Pump Up The Jam – Technotronic featuring Felly | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#2) & R&B (#10); 1990
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
If you’re familiar with artist credit lines, you’d naturally assume that Felly was the featured vocalist on Pump Up The Jam. In fact, Felly was the non-singing model who appeared in the video and lip-synced the lyrics.
The voice behind the blue-lipsticked model from Zaire belonged to 16 year-old rapper Yah Kid K. “K” wrote Jam with a former philosophy-teacher-turned-record producer named Jo Bogaert.
To confuse matters even more Kid’s birth name was Manuela Barbara Moasco Kamosi and Bogaert was born Thomas DeQincey, an American who moved to Belgium in search of fame and fortune.
The third key ingredient was another rapper, MC Eric from Wales, whose last name was Martin. Whatever the goings-on behind-the-scenes, Pump Up The Jam delivered the goods and international dance fans made it a platinum seller. In a final twist to the story, Felly, the pseudo vocalist, didn’t even speak English.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Thomas De Quincey
Lyrics Written by:
- Manuela Kamosi
- Thomas de Quincey
- Farley “Jackmaster” Funk (uncredited)
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).