Big Soul began by playing in the clubs of Los Angeles and San Francisco, selling their self-produced CDs after shows. The group was playing a concert on L.A.'s Sunset Boulevard when an unidentified French tourist bought one of their homemade CDs. Back in Paris, the tourist gave Big Soul's album to a well-known Parisian club DJ, who succeeded in making dance hits of "Hippy Hippy Shake" and "Le Brio," even though he owned the only copy of the album in France. For almost two years the DJ tried unsuccessfully to contact Big Soul, feeling certain that he could help break the band in Europe. Finally he played the album for two young marketing executives at Sony Music, who managed to contact the group, and offered them a licensing contract.

Big Soul relocated to Paris and after a few months after a few months of diligent promotion suddenly exploded on the French scene, surprising everyone when their homemade CD hit number 2 and went gold. The group subsequently toured throughout Europe, appearing often on national television, and had a two hit singles.