Collage

Latin freestyle duo Collage helped revitalize an all-but-abandoned style still reeling from its early-'90s loss of popularity. Collage was essentially vocalist Anthony Monteleone, along with producer/songwriter Adam Marano, who also ran the Viper Records label for which Collage recorded. Viper's parent label, Metropolitan, issued the Viper's Freestyle Hit Parade compilation in 1994. It helped break the Collage single "I'll Be Loving You" nationally -- the song reached number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 -- and revived the freestyle sound that had produced a number of club and pop hits during the late '80s. Collage's debut album, Chapter One, was released later that year and produced another hit in the follow-up "Gangster of Love." It also prominently featured female backup vocalist Denine. Collage's success helped spark a renewal of interest in freestyle during the '90s (on a more underground rather than mainstream level), and Marano went on to work with several other artists. The second Collage album, Chapter II: 1999, didn't appear for another five years. However, it still managed to produce a minor hit, "Angel." Chapter 3 was released in late 2001 and spawned the single "Tonight." Chapter 4 arrived six years later on the Amathus label. ~ Steve Huey