Toy-Box was a Traditional Bubblegum dance group that was led by vocalists Anila Mirza and Amir El-Falaki. They are best known for their hit singles "Tarzan & Jane", "Best Friend", and "The Sailor Song". They are also famous for their incredible likeness to fellow Danish group Aqua. In 1999 they released their debut album "FanTastic", which was followed by their second album "Toy Ride" in 2001.

Toy-Box recorded a cover of Gudrun's 1997 single worldwidewebgirl in 2001 for their second album Toy Ride.

Brief Biography
Toy-Box was Anila Mirza and Amir El Falaki. They had met each other at a New Year's Eve party in 1996 and decided to combine their talents. They had been both singing and dancing professionally for some years, and also stand behind the choreographies of the group.

Anila was born in Hillerid (Denmark) on the 8th October 1974. Anila's parents are from Indonesia and, when she was young, they moved to Denmark and made a very good life. She is 1,54 m tall and her hobbies are singing and designing clothes. Her hair and eyes are brown. Her favourite movie is Titanic, and the boy of her dreams is Will Smith.

Amir was born in Copenhagen (Denmark), on the 12th of August 1973. He is 1,86 m tall and he loves playing football, dancing, and playing with his Playstation. Before becoming a part of Toy-Box, he used to be a dance teacher.

Song Previews
Below are a collection of 45 second previews of Toy-Box's songs.

Anila & Amir: Q&A

FanTastic!
In the end of 1998 Toy-Box released the debut single "Tarzan & Jane". The single was a huge success, with many fans excited by the sound that was so similar to the famous Aqua's who was making a huge impact on the dance charts at the time. A couple months later, Toy-Box released their second single "Best Friend". The single was a smashing success, and remained on the charts for a long time with Taran & Jane. Best Friend even peaked #1 in the charts in Denmark. Toy-Box's third single "The Sailor Song" was released on August 25th. Although not quite as bigger hit as the other singles, The Sailor Song did manage to make the Top 20, and Toy-Box began to work on their debut album. Before the release of their album, Toy-Box released the promo single "Teddybear", a bubblegum ballad that both Anila and Amir were very proud of. However, the single was an initial flop, and didn't make it onto the charts. Anila and Amir were disappointed, because they had believed very strongly in Teddybear.

On 21st May 1999, Toy-Box released their debut album "FanTastic". The album was very successful, especially in Holland, where it reached #1 after only 2 weeks. It took a long time before it got any lower, and only after 1 year did the album disappear completely from the charts, only to comeback soon after.

Toy Ride
Toy-Box released their second album Toy Ride on 28th July 2001. Included was fan-favourites "Www.girl", "Superstar" and "Wizard of Oz". The album also featured a cover of E-Type's famous eurodance song "Russian Lullaby".

Misinterpretations
Toy-Box's song "Tarzan and Jane" is often mis-credited to Aqua, as is "Best Friend", due to the incredible likenesses between the vocals of Anila and Lene Nystrøm Rasted, and Amir and René Dif. Toy-Box are occasionally mis-credited with the song "Butterfly" by Smile.dk largely due to distributions of the song on peer-to-peer networks and file-sharing programs being tagged as by the group.

The song "Fantasy Dreamworld" is widely thought to be a Toy-Box song, but is actually by a bubblegum dance group named Combayah.

Discography
Below is the complete discography of Toy-Box.

ALBUMS:

FANTASTIC (21 MAY 1999)

Description: This is the basic debut version of "FanTastic" and contains 13 songs. More versions of this album are below. Toy-Box Pictures Presents (0:38) The Sailor-Song (3:04) Best Friend (3:28) Tarzan & Jane (3:04) E.T. (3:40) Teddybear (4:14) Super-Duper-Man (3:17) I Believe In You (3:29) Earth, Wind, Water & Fire (3:36) What About (3:40) Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo (3:17) A Thing Called Love (3:16) Sayonara (Goodbye) (3:25)

Click to enlarge.

FANTASTIC (1999)

Description: This is the second version of "FanTastic" that was released and contains 13 songs, + two bonus videos. The CD Rom also includes the Toy-Box Space Trap Game. This "version" of the album was first released by Edel Records (Germany), and then Attic Records Limited and Edel America Records. Toy-Box Pictures Presents (0:38) The Sailor-Song (3:04) Best Friend (3:28) Tarzan & Jane (3:04) E.T. (3:40) Teddybear (4:14) Super-Duper-Man (3:17) I Believe In You (3:29) Earth, Wind, Water & Fire (3:36) What About (3:40) Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo (3:17) A Thing Called Love (3:16) Sayonara (Goodbye) (3:25) VIDEO 1: Tarzan & Jane VIDEO 2: Best Friend

Click to enlarge.

FANTASTIC (15 NOVEMBER 1999)

Description: This is the Christmas release of the basic version of "FanTastic" and contains 13 songs, + a bonus song "So Merry Christmas Everyone". Toy-Box Pictures Presents (0:38) The Sailor-Song (3:04) Best Friend (3:28) Tarzan & Jane (3:04) E.T. (3:40) Teddybear (4:14) Super-Duper-Man (3:17) I Believe In You (3:29) Earth, Wind, Water & Fire (3:36) What About (3:40) Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo (3:17) A Thing Called Love (3:16) Sayonara (Goodbye) (3:25) So Merry Christmas Everyone (3:55)

Click to enlarge.

TOY RIDE (28 JULY 2001)

Description: The much awaited second album by Toy-Box was released on 28th July 2001. The album contains 12 tracks, and production was done mainly by Honeycutt (Miss Papaya fame), rather than Golden Child like the first album. Superstar (3:07) Russian Lullaby (3:17) www.girl (3:24) 007 (3:20) Cowboy Joe (3:05) Dumm-Diggy-Dumm (3:07) Wizard Of Oz (3:18) Divided (3:30) Prince Of Arabia (3:36) S.O.S. (2:45) No Sleep (3:43) Finally (3:06)

Click to enlarge.

SINGLES:

Breakup
Toy-Box's breakup was never officially announced, but rumours began to circulate that Amir is either working as a dance teacher or is planning a solo career. Anila has changed her name to Aneela and begun a solo career.

In 2004, Anila changed her name to Aneela, and began a solo career in music. She focuses on Indian pop/dance, and released her first solo single "Bombay Dreams" in 2005, and "Say Na/Jande" in 2005/2006 in the Bollywood movie "Bluffmaster". nila has also performed alongside Arash in the hit songs "Chori Chori" and "Bombay Dreams". She also participated in the Arash's album Crossfade on the song "Say Na Say Na" that she sung in Punjabi.

In 2006, Aneela released her debut solo album "Mahi". Aneela's official Web site has more up to date details on her current career, as well as a forum which Aneela posts in, answering fan questions.

When asked about another Toy-Box release, Aneela said, "I don't know, anything's possible."

Aqua Similarities
As well as the similar sound, there are many reasons why Aqua and Toy-Box are alike. Here are some reasons. Can you think of any others?

1. Toy-Box's first album has a limited christmas edition like Aqua's album 'Aquarium'
2. Toy-Box's 'Tarzan & Jane' is a cartoon parody like Aqua's release 'Barbie Girl'
3. Toy-Box's toon videos have a fanfare intro like Aqua's music videos
4. Toy-Box released two albums (FanTastic, Toy Ride), just like Aqua (Aquarium, Aquarius)
5. Toy-Box is from Copenhagen, Denmark. So are Aqua.
6. Toy-Box released one b-side, 'So Merry Christmas Everyone', Aqua released 'Didn't I'
7. Toy-Box's lead singer Anila Mirza went solo like Aqua's Lene Nystrøm Rasted
8. Toy-Box is featured in a charity song 'Et lys I mørket' like Aqua in 'Selv en dråbe'
9. Toy-Box's Anila sings with a high-pitched voice and Amir with a dark rough voice, just like Aqua's Lene and Rene.
10. Toy-Box's very last official song was 'Sayonara (Goodbye)'. Aqua's last official song (before their reunion) was 'Goodbye To The Circus'.
11. Toy-Box's Anila and Aqua's Lene had both crazy hair styles in their band area.
12. Toy-Box's first album was more popular than their second, as was Aqua's.