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I might be adding this a little late but the song "Too Close" was actually sung by an American hip-hop/R&B group called 'Next' which released in 1998. I had never heard of this group 'Blue' before and looked them up in Wikipedia and found that they seem to be a UK boy band to some degree (being American and an avid music fan across all genre's and never hearing of 'Blue' I am guessing they have little or no penetration into the American music market). So just wanted to clarify as the original isn't actually by this group 'Blue.' Check out the original, considering it's an R&B song the original by 'Next' has a lot more funk and hip-hop in it and isn't as "teenified" as a lot of boy band-esqe groups tend to do. I'm white by the way so not throwing out some racially biased opinion. :) I streamed the 'Blue' version and it isn't bad but just didn't have the same soul in my opinion. It'd be like Robbie Williams (now that is indeed a UK performer I have heard of :)) doing a cover of a Stevie Wonder song. Might be a great variance upon the original but won't carry that same "black" soul that we have come to know and love in many of the African-American inspired genres. Anyways to each there own when it comes to originals versus covers.
On the topic of UK bands, I'm currently an American (as I stated) in India as an expat and keep hearing of this group 'Westlife.' For obvious reasons the Indian subculture (sub meaning in this case referencing merely a strict "traditional" Indian culture) has much more of a UK influence then they do American in terms of music, dress, material tastes, etc. I've seen a few videos on the cable here and everything I have heard from 'Westlife' is a cover of a song that seems to have hit at least Top 10 on Billboard prior to this 'Westlife' covering it (ex. "You Lift Me Up"). Can someone explain to me who this 'Westlife' is or what their "angle" is as a group? Are they a boy band? Do they do any original numbers?
Also, one last question I'd like to add, why does it seem (to me at least) American music tends to have a strong or at least decent penetration into multiple countries' music markets but the inverse isn't as strong? The same seems to hold true to movies as well. (Snatch is one of my all time favorites for the record :))
Anyways this turned into a lot longer message then I had anticipated.
Look forward to hearing some replies (refraining from America bashing would be appreciated as I can see someone stating the reason foreign music doesn't penetrate American markets is because we're arrogant uncultured close minded bastards and you're right when it comes to our current president and those who support him but I didn't vote for the bastard either time! :) lol).