Atomic Kitten The Greatest Hits

[Lavonda Busing]

AtomicKittenOriginLiverpool, England, United KingdomGenresPop, Dance-Pop, Europop, Disco and Bubblegum PopYears Active1998-2004, 2008, 2012-presentLabelsEMI, Innocent and VirginMembersJenny Frost

Kerry Katona

Liz McClarnon

Natasha HamiltonAtomic Kitten is a British pop girl group formed in Liverpool in 1998 whose current members are Natasha Hamilton and Liz McClarnon. The group was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) members Andy McCluskey and Stuart Kershaw, who served as principal songwriters during Atomic Kitten's early years. The group's debut album Right Now was released in October 2000 and charted at number 39 in the United Kingdom. After five top ten singles, original member Kerry Katona quit, four weeks before "Whole Again" reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, and was replaced by former Precious singer Jenny Frost. "Whole Again" became the group's most successful single, staying at number one for four weeks in the UK and six weeks in Germany, and reaching number one in many other territories; in Britain, it was the 13th best-selling single of the 2000s. The group re-released their debut album, with some tracks re-recorded with Frost's vocals: it peaked at number one in the UK and was certified double platinum after selling over 600,000 copies.

Between 2002 and 2004, the group released a further two studio albums, Feels So Good (which also went Double Platinum in the UK) and Ladies Night, and a greatest hits album before announcing a break following their 2004 tour. To date the group have had three UK number-one singles, "Whole Again", the fourth-best-selling song of all time by a girl group in the UK; "Eternal Flame", a song originally recorded by The Bangles; and "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)", a song originally recorded by The Paragons. They have sold over 10 million records worldwide.

After making sporadic appearances in 2006 and 2008, it was announced that McClarnon, Hamilton, and Katona would reunite for the ITV2 series The Big Reunion, alongside five other pop groups of their time, B*Witched, Five, Liberty X, Honeyz and 911. Frost was unable to take part in the comeback because of her pregnancy, but Hamilton has since said that Frost would be welcomed back if she wanted to rejoin the group in the future. Katona left the group for a second time in December 2017 leaving the group as a duo.

Atomic Kitten was first conceived in 1998 by British musician Andy McCluskey, best known as the frontman of new wave group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk suggested he create a new band as a vehicle for his songs following the 1996 dissolution of OMD, who were rendered "totally out of fashion" by the prevalence of Britpop. McCluskey founded Atomic Kitten alongside fellow OMD member Stuart Kershaw, and the pair would serve as principal songwriters on the group's studio recordings in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The line-up initially featured Liz McClarnon, Kerry Katona and Heidi Range, but did not have a name. In her autobiography Too Much, Too Young: My Story of Love, Survival and Celebrity, Katona mentions that they pondered names such as Exit and Honeyheads, before settling on Automatic Kitten, which was the title of a fashion label owned by a clothing designer called Mary Lamb. When Katona went home to tell her mother all about the band, her mother's friend "Bob the Leg" was there. He was unable to pronounce "Automatic Kitten" and kept saying "Atomic Kitten". Katona liked the name and told her bandmates about i, they all felt the same way and the name stuck. Range later quit because of artistic differences and was replaced by Natasha Hamilton. Range went on to have success with another girl band, the Sugababes.

The group's debut single, "Right Now", was released in late-November 1999 and reached number ten on the UK Singles Chart. Their second single, "See Ya" followed in March 2000 and was an even bigger success, reaching number six. Following this initial success, Atomic Kitten performed an Asian tour and scored their first number-one hit there with "Cradle". In 2000 they also recorded a cover of "The Locomotion" for the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad. The album, also titled Right Now, was first released in Japan on March 16, 2000 and subsequently released in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2000 following the release of two further singles, "I Want Your Love" and "Follow Me", with a slightly modified track list. The album's Japanese edition included a rare remix of "Cradle", an early version of "I Want Your Love" titled "All The Right Things", the original version of "Whole Again", which has only Kerry Katona speaking all the verses in the song, while Natasha Hamilton and Liz McClarnon sing the chorus, and a remix of "Right Now". In Europe, the album was unsuccessful upon its first release, peaking at number 39 on the UK Albums Chart. There were no initial plans to focus on the global market and Atomic Kitten's label, Innocent Records, was even considering dropping them because of their limited success. However, the record company was persuaded to let the group release one more single from the album. That single, "Whole Again", became their first number-one hit in the United Kingdom and stayed at the top for four consecutive weeks. Due to this success, "Whole Again" was released globally, and reached number one in 18 other countries, including 6 weeks in Germany and New Zealand and 27 weeks at number one in the Republic of Moldova. The song and video for "Whole Again" originally featured Kerry Katona (her vocals were also in "Hippy" and "Get Real"), but several days before the single's release, she left because of her pregnancy. Former Precious singer Jenny Frost replaced her in the line-up and the single's music video was re-shot; a US video for "Whole Again" was also released. The Katona-Frost switch led to the decision to partially re-record and re-release the Right Now album which then went to number one in the UK in August 2001, and was certified Double Platinum. The album also reached the Top 10 in several European countries, including Germany and Denmark. Atomic Kitten's first album was repackaged with 3 brand-new tracks, "Eternal Flame", "Tomorrow & Tonight", and "You Are", and includes vocals from Jenny Frost in "Right Now", "Whole Again", and a remixed version of "Bye Now".

Their next single, "Eternal Flame", a cover of The Bangles'1989 hit, became their second number-one single in the UK and New Zealand and is featured in the film The Parole Officer and the So Far So Good DVD. It became their biggest single in France, peaking at number two, and eventually went Gold. In late 2001, the band announced they would be releasing a final single from the repackaged album, "You Are". A video was recorded and promo singles were sent out to radio, but the single was ultimately shelved, never getting a full commercial release. That same year, "Right Now" was featured in Konami's hit arcade videogame, Dance Dance Revolution 5th MIX.

Following the success of Right Now, a new album, Feels So Good, was recorded. The songwriting and production agreement with Andy McCluskey and Stuart Kershaw was an increasing source of tension within the group, and the pair departed during the recording of the album. McCluskey spoke of dissension between himself and the record company, whose "formula" demanded "'Whole Again', 'Whole Again' and more fucking 'Whole Again'"; he was essentially dismissed and legally prohibited from contacting the band, before exiting the "very dirty" business of "manufactured pop". Released tracks from Feels So Good were "It's OK", "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)", "The Last Goodbye", "Love Doesn't Have to Hurt" and "Be With You". The unreleased single was "Feels So Good" sung by Kylie Minogue and Atomic Kitten. "The Last Goodbye" was the 3rd single from their second studio album, Feels So Good and "Be With You" was from their third album, Ladies Night.

The first single, "It's OK", peaked at number three in the United Kingdom. The next single was "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)", a remake of the 1965 song by The Paragons that Blondie covered in 1980, which gave the group their third number-one single in the UK and New Zealand. In April 2002 Hamilton announced that she was pregnant but opted to continue with the promotion before going on maternity leave, which included the scheduled 2002 tour, the "Tide is High (Get the Feeling)" video, and a "Feels So Good" medley at Party in the Park. The band sponsored a team in the British Touring Car Championship.

During January and February 2003, Atomic Kitten toured Southeast Asia, visiting Singapore, Thailand, and Korea. Hamilton, who had given birth to her son Josh on August 24, 2002, brought him on the tour.

In April 2003, the album Atomic Kitten was released in the United States, which consisted of tracks from their first two albums. The album was unsuccessful, although "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)" appeared on the soundtrack for the Disney Channel Original Movie The Lizzie McGuire Movie. Following this, the group opted to focus solely on the European, Oceanian, South African and Asian markets. Before recording their third album, Kool & the Gang approached the group about a collaboration for their album of duets, Odyssey. Kool & the Gang wanted to record an updated version of their hit "Ladies Night" and were looking for a girl group to sing the lyrics. Atomic Kitten liked the idea and inquired whether they could use it for their next album which was subsequently named Ladies Night in honour of this collaboration.

Atomic Kitten spent late 2002 and early 2003 in the studio recording their third and final studio album. Up until the recording of Ladies Night, the group mainly relied on songwriters, though they had occasionally co-written songs featured on their albums. While recording Ladies Night, they decided to be directly involved in the creation of eight of the fifteen songs. Ladies Night was released on November 10, 2003 and peaked at number five in the UK album chart. It was certified Platinum for sales in excess of 300,000 copies. The group released the album, which featured singles including "Be With You", "Ladies Night" and "If You Come To Me" (which peaked at number three on the UK top 40). A deluxe edition of her third album was released with extra tracks including remixes of Be With You, Ladies Night and Someone Like Me.

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