It was the kind of worldwide phenomenon that no one saw coming, least of all the genre-busting duo themselves.
On this day in 2006, the unlikely tandem of former Goodie Mob MC Cee-Lo (born Thomas Calloway) and producer Danger Mouse (born Brian Burton) hit the top spot on the U.K. singles chart, beginning an impressive nine-week run with their debut single “Crazy.” It was the kind of worldwide phenomenon that no one saw coming, least of all the genre-busting duo themselves.
Cee-Lo described the project as: "that electric industrial Euro soul, that’s what I call it…if I can call it anything. It truly is shapeless and formless. My style and my approach is still water, and it runs so deep. So, with that project I got a chance to be a lil’ zany, of course a continuation of eccentricity, abstract and vague, and all of those wonderful things that make art exactly what it is."
The haunting track pushed Gnarls Barkley’s acclaimed 2006 freshman effort St. Elsewhere (Warner Music) to platinum status, picked up momentum as a ubiquitous worldwide anthem going no. 1 in Australia, Austria, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland. In the U.S. “Crazy” peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was covered by everyone from Nelly Furtado and Prince to the Raconteurs and Billy Idol. A year later, Gnarls Barkley picked up a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.
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