Wonderland Burlesque: Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Voyage

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Voyage

Wonderland Burlesque's

Down The Rabbit Hole:

Voyage

Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.

Today, we take a look at the international-blending music of euro-disco/pop group Voyage.

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From Wikipedia and other sources:

Voyage was a French disco and pop group, consisting of André "Slim" Pezin (guitar/vocals), Marc Chantereau (keyboards/vocals), Pierre-Alain Dahan (drums/vocals) and Sauveur Mallia (bass). On the group's first two albums, Voyage (1977) and Fly Away (1978), British singer Sylvia Mason-James sang lead vocals. After that, as the group's sound evolved from disco to pop, Pierre-Alain Dahan became the lead vocalist for their next two albums, Voyage 3 (1980) and on One Step Higher (1982). Unlike many Euro Disco acts, they found success on both sides of the Atlantic.

It all began in 1975, Pezin, Chantereau, Dahan and Mallia worked together in a band called V.I.P. Connection. The group released two singles, but generated little interest. To make ends meet, they also served as session musicians for a wide variety of artists of the day, such as Cerrone, Michel Legrand, and Stéphane Grappelli, to name but a few. As session musicians they were much in demand, travelling the world supporting other artists.

By 1977, they had morphed into Voyage and, with singer Sylvia Mason-James on board, secured a recording contract with Sirocco Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records.

In the US, they found instant success on the dance charts. On the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart, two of their albums, Voyage (1978) and Fly Away (1979), hit #1. They also enjoyed a minor hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979 with Souvenirs, which peaked at #41.

In the UK, the group enjoyed three chart singles. A double A-side, From East To West/Scotch Machine reached #13 in 1978, while later that year Souvenirs peaked at #56. Their final chart appearance came in 1979 when Let's Fly Away peaked at #38. .

In their home country, France, they were successful in the nightclubs of Paris, and featured on radio and television. However, chart-wise, they only managed three singles - From East To West peaked at #20 in 1978, while Souvenirs peaked at #53 and Tahiti - Tahiti peaked at #43 in 1979. In France, they were unable to replicate the album sales they'd generated in the US and as disco was on the wane, they turned their attention to more pop focused material. That is when Sylvia Mason-James and the group parted ways.

After their next two albums failed to generate any heat, the group disbanded, although individual members continued to work with one another on various musical projects, including several movie soundtracks.

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