Total

There are at least three artists with the same name 'Total': Russian alternative rock a r and b band from USA, a drone/noise band from U.K.

=====1======

Total were formed in 1999 by composer and producer Max Fadeev. The group consisted of five members: Marina Cherkunova - vocals, Gennady Gaev - guitar, Anatoly Karavaev - bass-guitar, Evgenie Nikulin - drums and Anna Kornilova – dj.

In September, 2001 they released their debut album - "Total:1", featuring the hit singles "Beats on Eyes (Adrenaline)", "Walk Away Into The Sunset ", "Heart In The Hand", "Do Not Send", "Nevermind" all which were written by Maxim Fadeev. Those singles showed that the band's stylistic orientation was towards soft-rock, or, as it has been called by the program directors of many leading Russian radio stations - pop-rock. After the album release, Total was given an unusual honour for a new group of being invited to participate in several major Russian festivals, such as Maxidrome, Invasion and Megahouse. Total also took part in the large German rock-festival Popkomm which was part of the International Music Festival which took place in Cologne. At the end of 2002, Anna Kornilova (DJ) left the group.

After 2003, Total faded from the public spotlight in Russia. During this period out of the public eye, TOTAL continued writing music and experimenting with new ideas. They also had a couple popular hits, releasing the single "Heavenly bodies", which was played on the Maximum radio and the music video of the song "Shiva", which was shown at MTV-Russia and MUZtv. It was during this time that there were several rumours that the group had split up, but neither the musicians nor Max Fadeev ever confirmed these rumours. Meanwhile, the group continued writing new music for a new album and doing other side projects. Then early in 2006 the official site of the group informed their fans that Total was working on a second album. Some of the music on this new album would be songs which were already available, but had not been released before on a album and also, that there would be several completely new songs written by the musicians themselves, the fruits of their work over the last couple of years. The musicians then later announced that their second album, Total:2 'My World' would be out in December 2006.

=====2=====

Total was an American R&B/new jack swing female trio, active from 1994 to 2000. Comprised of members JaKima Raynor (Kima), Keisha Spivey (Keisha), and Pamela Long (Pam), Total was one of the signature acts of Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records during the 1990s.

Total made their first appearance singing the hook on The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut single "Juicy". They immediatley hit the studio with Bad Boy Records CEO Sean "Puffy" Combs and began work on their debut album. The first single "Can't You See", featured B.I.G., and peaked at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100. The self-titled debut album was released shortly thereafter, and produced four top ten singles, "No One Else" (and it's remix featuring Foxy Brown, Lil' Kim and Da Brat, and "Kissing You" (and it's remix featuring Sean "Puffy" Combs). The album was certified gold by the RIAA.

While recording their second album, they appeared on numerous top ten singles, such as LL Cool J's "Loungin", Foxy Brown's "I Can't" and Ma$e's "Tell Me What You Want". They also released their another single, "What About Us" from the Soul Food Soundtrack.

Their follow-up album, Kima, Keisha and Pam debuted to strong reviews and sales. The first single "Trippin", was a top five single on The Billboard Hot 100, but the next single, "Sitting Home" didn't garner the same attention. It did however get a second life in the hip hop community when a remix of the track featured controversial artist Shyne.

Shortly after the release of Kima, Keisha, and Pam, they recorded a track called "(I Wonder Why) He's the Greatest DJ" for Tony Touch's album The Piecemaker. A few tracks showed up on mixtapes ("Crave", "Lose Control", "Let Me Breathe"), but ultimatley the group disbanded and went their separate ways.



Albums
* 1996: Total #23 US [US Certified: Platinum]
* 1998: Kima, Keisha, and Pam [US Certified: Gold]

=====3======

Total was formed by Matthew Bower after the break up of Pure. Originally the project was noise and industrial oriented and received occasional help from members of Ramleh and Ake. Towards the later 1980's the sound became more guitar oriented, and a group was formed which was name Skullflower, which ended Total.

In the early 1990's, Matthew brought back the Total name to release his solo music aside from Skullflower. Although almost the releases by the second incarnation of Total are Matthew alone, towards the end he was joined by John Godbert, making Total a duo.

As the 1990's drew to a close, so did Total, the final releases being older recordings that had not yet been issued. The reason for this seems to be that Matthew decided to use the new Sunroof! moniker for his solo works from then on.