Eric Prydz

Eric Prydz is a Swedish DJ and producer best known for his 2004 hit single Call On Me, which topped the UK singles charts for 5 weeks.

Call On Me

Until January 2005 he held the dubious honour of being the artist to sell the lowest number of singles for a #1 chart position in any particular week: Call On Me only sold 23,519 copies when it returned to the top of the charts on 17 October 2004. This record was broken once again by himself only a week later on 24 October 2004, with the song only selling 21,749 copies that week. Nevertheless, it has been one of the highest selling singles in the UK, with preorder sales of 100,000 including a DVD single with the uncut video and staying five weeks at number one on the UK singles chart, which is a rare feat today due to fickle record sales.

The song has also entered the German singles charts at number one in late October 2004, and also repeated this in the Republic of Ireland. It also debuted at #2 in Australia.

Music Video

The music video for this song features an aerobics class of women performing sexually suggestive gym routines led by Australian dancer and choreographer Deanne Berry, much to the enjoyment of the sole man in the group, played by Juan Pablo DePace. It has been said to be inspired by the gym scene in the 1985 film Perfect starring John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Some people considered this video to be as close as it gets to soft pornography. Many politicians and family groups have pushed for the video to be banned, but there are two videos--a censored one shown in daylight hours and a late night version which is uncut and features the dancers rubbing their breasts and one dancer slaps her own buttocks. The song is a dance track based on a rerecorded sample of Steve Winwood's song Valerie, originally released in the UK in 1982 to little success, and re-released in 1987, gaining more success by peaking at #19 that time around.

The video spun off a parody version called "Call On Me (Part 2)", featuring an aerobics class of men instead of women, and the instructor being female instead of male.

Prydz has made or produced other songs including "Slammin" and "Woz Not Woz", and remixes of the Shapeshifters smash hit "Lola's Theme" and the Pet Shop Boys 2003 single "Miracles".

See also: Eric Prydz, 1982, 1985, 1987, 2004, Aerobics, Australia, DJ, Deanne Berry, Germany