"Mr. Vain" is a song by German group Culture Beat, released in April 1993 as the lead single from their second studio album, Serenity (1993). It was written by Steven Levis, Nosie Katzmann and Jay Supreme, and produced by Torsten Fenslau. Tania Evans is the lead vocalist and Supreme is the rapper. The song achieved huge success worldwide, reaching the number-one position in at least 13 countries. In the United States, it peaked at number 15 on the Cash Box Top 100, number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. In 1994, the song earned an award at the German Echo Award, in the category for "Best International Dance Single" and an award in the category for "Best Hi-NRG 12-inch" at the WMC International Dance Music Awards in the US. In the UK, "Mr. Vain" was the first number-one single not to be available as a 7" vinyl single since the 1950s and heralded the demise of the 7" single as a mass market medium. It was also one of the few singles to reach number one in 1993 on only three formats. Background German DJ an producer Torsten Fenslau and his friend Jens Zimmerman formed Culture Beat in Frankfurt in 1989. They took the name from the idea of trying to mix high culture and music, and had their first hit same year, entitled "Der Erdbeermund" ("Strawberry Lips"), which meshed house sounds with the poetry of 15th century French writer François Villon. With the success of songs like "Rhythm Is a Dancer" by German group Snap! in 1992, which several critics later would compare "Mr. Vain" to, the formula for what would be known as 90s Eurodance was now beginning to establish. Fenslau wanted to develop the group further and American rapper Jay Supreme and British singer Tania Evans were recruited to front a new single and album. Supreme had moved to Germany after being in the US Army, while Evans had been working as backing singer for Neneh Cherry. The lyrics to "Mr. Vain" was written by German musician and songwriter Nosie Katzmann with Supreme and Steven Lewis, and the single was released on April 16, 1993. Chart performance "Mr. Vain" was one of the best-selling singles across Europe of 1993. It first broke in Germany, topping the German singles chart for nine weeks before breaking more widely through