Daphne and Celeste
Encyclopedia
Daphne and Celeste were a pop
duo
whose most famous songs were "Ooh Stick You
" and "U.G.L.Y.
". Daphne is Karen Imogen DiConcetto (born 1 December 1980, United States). Celeste is Celeste Gladys Cruz (born 24 September 1983, New Jersey).
- "Ooh Stick You!", "U.G.L.Y." and a cover version
of Alice Cooper
's "School's Out". A full-length album
, We Didn't Say That!
, was released in the Autumn to generally positive reviews (Melody Maker
awarded it four out of five stars). Another single, "Party", was due out in November 2000, but was never released.
The music of Daphne and Celeste could be described as pure pop
marketed at a teen or pre-teen audience. The kitsch
Asian-themed "I Love Your Sushi" features a Japanese rapper
extolling the virtues of Daphne and Celeste in his native tongue. On "Peek-a-Boo", the girls find themselves at a monster's ball attended by the bride of Frankenstein
, Dracula
, and Tom Cruise
. Notwithstanding the presence of such novelty tracks
, "Roll Call" is a conventional pop song, and "Star Club" is a disco
track.
Despite the album's positive reviews, there were a lot of negative feelings towards Daphne and Celeste, with some dismissing them as a 'teeny-bopper' act (although others felt that such a judgement ignored the apparent irony
with which they performed). This discontent culminated in the duo being bottled off the stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals
in 2000 in one of the festival's most iconic moments of all time (the bottles in some cases would have contained urine
). Reading and Leeds are primarily rock festivals, and Daphne and Celeste's negative reception there stemmed from their being an unabashed pop act. It was stated by the band before their appearance at Reading and Leeds Festivals that they had hounded their manager to get them on the bill so that they could meet Eminem
. Eminem pulled out of his appearance and when Daphne and Celeste tried to do the same, the organisers refused to let them.
Many pop fans were also vociferous in their dislike for Daphne and Celeste. "U.G.L.Y." in particular was criticised, many feeling that it promoted bullying. Daphne and Celeste countered this by saying their lyrics
were meant to be tongue in cheek
. In an interview included on the "U.G.L.Y." single, Daphne noted: "Everyone is indeed ugly in their own special way."
Soon the duo found themselves the subject of rumors regarding their true identities. Some claimed they were teenagers, while others claimed they were much older than reported and that they were discovered while working as receptionist
s at their record label.
Following relatively low album sales, and the backlash against them, Daphne and Celeste soon dropped out of the public eye. Their official website
closed down in October 2001, and their management company, Perfect Noise Limited, was dissolved
in November 2002.
spoof
Dog Sees God. That production was adapted for an Off-Broadway
debut featuring a number of big-name celebrities, including Eliza Dushku
and America Ferrera
.
In the same interview, Celeste Cruz said that she also had worked in theatre and that the duo were planning to break into television. In 2004, Celeste also took the role of "Maria" in the movie Brooklyn Bound. Although not a main character, she is involved in a pivotal scene which fuels the tragedy of the denouement. She also features quite prominently on the DVD cover. In 2009 she appeared in an Emmy-nominated episode of 30 Rock
entitled "Generalissimo". Celeste can also be found on Twitter
. Unlike DiConcetto, she considered the Reading Festival incident the "end of the party for us".
Daphne and Celeste were also interviewed by Bad Horsey towards the end of 2005, with the questions coming from the B3ta
web community. The interview was posted on the Estudio Caballito Malo website and featured in the Popbitch
newsletter. An edited version was published in the January 2006 edition of the UK publication Fused Magazine
.
DiConcetto has a role in Holger Ernst's The House is Burning
, which premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
on 26 May. The film was produced by Wim Wenders
, and is considered a German
production, despite being filmed around New Jersey.
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
duo
Duet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
whose most famous songs were "Ooh Stick You
Ooh Stick You
"Ooh Stick You" is the debut single by Daphne & Celeste, originally released in 1999. It reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart and #5 in New Zealand.-Single track listing:#"Ooh Stick You" #"Ooh Stick You"...
" and "U.G.L.Y.
U.G.L.Y.
"U.G.L.Y." is a song by American recording group Daphne & Celeste, from their full-length studio album We Didn't Say That! . The song was written and composed by Michele Chiavarini, Tracy Kilrow, Michael Marz and Burkes, while the song's producer was Chiavarini...
". Daphne is Karen Imogen DiConcetto (born 1 December 1980, United States). Celeste is Celeste Gladys Cruz (born 24 September 1983, New Jersey).
Success and album reaction
They released three singles in the UKUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
- "Ooh Stick You!", "U.G.L.Y." and a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
's "School's Out". A full-length album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, We Didn't Say That!
We Didn't Say That!
-Track listing:# "Roll Call"# "Ooh Stick You"# "Love Your Sushi"# "Peek-A-Boo"# "Spy Girl"# "Never Been To Memphis"# "School's Out"# "Star Club"# "U.G.L.Y."# "Hey Boy"...
, was released in the Autumn to generally positive reviews (Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
awarded it four out of five stars). Another single, "Party", was due out in November 2000, but was never released.
The music of Daphne and Celeste could be described as pure pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
marketed at a teen or pre-teen audience. The kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
Asian-themed "I Love Your Sushi" features a Japanese rapper
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
extolling the virtues of Daphne and Celeste in his native tongue. On "Peek-a-Boo", the girls find themselves at a monster's ball attended by the bride of Frankenstein
Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
, Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, and Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
. Notwithstanding the presence of such novelty tracks
Novelty song
A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...
, "Roll Call" is a conventional pop song, and "Star Club" is a disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
track.
Despite the album's positive reviews, there were a lot of negative feelings towards Daphne and Celeste, with some dismissing them as a 'teeny-bopper' act (although others felt that such a judgement ignored the apparent irony
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
with which they performed). This discontent culminated in the duo being bottled off the stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
in 2000 in one of the festival's most iconic moments of all time (the bottles in some cases would have contained urine
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
). Reading and Leeds are primarily rock festivals, and Daphne and Celeste's negative reception there stemmed from their being an unabashed pop act. It was stated by the band before their appearance at Reading and Leeds Festivals that they had hounded their manager to get them on the bill so that they could meet Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
. Eminem pulled out of his appearance and when Daphne and Celeste tried to do the same, the organisers refused to let them.
Many pop fans were also vociferous in their dislike for Daphne and Celeste. "U.G.L.Y." in particular was criticised, many feeling that it promoted bullying. Daphne and Celeste countered this by saying their lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
were meant to be tongue in cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
. In an interview included on the "U.G.L.Y." single, Daphne noted: "Everyone is indeed ugly in their own special way."
Soon the duo found themselves the subject of rumors regarding their true identities. Some claimed they were teenagers, while others claimed they were much older than reported and that they were discovered while working as receptionist
Receptionist
A receptionist is an employee taking an office/administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting area such as a lobby or front office desk of an organization or business...
s at their record label.
Following relatively low album sales, and the backlash against them, Daphne and Celeste soon dropped out of the public eye. Their official website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
closed down in October 2001, and their management company, Perfect Noise Limited, was dissolved
Dissolution (law)
In law, dissolution has multiple meanings.Dissolution is the last stage of liquidation, the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed....
in November 2002.
Aftermath
In a "Where Are They Now?" interview with Q magazine in 2005, Karen DiConcetto admitted that the whole project was "1000% manufactured", and that the girls auditioned for it in New York in 1998: "I just talked about shoes for an hour." She considered the Reading Festival to be the highlight of the whole experience, and mentioned her work in theatre afterwards, specifically a play called Tourrettaville, written by a boy with Tourette's syndrome. DiConcetto received positive reviews for her portrayal of "CB's Sister" in the FringeNYC award-winning PeanutsPeanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
Dog Sees God. That production was adapted for an Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
debut featuring a number of big-name celebrities, including Eliza Dushku
Eliza Dushku
Eliza Patricia Dushku is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse...
and America Ferrera
America Ferrera
America Georgina Ferrera is an American actress, best known for playing the lead role in the television comedy series Ugly Betty...
.
In the same interview, Celeste Cruz said that she also had worked in theatre and that the duo were planning to break into television. In 2004, Celeste also took the role of "Maria" in the movie Brooklyn Bound. Although not a main character, she is involved in a pivotal scene which fuels the tragedy of the denouement. She also features quite prominently on the DVD cover. In 2009 she appeared in an Emmy-nominated episode of 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
entitled "Generalissimo". Celeste can also be found on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. Unlike DiConcetto, she considered the Reading Festival incident the "end of the party for us".
Daphne and Celeste were also interviewed by Bad Horsey towards the end of 2005, with the questions coming from the B3ta
B3ta
B3ta is a high-profile British website, described as a "puerile digital arts community" by The Guardian. It was founded in 2001 by Rob Manuel, Denise Wilton and Cal Henderson....
web community. The interview was posted on the Estudio Caballito Malo website and featured in the Popbitch
Popbitch
Popbitch is a weekly UK-based celebrity and pop music newsletter and associated website dating from the early 2000s. Much of the material for the newsletter comes from the Popbitch message boards, frequented by music industry insiders, gossips and the casually interested...
newsletter. An edited version was published in the January 2006 edition of the UK publication Fused Magazine
Fused Magazine
Fused Magazine is an art, design, music and fashion magazine based in Birmingham, England and distributed throughout the United Kingdom.It is published bi-monthly and distributed through both free and paid-for channels...
.
DiConcetto has a role in Holger Ernst's The House is Burning
The House is Burning
The House Is Burning is a 2006 German drama film directed by Holger Ernst. It was screened out of competition at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* John Diehl - Mr. Garson* Melissa Leo - Mrs...
, which premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
2006 Cannes Film Festival
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
on 26 May. The film was produced by Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
, and is considered a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
production, despite being filmed around New Jersey.
Singles
- "Ooh Stick YouOoh Stick You"Ooh Stick You" is the debut single by Daphne & Celeste, originally released in 1999. It reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart and #5 in New Zealand.-Single track listing:#"Ooh Stick You" #"Ooh Stick You"...
" (2000) #5 NZ, #8 UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, #54 Aus - "U.G.L.Y.U.G.L.Y."U.G.L.Y." is a song by American recording group Daphne & Celeste, from their full-length studio album We Didn't Say That! . The song was written and composed by Michele Chiavarini, Tracy Kilrow, Michael Marz and Burkes, while the song's producer was Chiavarini...
" (2000) #7 NZ, #18 UK, #40 Aus - "School's Out" (2000/1; Alice CooperAlice CooperAlice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
cover) #12 UK, #96 Aus