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Eiffel 65

Image from the Eiffel 65 publication
From the Eiffel 65 publication

Eiffel 65 is the eurodance group formed in Turin in the late 1990s when three musicians active in the city came together: singer and songwriter Jeffrey Jey, keyboardist and composer Maurizio «Maury» Lobina, and DJ and producer Gabry Ponte[1][2]. With their debut single Blue (Da Ba Dee), released in autumn 1998, the trio took a production born in a city studio to the top of the charts across half the world, all the way to the US Billboard Hot 100[2][3]. In five years the group sold around fifteen million records worldwide[1].

The Bliss Corporation and the name

The three met at the Bliss Corporation, a Turin label and production studio founded in 1992 by Massimo Gabutti[2] and run together with Luciano Zucchet[1], where sounds and formats for the dance floor were experimented with[2]. Jey, Lobina and Ponte had been working there since the early 1990s; they officially formed as a group in September 1998, precisely around the track that would make them famous[1].

The name has a random origin. «Eiffel» was generated by a program that produced random words; the «65» appeared by mistake, added by a graphic designer while printing the demo's labels, and instead of correcting it they decided to keep it[2].

«Blue (Da Ba Dee)»: from flop to worldwide success

The song grew out of a piano riff by Lobina, for which Jey wrote three different lyrics: the one that survived was the most eccentric, about a man living in a world that is entirely blue. Ponte reworked the track into three versions, and the best-known, the «Ice Pop» remix, came out on vinyl through the Bliss Corporation in October 1998[3]; according to Mole24, the Italian release date was 7 October[4]. The start was a disaster: of the thousand copies printed, only two hundred sold, and when tried out in a club the track emptied the dance floor. Ponte explained it this way: the track was «too pop for clubs, too dance for radio»[3].

The turning point came with Radio Deejay, which from 1 April 1999 put the record into heavy rotation[3][4]. From there the song's run became international. According to Rolling Stone Italia, Blue reached number one in seventeen countries, paradoxically stalling at number three in Italy[3]; according to Mole24 it topped the charts in more than twenty countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, and climbed to number six on the Billboard Hot 100[2][4]. The single went triple platinum in the United States, Germany, England and Australia[1] and was nominated for a Grammy in 2001 for Best Dance Recording[3]. The vocoder on Jey's voice became the group's sonic trademark[4].

«Europop» and the golden years

The first album, Europop, also included Move Your Body and Too Much of Heaven and went diamond in France[1]; Mole24 credits it with over four million copies sold worldwide, three million of them in the United States[2]. In 2000 Eiffel 65 received the World Music Award in Monte Carlo as the best-selling Italian artists[1]. The second album, Contact!, came out in 2001 with the singles Back in Time and Lucky (in My Life)[1].

Italian, Sanremo and the Olympics

Between 2002 and 2003 the group switched to Italian and took the stage at the Sanremo Music Festival[1]. Years later Gabry Ponte recalled that 2003 appearance without any leniency: «it went badly, we came 17th or 18th, I don't remember»[5]. For the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics Eiffel 65 composed the instrumental track Living in My City[1].

In 2005 Ponte left the group to pursue a solo DJ career; Jey and Lobina continued with the project Bloom 06, with a more introspective sound, releasing the albums Crash Test 01 and Crash Test 02[2]. The Eiffel 65 name returned in 2010 with the official reunion and the «New Planet Tour»[1][2]; since then the group has been a duo, without Ponte[6].

The second life of «Blue»

The song has never stopped circulating. Rolling Stone Italia counts over 75 official samples and 40 covers, as well as appearances in soundtracks such as Eurotrip, Fantozzi 2000 – La clonazione, The Smurfs – Journey to the Secret Forest, and in the series 90210 and Daria[3]. In 2013 Iron Man 3 used it in its opening scene, Tony Stark's 1999 New Year's Eve party[7]: the track returned to the charts in the United Kingdom, the United States and various European and Asian countries, reaching number one in Hong Kong; Jey wrote on Instagram that seeing the group's name in the credits was a dream come true[8]. Rapper Shiva has also released his own version, though it was met with a cool reception from the public[9].

Eiffel 65 today

Jey and Lobina continue to tour the project across Europe and at international festivals[1]. In 2023 they took part, without Ponte, in the «Una voce per San Marino» selection[10]; in February 2024 they returned to Sanremo as guests of Fred De Palma on the covers night[6]. The single Bestiale with Loredana Bertè dates from 2024, and the collaboration with Guè from 2025[2].

Gabry Ponte, born in Turin in 1973[11], has built a prominent solo career: in 2025 he wrote the theme song for the Sanremo Music Festival, Tutta l'Italia, and with the same track represented San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, reaching the final on 17 May[5][11][12], three years after the edition hosted by Turin. Among the other names in Turin's pop and dance music scene are Righeira, Subsonica and Gigi D'Agostino; according to Mole24 it was precisely Blue that carried Turin's name into charts worldwide and into the elite of dance music[4].

Pages linking here

Sources

  1. Eiffel 65
  2. Mole24 — 17 May 2025
  3. Rolling Stone Italia — 1 October 2023
  4. Mole24 — 3 July 2025
  5. Il Fatto Quotidiano — 15 February 2025
  6. Il Fatto Quotidiano — 9 February 2024
  7. Mole24 — 29 April 2013
  8. Mole24 — 13 May 2013
  9. Il Fatto Quotidiano — 23 November 2025
  10. Rolling Stone Italia — 26 February 2023
  11. Mole24 — 17 May 2025
  12. Il Fatto Quotidiano — 14 May 2025

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