalls (LayZee), the rapper for Mr. President. Sadly, this project does not appear to have ever materialized. While Alexandra Prince is likely the real voice of Sqeezer up until 2001, following singles sound different enough to be different vocalists, with the vocalist often changing; Eve on "3 Times", Nikole Arndt on "Hot Ski Teeny"/"Hot Bikini", and Daria on "High Heels"/"Anybody"/"No Goodbye". While Sonija was a member of the group when "Drop Your Pants" was released, the single appears to recycle Alexandra's vocals from the original 1996 release.
Biography compiled by Irk.
