Whigfield is an Italian dance act fronted by Danish singer, former model, songwriter, and record producer Sannie Charlotte Carlson (born 11 April 1970), known by her various stage names, including Whigfield, Sannie, or simply Naan. She is best known for her 1993 single "Saturday Night", which became an international hit the following year.
Based in Italy at the time, Carlson collaborated with Italian producer Larry Pignagnoli, and "Saturday Night" entered the top five in Italy. The single "Another Day" also peaked at number three in Italy. Additionally, the single "Sexy Eyes" charted in various markets, along with "Another Day" and "Think of You", both of which entered the top ten in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, and her native Denmark. She competed in the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2018 with the song "Boys on Girls" but did not qualify for the superfinal.
Like Milli Vanilli and Corona (band), Carlson was accused of not singing her songs. The accusations stemmed partly from the fact that she lip-synched all her live performances and partly from the fact that she had a brighter voice and a different accent on the recorded tracks than in real life. The deeper voice is noticeable on Carlson's new recording of "Saturday Night", used for her more recent live performances. In addition, Ally & Jo, one of the producers' other projects, featured vocals extremely similar to Whigfield's, but marketed with two different faces.
British Annerley Gordon, better known as Ann Lee (singer), who would be the real singer, had previously lent her voice to a number of Italian productions, was also among Whigfield's songwriters, and has throughout Carlson's career been associated with the same production company as her. The fact that Ann Lee had a connection to the Corona project, which did exactly what Whigfield was accused of, backed up the claims, which gained additional traction over the years, due to the striking similarities between Ann Lee's voice in live performances and Whigfield's sound.
On 22 March 2019, Off Limits, Whigfield's label for almost twenty years, posted on Facebook, "Annerley Gordon, better known as Ann Lee, is one of the most well-known dance characters in the 90s. She wrote together with Ivana Spagna "Try Me Out" and "I Don't Wanna Be a Star" for Corona and participated as a voice and author in numerous dance projects such as Whigfield, J.K., Charme and many others."
The claims were casually confirmed in 2021 on YouTube channel MDT Radio by Mauro Farina, an Italian record producer, who was asked by a Spanish journalist if Ann Lee, with whom he had collaborated multiple times, was the voice behind other songs such as "I Drove All Nite" by Bandido. He responded, "Yes, yes, my dear friend Annerley Gordon, who also did Whigfield. She lent her voice for Whigfield, and it was a worldwide success." ...
Source: Article "Whigfield" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
