E'voke

Infobox Musical artist
Name = E'voke


Img_capt = E'voke on the cover of "Arms of Loren" in 1996
(Marlaine Gordon(left) and Kerry Potter)
Background = group_or_band
Origin = United Kingdom
Genre = Pop, dance, Europop
Years_active = 1994–1999, 2002
Label = FFRR, Frreedom, Manifesto records, Pulse8, WEA, Inferno records

E'voke were a female vocal duo from the mid 1990's who had several club hits in the UK. They were remembered for their high concept songs with lyrics that were more developed than the average eurodance song.

The two members - Marlaine Gordon and Kerry Potter both went to the Sylvia Young stage school and upon graduating went on to star in the BBC sitcom "Us girls". Marlaine also went on to star in Eastenders between 1994 and 1995 as Lydia.

I Believe

In 1994, they released their first single on the FFRR label, a dance cover version of Stevie Wonder's "I Believe" (backed with a track called "It's my life"). Although it was not a commercial hit (only reaching number 79 in the charts), it did fairly well in the clubs and featured on Direct-Hit remix service. The track was produced by Barry Leng and Duncan Hannant who went on to write E'voke's original hits.

Runaway

In late 1995, they released the track "Runaway" on Frreedom records which reached number 30 in November. The lead remix of the track was very similar in sound to N-Trance's "Set you free" that had been a massive hit earlier in the year.

Arms of Loren

In 1996, E'voke scored their biggest commercial and club hit with "Arms of Loren". Two mixes, vastly different in sound were created. The Steinway mix, which is still played today in clubs, being the more commercial and the Nip n Tuck mix being the main radio edit. Once again, the song was released on a different record label- Manifesto records. The song was widely played in clubs and the radio and was touted to become a major hit upon its release, but only reached number 25 in August 1996.

Missing you

All was quiet until early 1998 when a new E'voke record was promoed (this time on record label Pulse8), a dance cover of John Waite's "Missing you". However, due to the closing of Pulse8 records, the song was delayed, and was picked up by yet another record label- WEA records. However, there proved further delays and despite a "Christmas version" being commissioned, the track was not released until early 1999. The track was not a hit and the E'voke concept was dropped.

Marlaine's solo career

Marlaine Gordon went on to try and launch a solo career in 2000, recording the track "Step away" written by her old E'voke producers, featuring Kerry on backing vocals. Although promoed (on Universal music), the track was never released.

Arms of Loren 2002

In 2001, the head of Inferno records, who had always believed that "Arms of Loren" had never reached its potential, played the track down the phone to DJ Ferry Corsten. Corsten liked the track so much that he created his own remix to the track, basing it on the Nip N Tuck mix from the 1996 release. The remix was picked up by Inferno records (being the sixth record label E'voke were signed to) and scheduled for release in early 2002.

There was a lot of excitement regarding the re-release which had proved to be a big success in clubs. A promo video was shot (which did not feature Marlaine or Kerry) and there was even talk of the girls reuniting to promote the track, although this never happened . However despite all the hype, the track failed to set the charts alight, charting at number 31 in January 2002 - six places lower than the original version.

Post career

Since then, Kerry has appeared in bit parts in Casualty and the League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. There are no listed TV appearances for Marlaine since E'voke disbanded.