‘No Limit’, ‘Twilight Zone’, ‘Get Ready For This’, ‘Tribal Dance’…. all these hits and much more from Dutch dance act 2 Unlimited, soon in South Africa for a “once in a lifetime line up”. The dance group was formed in 1991 and sold more than 22 million sound carriers worldwide and achieved many gold and platinum records. Time for a chat with the brilliant Ray Slijngaard!
How are you?
Ray Slijngaard – In the first place everything is going well and it is a big blessing as we are performing at a lot of shows. Every year the ‘90s are getting more and more popular and because of this my schedule is very busy. Every weekend we have 2/3 shows. We mostly have been performing in Europe, but we have also been performing in Australia and Canada. The summer is very big in Europe and sometimes we have 3 shows in one night. We are very excited to be performing in South Africa in January 2024 as part of the 100% RETRO I THE PARTY line up!
Why the name 2 Unlimited?
Ray – When I met up with the producers, they had a demo for ‘Get Ready for This’ and I was recording with them for a totally different project. My producer used to have a record shop and he used to DJ a bit. After we did the recording, I was going through the records, and I was led to this record which had a white label and it’s working title was ‘2 Unlimited’. The name at the time was perfect as it was 2 people, similar cultural backgrounds and so forth and because of all of these elements we decided to stick with ‘2 Unlimited’.
Tell us about your personal journey in the entertainment industry?
Ray – I was always interested in music and listened to dance music and hip hop. My heroes were LL Cool J, Run DMC, and Public Enemy. I started doing some DJing at the local clubhouse. During school I was entering talent shows and most of the time I was winning. I was also studying to be a chef and my dream was to have a restaurant. The other dream was to be an artist, but it was in the same context of ‘I hope I win the lottery tomorrow’. It is not realistic; you always hope for it but I never thought that it would be an option. I was 19 when the record came out and within a month it entered the UK charts at number 2. At that time, I was a cook at the airport, and I asked the chef if I could get off on the weekend to do shows for promotion and he said no I must go back to the kitchen to cook the food. I decided to quit straight away, and I called the producers to say I am available for shows, let’s go. Then it started, we signed a contract with him and got Anita involved and it exploded with all the records becoming gold in Australia, South Africa, the UK and many other countries. We were performing all around the world, it happened quickly, and it was a dream come true.
What motivates you to still get up on stage and perform live?
Ray – For me, performing is really my passion. There are a lot of artists that just do it for the money. If you see me on stage, you see that I am really enjoying myself. If it is 500 0r 20 000 people, I will come with the same energy. I will always deliver, give my best and I wont leave until all the hands are in the air. The 2 Unlimited show is good, we interact with the people and give it our all. I want to bring a show that is also an experience.
As a final message what would you like to say?
Ray – To the people out there, I hope we can get more shows to share our ‘90s music, as it’s an awesome experience. Stay positive, I know that there is a lot of horrible stuff going on in the world, but just stay close to yourself. Go for your goals, it sounds cliché, but I experienced it myself. After 2 Unlimited I lost a lot of money, but I always believed in myself as I always knew that I would come back with 2 Unlimited and I am doing it again for a number of years. Do what you love and strive to be happy!
Ray and Michele from 2 Unlimited finally in South Africa, for 100% RETRO I THE PARTY. The show takes place in the DHL Stadium Cape Town (Jan 7) and SUNbet Arena Pretoria (Jan 13) with an A-list line-up that will strike an immediate chord with 80s and 90s music lovers and bring back some of the best memories of their tenure in that sublime musical era.
Performing live on stage and for one night only: Daisy Dee from Technotronic, Snap!, Dr Alban, Haddaway, Twenty4Seven ft. Nance, Jacks & Hanks, 2 Unlimited, Rozalla as well as SA`s popular singer Nádine and a host of international and local 90s DJs, including Barney Simon, Alex Jay, Ian F and Shawny B.
Tickets : www.itickets.co.za
All info : www.100percentretro.com
