Before joining Madison Avenue,
Cheyne Coates was working as a choreographer and singer in
Melbourne. Coates met producer and writer Andy Van Dorsselaer (aka Andy Van) in a dance club. Van was the founder of the
Vicious Vinyl record label and had remix credits for
Tina Arena and
CDB. Van Dorsselaer had won an
Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) award for his production work on "Coma" by
Pendulum. The duo started working together mainly as writers and producers in 1998. Madison Avenue recorded their first single, "Fly", featuring Kellie Wolfgram as lead vocalist. Coates sang lead on the group's breakthrough single, "
Don't Call Me Baby" (October 1999): Van Dorsselaer preferred her version, even though it was initially used as the guide track for Wolfgram. "Don't Call Me Baby" became the first single by an Australian group to top the charts in Britain since "
Down Under" by
Men at Work in February 1983, a feat it maintained for ten years until "
We No Speak Americano" by
Yolanda Be Cool and
DCUP topped the UK Singles Chart in July 2010. The song was also a top ten hit in Greece and Ireland. Coates became the public face of the band, although they had intended to be a collective dance group like
C&C Music Factory or
Soul II Soul. The group's only studio album,
The Polyester Embassy, was released in 2000 and reached number 4 on the Australian album charts. It provided three other singles: "
Who the Hell Are You?", a number-one hit in Australia, They were also nominated for
Best Group,
Best Dance Release,
Producer of the Year (for work by Van Dorsselaer and Coates) and Best Video (for direction by Hartley) for "Don't Call Me Baby". She followed with a solo album,
Something Wicked This Way Comes (October 2004). Soon after, she left the music performance industry and, according to Van Dorseelaer, "has a successful career writing songs for other people." Andy Van went on to create the band
Vandalism. ==Personnel==