90s popstar looks unrecognisable 34 years after number one hit catapulted singer to chart topping fame
The singer, now 53, made up one half of iconic dance group 2 Unlimited who were catapulted to fame and sold a whopping 18million records worldwide.
The Belgian-Dutch duo's debut single Get Ready For This cemented them in music history after becoming one of the most frequently played songs at sporting events around the world, according to Pitchfork.
The group released forty five songs, four albums and split in 1996 before eventually launching a comeback in 2009.
Back at the peak of her career the star wasn't afraid to experiment with her style, sporting a range of hairstyles including braids and dreadlocks.
However now she she has made a big departure from her edgy style, but can you guess who it is?
That's right! It's Anita Doth.
The singer songwriter made up one half of 2 Unlimited alongside rapper Ray Slijngaard with the pair scoring sixteen international chart hits and two UK number one albums.
Their 1993 hit single No Limit soared in the charts while Get Ready For This reached number two in the UK charts and led to the pair performing on Top Of The Pops in 1991.
They have sold eighteen million records worldwide and their tracks even became popular themes in American NBA and NHL.
Now Anita has bid goodbye to her braids and bold style choices for a more understated style.
Meanwhile she is styling her hair in their natural curls and her skimpy crop tops and leather corsets are also a thing of the past.
2 Unlimited split in 1996 before launching a comeback in 2009. However the pair were forced to perform under the name name of Ray & Anita after it was believed that producer Jean-Paul de Coster denied them permission to perform as 2 Unlimited due to him owning the band's copyright.
They then split again in 2016 for Anita to concentrate on her solo career, she was replaced by Kim Vergouwen and later Michele Karamat who continues to tour with rapper Ray.
Their 1993 hit single No Limit soared in the charts while Get Ready For This reached number two in the UK charts and led to the pair performing on Top Of The Pops in 1991
The star continued performing with Ray during her treatment while receiving chemotherapy and in 2011 she announced she was cancer free (pictured in 2014)
As a solo artist she has released numerous singles as well as a 2000 album Reality.
Anita has also faced her own personal battles after it was revealed in 2010 that she was being treated for breast cancer.
The star continued performing with Ray during her treatment while receiving chemotherapy and in 2011 she announced she was cancer free.
She keeps her private life out the spotlight but welcomed a daughter in February 2014 after revealing her pregnancy on Twitter in November 2013.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
a minute ago
- The Sun
Three great summer perfumes at all price points – one is the perfect subtle scent for everyday
A QUICK spritz of the right perfume can totally transform your mood – and summer scents are certainly some of the most addictive. Here are three of my favourites . . . BUDGET M&S Discover Salty Skin Eau de Toilette, £10 for 100ml, The notes of this perfume read like a list of all my favourite scents; tart bergamot, mandarin and lemon, lightly floral orange blossom and jasmine, comforting musk and amber. It reminds me of the smell when you open the balcony door of your air-conditioned hotel room to be hit with the warm, thick air outside that's holding the smell of sun-tan lotion and salty sea air. It's the perfect subtle scent for everyday that will still feel special every time you spray it, and given the price, you'd be hard pressed to find a better value fragrance. I can't imagine there's a single person who won't love it. MID-RANGE Roger & Gallet Vanille Soleil Fragrant Water, £39 for 100ml, Fragrance expert Alice du Parq aptly described this as the scent equivalent of a Mr Whippy ice cream topped with Maldon sea salt flakes. I can't think of a better way to convey the moreish, elevated vanilla perfume that's equally sweet and savoury – like all the best snacks. It's not at all sickly, despite the powdery notes of jasmine and tonka bean. It's the perfect 'old money' scent, that doesn't scream in your face or leave a trail behind you when you leave a room, but when people get close, it smells sophisticated and clean. I get stopped in the street by people asking where my perfume's from - it's a dupe of a designer scent & saves me £135 LUXURY Maison Margiela Never Ending Summer Eau de Toilette, £62 for 30ml, This perfume is an Aperol Spritz in a scent. It's fizzy, bright and packed with juicy bitter orange, rich, hearty cedarwood, sharp pepper and spicy cardamom, that make it the perfect late night summer scent cocktail to cut through humid climes. It's one of the few truly unisex holiday inspired scents on the market – with no hint of sun cream-style coconut that can quickly become extremely girly. It's grown up elegance, that's guaranteed to bring in compliments. PICK OF THE WEEK AUSSIE beauty products are having a major moment right now – they make some of the most sophisticated SPFs and they're talented when it comes to body care too. But the latest export to hit our shores - MCo Beauty - is about to shake up the affordable beauty space in a major way, given every single product in the range costs less than £15. If I have to pick a favourite, it's MCo Beauty Super Glow Bronzing Drops, £12, which can be used alone as a tinted base, mixed into foundation as you tan, or applied to cheeks as a bronzer. Shop now at
BBC News
a minute ago
- BBC News
'Fantasist' promised music stars for festival that never happened
It boasted a line-up of bands including The Killers, Pulp, Def Leppard, Wet Leg and The 45,000 capacity three-day event was due to be held this August bank holiday and was billed as the world's first hydrogen-powered music there was a snag: It was based on lies.A BBC News investigation has uncovered how "fantasist" and convicted fraudster James Kenny planned a make-believe festival from his elderly mum's kitchen that pulled Glastonbury headliners, Hollywood stars and even a country's government into its we tracked Mr Kenny down he insisted he intended for the festival to go ahead, adding he was "truly sorry" to those who had lost money. Many we've spoken to say the festival industry is brimming with characters like Mr Kenny, full of big ideas and grand plans. So when the bar manager who ran hotels and a nightclub in Liverpool pitched a multi-million pound festival bigger than Latitude, claiming funding from investors such as the co-founder of restaurant chain Leon John Vincent, industry insiders thought he might just be able to pull it as time went on, employees and suppliers who had been "100% convinced" told us they then started to question if it was real. "It was a festival made of paper," one former employee said."Everything kind of unravelled and I realised it doesn't exist for anybody else but him."Some now believe Mr Kenny never intended for his ambitious festival to happen - deposits weren't paid for bands, licence applications were never made and investors he claimed to be talking to say they have never heard of how did a festival built on lies get so far?Monmouth Rising was due to be held on a leafy showground outside the Welsh border town - a space more used to hosting Saturday morning car boot sales than festivals with five literature boasted affordable tickets, cashless payments and a "commitment to inclusivity" with no VIP areas. At a packed town hall meeting in February, the 47-year-old showed detailed site maps he claimed had been designed with the same software used to plan the Paris Radio Wales would broadcast the festival live and a cannon would even fire bacon butties into the campsite in the mornings, or so he claimed. He told prospective employees that investors included "one of the founders of Creamfields" and said an economic impact assessment from the Welsh government showed the festival would bring £28.9m into the industry insider said: "I have worked in the industry for 20 years and it is really, really unheard of to do a festival that big for the first time."The man, who supplied services for the festival and didn't want to be named for fear of missing out on future jobs, added: "It's embarrassing [that I believed him], but in this industry you want someone to be a bit crazy." Idris Elba DJ sets Employees and suppliers talk of a secretive culture Mr Kenny built up: Headline acts weren't being announced and no-one knew how many tickets had been producer Chris Whitehouse was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement before creating a soundtrack for the festival's advert to be "voiced" by Idris Elba, who - he was told by Mr Kenny - would also DJ at the festival alongside dance headliners Groove Armada and Whigfield. But Chris said things didn't add up."These guys apparently have an £8m budget to do this music festival and he looks like he's just walked out of Wetherspoons," he hasn't been paid for his work and has issued court proceedings against Mr Kenny for breach of agent said there was, "no record of Idris doing anything for this man" and Groove Armada and Whigfield said they were never booked. Genevieve Barker is one of the few people Mr Kenny let into these secretive conversations."He'd say 'oh my gosh we've got this band, but don't tell anyone'," she spent time raising her five children, the marketing and events specialist in Monmouth felt "lovebombed" into leaving her job to be head of partnerships for the festival."I'd spent the best part of 16 years raising children," she said. "If you've always been working part time or a stay-at-home parent, this was the career move of a lifetime."She said the "larger than life" businessman offered her more money than she'd ever made, as well as a pension and private dental and healthcare cover for her after she started working for the festival, she said it was, "like a toxic relationship".She added: "He made us feel really special, dangled a couple of carrots, but then isolated us. He never encouraged us to talk as a group unless he was there." Another Monmouth Rising employee works for festivals over the summer. As a part-time carer she said she jumped at the chance for a longer-term gig working from does not want to be named for fear of not getting work in a struggling industry that is "already difficult for older women".She says that a 10-minute job interview saw Mr Kenny run through "loads of bands that he was in talks with, so fast that I couldn't write them down. Then he said yes to everything I asked for". Various suppliers also told us they provided thousands of pounds worth of work and were promised thousands more in future. The BBC has seen WhatsApp chats where Monmouth Rising's employees spoke excitedly about the out of the blue in late February, a new message appeared. "Where is our pay?"Employees had woken up to find they had not received their first pay festival's website was down and they couldn't access work emails. The Loyalty Co founder Adam Purslow said his firm built the website at a cut-price rate for his "serial entrepreneur" friend Mr numerous requests for payment, Adam pulled the website when his team were presented with a "fishy" looking document as proof of incoming funding."All the suppliers started to question how genuine that whole thing was," he like Genevieve had mortgages, rent and nursery bills to pay. In response to her desperate appeals, Mr Kenny sent her videos, filmed in his mum's home where he was living, claiming he was "literally just waiting" for money to come in. BBC Wales has discovered this money Mr Kenny was promising was a £90,000 cash advance, known as invoice funding. But it was turned down because it failed due diligence was because an invoice from train company GWR, which Mr Kenny handed over as proof of incoming funds, was flagged as a potential said it was unable to match the invoice to its records and "immediately reported" its suspicions to British Transport is not the only alleged forged document Mr Kenny appears to have relied Kenny previously tried and failed to deliver a city-wide cocktail festival and a similar pattern of promises and alleged forgeries followed in its wake. In 2021 he started working for Kate and James, a couple who ran a cocktail bar in Chester and did backstage catering for celebrity-packed events such as the National Television Awards (NTAs).The couple, who now live in Morocco, said Mr Kenny "always liked shiny things" and was excited when they invited him to work at the NTAs, although "the reality is, it's hard work and you're just clearing up after famous people, rather than ordinary people".Kate said Mr Kenny also told them he had dated a famous actress and TV presenter after meeting her at a hotel bar he ran in Liverpool, despite there being no suggestion he had."We then found out he had been telling people he runs the NTA party," said Kate."We felt sorry for him."Kate said Mr Kenny always knew the "right name to drop" and persuaded the couple to invest with him in a new Liverpool Cocktail his money he promised wasn't forthcoming and the event never happened, leaving the couple £20,000 out of pocket. In an attempt to explain the delay in paying up, Mr Kenny presented the couple with a £40,000 loan agreement from Metro Bank.A month later when that money didn't materialise, he shared a letter from the same bank saying his account had been erroneously suspended for potential fraudulent loan offer had inexplicably risen to £75,000 and it referenced another £35,000 from an investor in couple confronted Mr Kenny in a phone call, but said he never paid them. It wasn't the last time Mr Kenny claimed funds were coming from someone in Mr Purslow asked for payment this year, Mr Kenny sent a screenshot, seen by the BBC, of an international money transfer for £200,000 from a bank in Malta, but the name was we asked the bank about the document, it said it was "not legitimate".We also contacted the people Mr Kenny said he had been speaking to about investing in the Vincent said he had never met him while two of the original Creamfields founders and current owners all said they had never heard of Welsh government said it had never done an economic impact Killers and Def Leppard said they had never been asked to perform. We have yet to hear back from The Libertines, Wet Leg and Pulp. Other bands said they had been asked, but deposits were never paid. With six months to go until the festival, Monmouth Rising looked to be said, with traders asking for their money back, she felt "morally obliged" to challenge Mr Kenny but he would not on 6 March, he posted an open letter on social media cancelling the festival because, he said, it was "no longer viable" but still hoped it would run in said all ticket holders and vendors would receive refunds but BBC Wales has been told only 24 people had bought tickets and all were refunded because their payments had been held by the ticketing traders we spoke to said they were yet to get their deposits back. Monmouth Rising would have cost millions to pull off from a standing start. The company due to provide the festival with hydrogen power said it entered into a commercial supply agreement but no work had been done. BBC Wales said it had never been approached to broadcast from the have also found - far from being software used to plan the Paris Olympics - the site plan was drawn up using an online app offering free and employees, including Mr Whitehouse, Mr Purslow and Ms Barker said they were thousands of pounds out of pocket and attempts to start legal proceedings against Mr Kenny stalled after he cancelled his phone number and moved woman who had the 10-minute interview said she was left penniless and unable to claim Universal Credit for months because HMRC thought she had been paid. We tracked down Mr Kenny on his new phone number in order to put these allegations to said the line-up was real and he spent a year working on Monmouth Rising, adding it was "the only thing I focused on".He indicated he did pay some employees and said those who lost money could contact him directly, adding he has "never hidden away from anything".He wouldn't tell us where he's now living or answer our questions about the alleged forgeries, or the investors he claimed he had, and asked us to email him with our questions didn't respond to those questions in detail, but in a statement he said his "sole motivation" was to create something meaningful and that it came at personal cost to his health and said it fell apart when he realised he wouldn't be able to get permission for an event of that size at Monmouth Showground. Monmouthshire council told us, in the 12 months he claimed he spent planning the festival, he only had one meeting with added that he was truly repentant, promising directly to those affected: "I will repay you." Questions are now being asked about how this was able to progress as far as it Kenny is a named director of dozens of small companies under different versions of his name, leaving £27,000 in unpaid County Court Judgements behind 2008, he was convicted of two counts of fraud for forging his wife's signature to obtain a mortgage payment to clear £15,000 worth of can know what motivated Mr Kenny to build a festival based on lies, but very few of those we have spoken to believe Monmouth Rising would ever have worked. Genevieve, who is still owed £5,000 and has only just got another job, said she thinks Mr Kenny is "a fantasist and a narcissist"."I mean, this was meant to be a multi-million pound event and he set up his office at his mother's kitchen table," she said."He fooled all of us." Additional reporting by Charlie O'Keeffe
Daily Mail
a minute ago
- Daily Mail
Drew Barrymore, 50, shrugs off 'summer body' pressure as she suns herself on family yacht vacation
Drew Barrymore has once again demonstrated her refreshing normality - even while indulging in a luxury yacht holiday. The 50-year-old actress and talk show host was spotted spending quality time with her two daughters on a yacht off the South of France.
