Hello, Dolly! A Pan-European Smash, Holly Dolly Is Set For U.S. Launch

LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ Capitol Records) - With a European groundswell behind her, the animated singing and dancing donkey girl HOLLY DOLLY is on her way to playdates and dance floors all over America through Capitol Records.

Following top 5 single debuts in France and Sweden, and major national breakouts in Italy and the Benelux area, Capitol Records will release the "Dolly Song" ringtune on April 17, and the album Pretty Donkey Girl in the U.S. on May 22, 2007.

Joining such animated stars as Barney and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who drove millions of CD sales, Holly Dolly's kick-off single and video, "Dolly Song," also inevitably recalls the drop-dead addictive quality of Euro-pop crossover smashes by Eiffel 65, Crazy Frog and Aqua. Capitol Records is setting up a major kids' marketing campaign utilizing, among other sales aids, a life-size Holly Dolly costumed character that has made live appearances ever since the European launch.

Pre-release action has already jumped the Atlantic to Canada, where Holly Dolly's release is imminent: "We played Holly Dolly in the 4 P.M. hour on Thursday last week, and immediately received a bunch of calls...all positive. The song is reacting immediately," says Edmonton, Alberta program director James Stewart of CHUM/The Bounce 91.7. "Tons of calls each time we play it."

The overground popularity of Holly Dolly was foreshadowed – where else? – on the Internet, where a brief anime clip of a cartoon girl was set to a catchy verse-and-a-half excerpt of a Finnish band's record. The unofficial clip drew tens of thousands of page links. Holly Dolly, a cute dancing donkey girl, debuted with a new recording, "Dolly Song," based on the soundbite circulating online, and her own fanciful backstory, as an animation marketed through a number of European ringtone providers.

Elsewhere on the upcoming album are Holly Dolly versions of such kid (and parent)-friendly tunes as Bobby McFerren's "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Madonna's "La Isla Bonita," Chubby Checker's "Limbo Rock" and the Chordettes' "Lollipop." Irresistibly danceable takes on ultra-familiar children's songs are also featured, in "Holly's Farm" and "Mister Joe."