Grace (band)

The group was initially named State of Grace, shortened to Grace following the discovery of another group of the same name.[3] In existence from 1993 to 1997, the group served mainly to showcase Oakenfold and Osborne's production talents. They had seven Top 40 hits, most notably the dance anthem "Not Over Yet", which peaked at #6 in the UK Singles Chart,[4] and topped the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the US. The original front-woman, Patti Low, also recorded one other track while involved with Grace called "Helpless", which was only released as the B-side on the tape cassette release of "Not Over Yet" in 1995. Low appeared in the 1995 promotional video for "Not Over Yet" and also performed live lead-vocals in Grace's appearance on Top Of The Pops in early 1995. For some reason, she was then replaced as the lead singer with Dominique Atkins, of whom Oakenfold had become aware through her vocals on the previous Perfecto release "Passion" by Jon of The Pleased Wimmin. Subsequent recordings and personal appearances always featured Atkins as lead singer. The September 1995 track "I Want To Live" (UK #30)/(UK Dance #6)[5] which was a cover of the song by Gavin Friday[6] (also covered by Naomi Campbell[7]) had the "Not Over Yet" lead singer Low on backing vocals. Further singles by Grace were "Skin on Skin" (UK #21), "Down to Earth" (UK #20), "If I Could Fly" (UK #29), "Hand in Hand" (UK #38) and double A-side of "You're Not Mine" (renamed "Don't Call Me (You're Not Mine)") along with a re-release of "Down to Earth" (UK #29). The group released an album entitled If I Could Fly though this did not enter the chart.

"Skin on Skin" was a reworking of Oakenfold's "Perfecto Mix" of U2's "Lemon" that was released in 1993. Indeed, the Orange Mix of "Skin on Skin" is even closer to the original Perfecto Mix of "Lemon". The Orange Mix later appeared as the second track on Oakenfold's acclaimed Goa Mix (1994).

Atkins also recorded vocals for Tilt on their track "Rendezvous", which was retitled "Invisible", and was originally to be released as "Tilt feat. Grace", but the Grace title was dropped for the release.

The group was dissolved in 1997, when Oakenfold was touring more frequently as a performance DJ and could not commit to recording.

The group were on Oakenfold's Perfecto Records.

In 1999, "Not Over Yet" was re-released with new mixes by Planet Perfecto (another Oakenfold pseudonym) though the radio version was an edited version of the original 1995 Perfecto Radio Edit. All new versions and remixes on the re-release however, contained a combination of the original backing vocals by Low and lead vocals by Atkins. It again reached the UK Top 20, peaking at number 16.[4]

In 2007, "Not Over Yet" was reworked by the Klaxons and renamed "It's Not Over Yet", for their album Myths of the Near Future. In July 2011, new remixes of "Not Over Yet" were released by Perfecto. In December 2011, a new track for Grace (Dominique Atkins) was announced on Tilt's official Facebook page as being currently written.[8]

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart