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Babics Marcella born 01.02.1953 vocals 1972 - Kócbabák |
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Marcellina was an all-round person since childhood. She sung in the Hungarian Radio Children's Choir, learned to play sax and first took the stage at 14. Like Éva Fábián, she took singing lessons from Ödön Hoffmann. In 1972 their teacher created a vocal trio "Kócbabák" that consisted of three of his students, Éva Fábián, Marcellina Babics and Éva Csepregi. Their trio took part in "Ki mit tud?" TV music contest, with its main rivals being a similar female trio named "Mikrolied" and Hungary's future disco star Judit Szűcs. After their not particularly successful performance Marcellina chose to leave the trio, joining pop band "Apostol" as a singer, going with the band on Western Europe tour (Germany, Switzerland, Sweden) which ended in May 1973.  The band went back to Hungary, but Marcellina managed to remain abroad, working with another band named "Full-tone".
In 1982 Marcella finally went back to her native land, where she created a project named "Marcellina PJT" with musician Péter Kaszás. Under this name Marcellina recorded several electro pop and euro disco dancing songs, including "Te vagy a sztár" (1983), "Sexy Lady" (1986), "Új" (1986) and "Ne sírj szaxofonom" (1988) which gained moderate success in Hungary — and a number of cover songs, such as "Touch Me" (1987, originally sung by Samantha Fox), "Őrült Nyár" (1988, originally sung by Sofia Rotaru as "Bylo no proshlo") and many others. In the late 1980s "Marcellina PJT" recorded three albums, "A Sztár Csak Te Vagy!" (1986), "Fohász A Szerelemért" (1988) and "Gyújts Fényt!" (1989). She recorded not only vocals, but also sax parts for the songs. She also did guest saxophone recordings for other Hungarian artists and extensively toured the world (Europe, China, Jamaica, US, Russia) with live shows and a special performance named "One Woman Show" during which she walked on the ceiling playing sax. |
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Other vocalists 
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Stefanidu Janula born 09.12.1952 vocals 1983-1984 - Neoton Família |
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She was born in Czechoslovakia in a family of Greek refugees political refugees sent to a Czechoslovak prison camp. In 1973 she started studying at Béla Bartók Music High School's jazz faculty; her singing teacher was György Vukán. In August 1979 Janula entered "Made in Hungary" music contest wih a song titled "Egymás nélkül nem megyünk tovább"; in February 1980 she entered "Tessék választani!" with a song titled "Vasárnap" ("Sunday") which became her first hit. She entered these contests two more times. Her songs "Vasárnap", "Ma újra", "Délen", "Jó, hogy engen néz a két szemed" were released as singles in 1980, 1981 and 1981. She performed together with "Apostol" band members, acted in "Deák Big Band" TV series. 
In 1983 she was invited to join "Neoton Família"; she participated in recording "Aerobic" and "VII" albums and the band's big summer tour of 1983. She left "Neoton Família" in the early 1984, working as a session singer for a while. In 1993 she recorded a 14-track album "Akropolisz" which included her first hit song "Vasárnap". Starting 1990 Janula also became interested in Greek music; she was a lead singer in a band named "Zeys" then founded her own band "Carpe Diem" where she posed as an alluring 19-year old boy Funnah Fanny. The band's most famous song is called "Álomhajó" ("Dreamboat"). Later Janula was a conductor of a Greek choir, and in 2005
she opened her own Greek music school. She remains a singer, now in a band that plays modern Greek music.
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Lukács Erzsébet born 17.07.1966 vocals 1983-1990 - Neoton Família |
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Born in a barber's family. As a kid she was learning to play violin, wanting also to become a professional singer; her parents, however, did not in the least approve of her desire, having their minds set upon a serious profession for Erszi. As a result she began working in her father's hair salon, but one day 17-year Erszi was noticed by Péter Erdős who invited her to replace Éva Pál who left "Neoton Família". At the time she was the youngest member of the band. In 1986 Erszi was due to perform at Interpop festival in Siófok, but in the face of her inexperience a song she was planned to perform, "Szerelemre születtem", was handed over to Erika Zoltán. Erika won the contest, feeling very grateful to Erszi.
After "Neoton Família"'s breakup Erszi was a sole member who did not join "Új Neoton" or "Éva-Neoton", opting to begin her solo career instead. She found a new custodian in István Rózsa, head of Proton label. In 1989 she recorded a hit song "Te vagy én és a boldogság" ("You, Me and Happiness"). Thus she stepped all of a sudden out of Éva Csepregi's shade; she was addressed as "superstar candidate". Her career went over really fast though: she released her debut album "Várok rád" in 1990, showed up in some TV shows, performing "Nyitva van a nagyvilág" (1991) song among other things, then vanished. Word has it there was an overabundance of blonde females on Hungary's music scene and Erszi was overshadowed by the competition. Later she returned to her initial profession; now she does hair for people who appear on MTV.
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Liener Márta vocals 1984 - Neoton Família |
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She was singing since childhood; in 1979 she graduated Budapest Pedagogical College. In 1981 she recorded a successful song titled "Ma éjjel ne hagyj egyedül", participated in "Tánc- és popdalfesztivál" TV show with a song titled "Nem kell mindent értened" and in 1982 she participated in "Made in Hungary" with a song titled "Emlékkönyv".  She provided backing vocals for Judith Szücs, participating in 1981 "Ilyen Ma Egy Lány" album recording in particular. In the late 1970s and early 1980s she also worked in advertising business and as a model. In February 1984 replaced Janula Stefanidu in "Neoton Família". However, she was a member of the band for a mere pair of months before being succeeded by Mária Juhász.
The same 1984 Márta finished her 2-year long dancing/music courses dispensed by Hungarian Radio. Her singing teacher was László Domahidi; she also took private singing lessons from Magda Kovács. During this time she recorded a single titled "Mi-Mi Történt Velem?"/"Beszélő Hajasbaba" (1984) and such successful songs as "A szél" and "Tegnap egy ufót láttam". Soon after that Márta got married, leaving the stage for a while; in 1987 and 1993 she gave birth to two sons. In the late 1980s Márta was a lead singer of "Modell Trió", which recorded several songs that were popular in Hungary, such as "Itt van a helyünk" (1988), "Öreg Madár", "Szombaton este" and "Volt És Lesz" (1991) and an album titled "Titkos Kapcsolat" (1989). In the 2000s she performed in one of Budapest's cafes together with Janula Stefanidu, singing famous retro hits. |
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Juhász Mária 17.12.1954 — 1996 vocals 1984-1988 - Neoton Família 1990 - Új Neoton |
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Some said she found her singing voice before her feet. Her first singing teacher was Stefinél Ákos, then she studied in Ferenc Rózsa Music School; she worked at National Library's radio broadcasting studio. Then came the marriage and birth of a daughter named Timi, and yet she continued singing. In 1976 Márika performed for the first time on "Tessék Választani" contest with a song titled "Gyere kicsit bolondozni", and in 1977 she made a second try with a song titled "Kicsit Igényes". However, her most famous song was "Ha árulnak majd gesztenyét" ("If You'll Sell The Chestnuts Later"), her entry at 1978 "Made in Hungary" contest. She frequently performed at night-clubs, in TV shows, on stage in the Eastern bloc countries. She had a graceful voice and a certain charm, yet she didn't make it big in the music business due to a lack of ambition.
In 1984 Márika suddenly got a telegram from Péter Erdős offering her to replace Janula Stefanidu, who just left "Neoton Família", as a backing singer. She gladly accepted the offer; providing backing vocals for "Neoton Família" fitted her perfectly. However, in some songs she acted as a lead singer, for example, such is the case with a cover version of "Flashdance". Márika's relationship with Éva Csepregi remained strained though, so in 1988 she was subtly forced to leave the band with Péter Erdős's tacit approval. However, she kept working together with some members of the band; in 1990 she recorded backing vocals for "Új Neoton"'s "A trónörökös" album and some of Gyula Bardóczi's albums. She died of cancer in 1996, forgotten and forlorn, and there were no obituaries in the media whatsoever.
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Schäffer Edina born 17.07.1968 vocals 1989-1990 - Neoton Família 1990-1993 - Éva-Neoton |
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Edina was into music since childhood; her favorite instrument was violin. Young Edina worked at Hungarian Radio music department; performed together with alternative bands. In 1989 she replaced backing vocalist Mária Juhász who left "Neoton Família". After the band's breakup the following year she joined Éva Csepregi's "Éva-Neoton", even providing lead vocals for one of the songs on "Édentöl keletre" (1990) album.
After "Éva-Neoton"'s breakup she took up courses on teaching English and economics; took up breakdancing; she was organizing various contests and gave birth to three children. Now she's teaching several disciplines at some bilingual primary school. By Mikhail Badanin Translated into English by Andrey Sinelnikov |
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