# A Touch of Class (group)

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This article is about the German-based international pop group also known as ATC. For the American soul/R&B group from Philadelphia, see [Touch of Class (band)](/source/Touch_of_Class_(band)). For other uses, see [A Touch of Class](/source/A_Touch_of_Class_(disambiguation)).

**A Touch of Class** (often shortened in initials as **ATC**) were an international Eurodance group based in Germany. The pop group was active from 1997 and their most successful release was "[Around the World (La La La La La)](/source/Around_the_World_(La_La_La_La_La))", released in 2000. The group disbanded at the end of 2003.

## Career

The original members of ATC each came from different countries[1]—Joseph "Joey" Murray from New Zealand, Sarah Egglestone from Australia, Livio Salvi from Italy, and Tracey Elizabeth Packham from England. The four met together in Hamburg, Germany as cast members of the international Broadway theatre German production of the stage musical *[Cats](/source/Cats_(musical))* from October 1997 to April 1998.[2] Egglestone played [Bombalurina](/source/Bombalurina), Salvi played [Mungojerrie](/source/Mungojerrie), Packham played [Syllabub](/source/Jemima_(cat)), and Murray played as [Munkustrap](/source/Munkustrap)/[swing](/source/Swing_(dance)) dancer. The four quickly became friends and decided to form a dance group together.[3]

The group was active from as early as 1997. Egglestone noted, "We were there sitting watching television one day, seeing groups and saying 'there's no reason [...] why we can't do this.'"[4] The group first met with producers [Alex Christensen](/source/Alex_Christensen) and Thomas M. Stein in 1999 and began working on material under the name **ATC**.[5] The group experimented with merging male and female vocals together. "Producers don't seem to want to mix the voices so often [...] that helps give us that little bit of an edge," Murray remarked.

Their first [single](/source/Single_(music)), "[Around the World (La La La La La)](/source/Around_the_World_(La_La_La_La_La))" (which was an English cover of the song "[Pesenka](/source/Pesenka)" by the Russian group [Ruki Vverh!](/source/Ruki_Vverh!)) was first released on 1 April 2000 and went [number one](/source/Chart-topper) in Germany for six weeks in summer 2000. In the United States, the song peaked at number 28, and in the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 15.[6] Their debut album *[Planet Pop](/source/Planet_Pop)*, featuring songs from Alex Christensen and Clyde Ward, was released on 6 February 2001 by [Sony BMG Music Entertainment](/source/Sony_BMG_Music_Entertainment) and [Republic Records](/source/Republic_Records), for which they were awarded an [ECHO](/source/ECHO_(music_award)) for Best Dance Act.

In 2001, the group released the single "[I'm in Heaven (When You Kiss Me)](/source/I'm_in_Heaven_(When_You_Kiss_Me))", which was moderately successful in parts of Europe. In 2002, "Set Me Free" was released as a single but was not successful. In 2003, German [DJ](/source/DJ) and [producer](/source/Record_producer) [ATB](/source/ATB_(DJ)) successfully took the band's record label to court, and the band was forced to formally drop the **ATC** initials.[1] Following the name change, the group released a final single, "New York City", and their second album, *Touch the Sky* in 2003, but they did not match the success of their previous records and the group disbanded as the members decided to go their separate ways.[1]

## Post-disbandment

The band members all pursue different activities post-disbandment; Egglestone runs a pilates studio in Australia, and Packham works as a carer.[3] Murray and Salvi would together form a cover band, Démodé Trio, with Yvette Robinson in 2016.[3]

In 2019, Dutch-Moroccan DJ [R3hab](/source/R3hab) remade All Around the World (La La La), crediting ATC and collaborating with the group to make the remixed version.[7] In 2021, American singer-songwriter [Ava Max](/source/Ava_Max) interpolated the song in her single [My Head & My Heart](/source/My_Head_%26_My_Heart).[8]

In 2020, the original 4 members of the band reunited for a photo, while hinting that the band could reunite for the sake of performing for 90s music festivals.[1] The group was intending to reunite for a tour before the outbreak of [COVID-19](/source/COVID-19).[3]

## Discography

### Albums

Title Album details Planet Pop Released: 6 November 2000 (Int.) 6 February 2001 (US) Label: Republic/Universal (formerly; US), King Size/BMG (currently; worldwide) Formats: CD, Audio Cassette Touch the Sky Released: 23 March 2003 Label: King Size/BMG Formats: CD, digital download

### Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications (sales thresholds) Album AUS AUT [9] BEL [10] FIN FRA GER[10][11] IT NED POL[12] SWE SWI [13] UK US 2000 "Around the World (La La La La La)" 11 1 10 7 12 1 16 5 1 8 1 15 28 GER: Platinum AUT: Gold SWI: Gold FRA: Silver Planet Pop "My Heart Beats Like a Drum (Dum Dum Dum)" 76 6 11 12 39 3 46 37 18 38 21 — — GER: Gold "Thinking of You" — — — — — 46 — — — — 51 — — 2001 "Why Oh Why" — 16 39 — — 16 — — 29 — 64 — — "I'm In Heaven (When You Kiss Me)" — 27 — — — 22 — — — — 31 — — Touch the Sky 2002 "Set Me Free"[14] — — — — — 44 — — — — — — — "Call on Me"[15] — — — — — — — — — — — — — 2003 "New York City" — — — — — 81 — — — — — — — 2019 "All Around the World (La La La)" (with R3hab) — 35 11 10 [16] 63 [17] 29 — 18 — 62 [18] 39 — — SWI: Platinum "—" denotes releases that failed to chart or not released in that country.

## References

1. ["ATC, biography discography, recent releases, news, featurings of europop group"](http://www.eurokdj.com/search/eurodb.php?name=ATC). *The Eurodance Encyclopædia*. EurokDJ.com. Retrieved 2016-07-23.

1. ["Germany performers"](http://lemondedecats.free.fr/jst/performers/germany/germanyen.html). *LemonDeDeCats.free.fr*. Retrieved 2016-09-03.

1. Daw, Robbie (2021-04-09). ["Where Are They Now? Catching Up With 2001 Stars Afroman, S Club 7, American Hi-Fi & More"](https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/where-are-they-now-2001-interviews-afroman-s-club-7-9553965/). *Billboard*. Retrieved 2025-05-16.

1. ["0:26 - ATC A Touch of Class Behind The Scenes 2001 - YouTube"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDUf2yKHJQA). *[YouTube](/source/YouTube)*. 2013-09-15. Retrieved 2016-09-03.

1. ["ATC - Biografia - Muzyka - WP.PL"](http://muzyka.wp.pl/aid,2076,title,ATC,artysta_biografia.html). *Muzyka.wp.pl/*. Retrieved 2016-09-03.

1. ["Billboard Hot 100"](https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2001-03-31/). *Billboard*. 31 March 2001. Retrieved 21 May 2023.

1. Stickles, Nisha (2019-04-10). ["R3hab Remakes 2000s Hit “All Around The World” with A Touch Of Class"](https://edm.com/music-releases/r3hab-all-around-world-atc-touch-class). *EDM.com - The Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists*. Retrieved 2025-05-16.

1. Shaffer, Claire (November 19, 2020). ["Ava Max Interpolates ATC in New Song 'My Head and My Heart'"](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ava-max-my-head-my-heart-1092683/). *[Rolling Stone](/source/Rolling_Stone)*. Retrieved November 21, 2020.

1. ["Discographie ATC"](https://austriancharts.at/showinterpret.asp?interpret=ATC). *austriancharts.at*. Retrieved 20 June 2019.

1. ["Discografie ATC"](https://www.ultratop.be/nl/showinterpret.asp?interpret=ATC#charts) (in German). [Ultratop](/source/Ultratop). Retrieved 23 August 2019.

1. ["Discographie ATC"](https://www.offiziellecharts.de/suche?artist_search=ATC&do_search=do). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 6 June 2019.

1. Peak chart positions for singles in Poland: * "Around the World": ["Polish Airplay Chart - Lista krajowa 37-38/2000"](https://web.archive.org/web/20010513063852/http://www.pifpaf.com.pl/airplay/lista_38_2000.html) (in Polish). PiF PaF Production. Archived from [the original](http://www.pifpaf.com.pl/airplay/lista_38_2000.html) on 2001-05-13. Retrieved 2016-12-27. * "My Heart Beats Like a Drum": ["Polish Airplay Chart - Lista krajowa 43/2000"](https://web.archive.org/web/20010305030724/http://www.pifpaf.com.pl/airplay/lista_43_2000.html) (in Polish). PiF PaF Production. Archived from [the original](http://www.pifpaf.com.pl/airplay/lista_43_2000.html) on 2001-03-05. Retrieved 2016-12-27. * "Why Oh Why": ["Polish Airplay Chart - Lista krajowa 08/2001"](https://web.archive.org/web/20010904000901/http://pifpaf.com.pl/airplay/lista_08_2001.html) (in Polish). PiF PaF Production. Archived from [the original](http://pifpaf.com.pl/airplay/lista_08_2001.html) on 2001-09-04. Retrieved 2016-12-27.

1. ["Discographie ATC"](https://hitparade.ch/showinterpret.asp?interpret=ATC). *hitparade.ch*. Retrieved 24 June 2019.

1. ["ATC - Set Me Free - CDsp (P)2002 @ FaN Sklep z Muzyką"](http://www.fan.pl/katalog/p90113856_atc_set_me_free.html). Fan.pl. Retrieved 2013-02-22.

1. ["ATC - Call On Me - CDsp @ FaN Sklep z Muzyką"](http://www.fan.pl/katalog/p90109623_atc_call_on_me.html). Fan.pl. Retrieved 2013-02-22.

1. ["Suomen Virallinen Lista"](https://www.ifpi.fi/lista/singlet/2019/28/)

1. ["Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles (téléchargement + streaming) – SNEP (Week 29, 2019)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190804101519/http://www.snepmusique.com/tops-semaine/top-singles-megafusion/?ye=2019&we=29) (in French). [Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique](/source/Syndicat_National_de_l'%C3%89dition_Phonographique). Archived from [the original](http://www.snepmusique.com/tops-semaine/top-singles-megafusion/?ye=2019&we=29) on 4 August 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.

1. ["Veckolista Singlar, vecka 27"](https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/41?dspy=2019&dspp=27). [Sverigetopplistan](/source/Sverigetopplistan). Retrieved 5 July 2019.

## External links

- [A Touch of Class](https://www.youtube.com/@ATouchOfClassVEVO) on [YouTube](/source/YouTube)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [A Touch of Class (group)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Touch_of_Class_(group)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Touch_of_Class_(group)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.