Atomic Kitten

Atomic Kitten
Second line-up
Background information
Origin	Liverpool, England, UK
Genres	Pop, dance-pop, Europop
Years active	1997–2008
Labels	EMI, Innocent, Virgin
Members	Natasha Hamilton Liz McClarnon Kerry Katona
Past members	Jenny Frost Heidi Range
Website	atomickitten.com

Atomic Kitten are an English pop girl group formed in Liverpool in 1997. The group comprises three members: Jenny Frost, Liz McClarnon and Natasha Hamilton. Jenny Frost joined the group in January 2001 to replace Kerry Katona, who quit when she became pregnant. Heidi Range (who later joined the Sugababes) was a founding member of the group, but left before they secured a record deal. The group have had three UK number one singles; "Whole Again", the fourth best-selling single by a girl group of all time; "Eternal Flame", a song originally recorded by The Bangles, and "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)", a song originally recorded by The Paragons and later by Blondie. They have also had two double-platinum number-one albums in the UK, their debut Right Now and its follow-up Feels So Good.

The group went on hiatus in April 2004 although they returned briefly a year later to release a new version of their single "Cradle". They also made one-off appearances in 2006 and 2008. On 4 March 2012, Natasha Hamilton confirmed that the group would be reforming during the year although this was later denied by all members. However, on 18 October, it was announced that the original members of Atomic Kitten—including Katona, and without Frost—would reunite for an ITV2 series along with other pop groups of their time, including B*Witched, Five, Liberty X, Honeyz and 911. Hamilton confirmed to a fan via Twitter that Frost wasn't taking part due to her pregnancy with twins but would be welcome back as soon as she was ready. Katona rejoined the group in 2012 replacing Frost.

History

1997–01: Formation and Right Now

Kerry Katona

Atomic Kitten was first conceived in 1997 by Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. The original line-up featured Liz McClarnon, Kerry Katona and Heidi Range (now in the Sugababes), but Range decided to quit due to artistic differences, and was replaced by Natasha Hamilton. This line-up was finalised in 1999.

The group's debut single, "Right Now", was released in late November 1999 and reached #10 on the UK Singles Chart. Their second single, "See Ya", followed in March 2000 and was an even bigger success, reaching #6. Following this initial success, Atomic Kitten performed an Asian tour and scored their first number one hit there with "Cradle". The album, also titled Right Now, was first released in Japan on 16 March 2000, and subsequently released in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2000 following the release of two further singles, "I Want Your Love" and "Follow Me", with a slightly modified track list. In 2000, the group also recorded a cover version of "The Locomotion" for the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Right Now was unsuccessful upon its first release, peaking only at #39 in the UK album chart. Initially, there were no plans to focus on the global market and Atomic Kitten's record label, Innocent Records, was even considering dropping them because of their limited success. However, the record company were persuaded to allow the group to 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 eighteen other countries, including six weeks in Germany and New Zealand. The song and video for "Whole Again" originally featured Kerry Katona; however, she left the group several days prior to the single's release due to of her pregnancy. Former Precious singer, Jenny Frost replaced Katona in the line-up and the single was re-recorded. This 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 ten in several European countries, including Germany and Denmark.

Their next single, "Eternal Flame", a cover version of the 1989 hit by The Bangles, became their second number-one single in the UK and New Zealand. 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, entitled "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.

2002–03: Third line-up and Feels So Good

Following the success of Right Now, a new album, Feels So Good, was recorded. The songwriting and production agreement with Andy McCluskey was an increasing source of tension within the group, and the girls decided to terminate the contract with McCluskey halfway through the recording of the album. Released tracks from the studio album were "It's OK", "The Tide Is High (Get The Feeing)", "The Last Goodbye" and "Love Doesn't Have To Hurt". The unreleased single was "Feels So Good" sung by Kylie Minogue and Atomic Kitten. "The Last Goodbye" was the 11th single from the studio album "Feels So Good". Most popular tracks such as "Be With You", "The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)" and "The Last Goodbye" were taken from Be With Us (A Year With..)

The first single off the album was "It's OK!", which 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 (also made famous by Blondie 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 rather than leave the group, she opted to continue with the scheduled 2002 tour. Hamilton filmed the music video for "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)", and made an appearance at Party in the Park before finally going on maternity leave.

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 24 August 2002, decided to take her newborn baby with her on the tour as well.

2003–04: Ladies Night and split

In April 2003, the album Atomic Kitten was released in the United States, which consisted of tracks from their first two albums. However, the album was unsuccessful and peaked at #102 on the Billboard 200, though the single "The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)", reached #42 on the Billboard Hot 100 and appeared on the soundtrack for the Disney film 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 and the Gang approached the group about a collaboration for their album of duets, Odyssey. Kool and 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 enquired whether they could use it for their next album which was subsequently named Ladies Night Released tracks were Be With You, If You Come To Me, Ladies Night and the previous single released was Someone Like Me in honour of this collaboration.

Their first single of the album, excluding "Be With You", was "If You Come to Me". It peaked at number three on the UK top 40. 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 10 November 2003 and peaked at number five in the UK album chart. It was certified Platinum for sales in excess of 300,000 copies.

In early 2004, a tour to support the Ladies Night album and the upcoming release of their Greatest Hits album was planned. Shortly before the tour kicked off, the group announced they would be taking an extended break after the completion of the tour.

2004–11: Occasional appearances and solo projects

In January 2004, Hamilton announced she wanted to take a hiatus from the group and devote more time to her young son. Atomic Kitten released the double A-side single Someone like Me/"Right Now 2004" as a "goodbye" to their fans, but were reunited on Valentine's Day 2005 to release the charity single "Cradle 2005", a new version of the original song from their album Right Now which was a number one hit in Asia back in 2000. "Cradle 2005" peaked at number ten, selling 35,000 copies worldwide, with proceeds going to World Vision.

In 2005, Atomic Kitten was featured on the soundtrack of Disney's Mulan II with the song "(I Wanna Be) Like Other Girls". In 2005, they also performed together in Krakow on 28 August at the Coca-Cola SoundWave Festival.

In 2006, they released a cover version of The Farm song "All Together Now". It became a charity single for the FIFA World Cup and was released only in German-speaking countries. It peaked inside the German Top 20.

The group reunited in December 2006 for The Nokia New Year's Eve Music Festival, performing in Hong Kong on 31 December 2006. They once again reunited to perform at The Number One Project at the Liverpool Echo Arena on 19 January 2008, which celebrated Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture and the fact that Liverpudlian artists have had a collective 56 UK number one singles. Also to mark the event, the same month the group released a cover of "Anyone Who Had a Heart", which peaked at number 78 on the UK Singles Chart.

Although a reunion was due to surface after reuniting in 2008, none of these have ever materalised and the girls have continued to remain doing solo projects. Hamilton gave birth to her third son Alfie in June 2010. McClarnon has busy doing some presenting duties for BBC Three and is due to appear in the Liverpool Empire in December 2012 alongside Coleen Nolan in Cinderella. Frost has also continued with her presenting duties as well as getting married and is expecting twins in 2013.

2012–present: Reunion and Katona return

In March 2012, Hamilton confirmed that the group were reuniting for a summer tour, including a performance at Diamond Jubilee Concert. Hamilton also stated that the group were in talks to star in their own reality TV show regarding the comeback, following on the success of the 2011 Steps reunion and reality show. Hamilton stated that she hoped former member, Kerry Katona, who quit the band in 2001 before they found chart success, would join them on stage for a performance. The reunion was later dismissed by all three members due to the fight between Katona and Frost.

However, on 18 October, it was announced that the original members of Atomic Kitten would reunite for an ITV2 series along with other pop groups of their time, including B*Witched, Five and 911. Natasha Hamilton tweeted to a fan that the reason Frost was not involved was because she was expecting twins, but she would be welcome to rejoin the group whenever she was ready.

On 20 November, the girls were spotted leaving a recording studio together. The Daily Mail reported that they were seen filming their reformation for The Big Reunion.

Discography

Main article: Atomic Kitten discography

• Right Now (2000)
• Feels So Good (2002)
• Ladies Night (2003)

External links

• Official website
• Atomic Kitten at AllMusic