Chocolate Puma are a DJ and music production duo from Haarlem, Netherlands, consisting of René ter Horst and Gaston Steenkist. Their stage names include "Zki & Dobre", "The Good Men", and "The Goodmen". Zki & Dobre have produced dance music under various group names since the early 1990s. Their most notable productions are "Give It Up" credited to The Good Men, "I Wanna Be U" credited to Chocolate Puma, and "Who Do You Love Now?" credited to Riva, and featuring Dannii Minogue. They also founded their own record label, Pssst Music.
Musical career
As the Goodmen, their most notable production was "Give It Up", a 1993 house music track based upon samba styled percussion and the simple, repeating vocal line of the song title. The percussion was inspired by a Sérgio Mendes recording. The song rose to #1 on the US BillboardHot Dance Club Play chart in 1993 and made a brief appearance on the US BillboardHot 100 chart, peaking at #71. When re-released in late 1993, "Give It Up" reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart.
Various monikers
Horst and Steenkist are also known under many aliases including:
The Good Men with a string of hits that started with the hit "Give It Up" in 1993 making it to number 5 on the UK Singles Charts, number 1 on the US Dance charts and number 71 in the US Hot 100. The follow-up "Damn Woman" charted in the Dutch charts in 1994. The Good Men also released the 1994 album Father in the Bathroom.
René Et Gaston with the hit "Vallée de larmes" in 1993
Klatsch! in two releases being "Disco Electrique" and "Touch Me".
In 1994, Gaston Steenkist, one half of the duo Zki & Dobre was instrumental in discovering Filipino-Dutch DJ Laidback Luke after the latter forwarded a demo tape to him. Laidback Luke was signed to a recording contract by the management of Dobre. At the end of the year he has already released two albums on the label Groove Alert newly established by Dobre. Laidback Luke went on to have a prosperous DJ and producing career. In 1995, Simply Red sampled The Good Men's hit "Give It Up" for their UK #1 hit "Fairground". The Good Men were credited for the sample, and Mendes was also given credit as the performer of "Fanfarra", the original source of the Goodmen's track. The duo's work has been featured on many DJ mixes from Hooj Choons, Global Underground, and Ministry of Sound.
