Wonderland Burlesque: Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Captain Jack

Saturday, March 21, 2026

Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Captain Jack

Wonderland Burlesque's

Down The Rabbit Hole

Captain Jack

Captain Jack is an American-German Eurodance and dance-rock project formed in Darmstadt in 1995. The project is best known for its single Captain Jack, which reached the top 10 in many countries in Europe. During their initial years, they managed to rack up six Top 40 hits in Germany and the Netherlands and nine in Austria.

Captain Jack's music was stylized as a form of military training mixed with Europop, dance-rock and dance pop music. They were musically influenced by the eurodance genre that was popular in Europe, Oceania, and South America in the 1990s. The style of eurodance was dance music with a female singer and a male rapper to follow a traditional verse-chorus structure.

The original group consisted of Sharky Durban and Liza da Costa. They recorded the songs Dam, Dam, Dam and Captain Jack, which snagged the #1 spot in the Netherlands, the #2 spot in Belgium, the #3 spot in Germany, #5 in Norway and #6 in both Switzerland and Austria.

After their debut album, Sharky left the group and was replaced by Francisco Gutierrez AKA: Franky Gee. Gutierrez and Liza da Costa released the albums The Mission and Operation Dance and the singles Drill Instructor and Holiday before Liza da Costa left in December of 1998. Drill Instructor matched Captain Jack's success on the charts, while making inroads to Finland, where they would enjoy a string of five Top 40 hits.

Liza da Costa was replaced by the singer Maria Lucia Lozanes AKA: Maloy. The duo released one album, called The Captain's Revenge, and three singles: Dream a Dream, Get Up with the Gipsy Kings, and Only You, before Maloy left in November of 2000.

Ilka Anna Antonia Traue, alias Illi Love, joined and stayed until 2005 - releasing five albums and numerous singles. Love was replaced by Sabine Repas and soon after, Franky suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Doctors predicted that the damage was fatal, and Franky Gee died at the age of 43 on Saturday 22 October 2005, after spending five days in a coma, bringing to an end the group's initial period.

The producers, with new talent on board, revived the group in 2008 and have been active since, releasing new material sporadically while making the occasional festival or club appearance.