4Ever Songs: Dee-Lite ‘Groove is in the Heart’

30 years ago, a multicultural trio who found delights on New York City dancefloors released a single that merged funk, pop, and disco in a hip-hop collage style. ‘Groove is in the Heart’ is a colourful and infectious song that’s become an enduring classic

The band’s origins were similarly cosmopolitan. Deee-Lite were both very New York, their music slotting into the city’s decadent club scene, and globally disparate — DJ Dmitry was from Ukraine, Towa Tei from Tokyo, and Lady Miss Kier from the US — anticipating the explosion in global pop in the late 2010s.