Musicians - Atomic Kitten

Home > Listing Index > Musicians > Atomic Kitten

	Musicians - Atomic Kitten

Atomic Kitten were an English girl band from Liverpool composed of Liz McClarnon ("Lil"), Natasha Hamilton ("Tash") and Jenny Frost (who replaced original member Kerry Katona in January 2001).

Biography

The band was formed in 1997 by Andy McCluskey of '80s band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and included Heidi Range in the original line-up, however Heidi left the band and was only featured on the demo recordings. The band was first called "Honeyhead" but later renamed to "Automatic Kittens", the name of the label of their designer, and abbreviated to "Atomic Kitten."

The group's first single "Right Now" debuted in December 1999, reaching the British top 10. After the initial success Atomic Kitten made an Asian tour during which they scored their first hit with "Cradle". Therefore the album, also titled Right Now was first released in Japan on March 16, 2001 and subsequently released in the United Kingdom on May 21, 2000 with a slightly modified tracklist.

Right Now was a modest success upon first release, however there were no plans to focus on the global market yet. This changed when Atomic Kitten scored their first number one hit in the UK in 2001 with "Whole Again". The song and video for "Whole Again" originally featured Kerry Katona, but was remade when Jenny Frost was added to the line-up as a replacement. The success was such that it was decided to remaster and rerelease the album which went straight to number one on its second appearance in the chart.

The next single "Eternal Flame", a cover version of the 1989 hit by the The Bangles, also became a number one hit. Given the success a new album, Feels So Good, was released. The first single of the album was "It's Ok!" and was shot in South Africa. Even though this song performed well in the charts, securing a number three position, it was the next single "The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)", a remake of the 1965 song by The Paragons (but made famous by Blondie in 1980), which managed to get Atomic Kitten their third number one single. The American market had been neglected upto then and finally an album called "Atomic Kitten" was released consisting of tracks for the first two albums.

The band has released 15 singles and five albums: Right Now (2001), Feels So Good (2002), Ladies Night (2003), The Greatest Hits (2004) & The Collection (2005). Their careers were going well, but on January 23, 2004 Natasha left the band because combining the band with her personal life became too much for her and she wanted to spend more time with her son. They released a single "Someone Like Me / Right Now 2004" as a goodbye but were reunited on Valentine's Day to release the charity single "Cradle 2005", a new version of the original on their album Right Now, which charted at No. 10. The proceeds of the single went to World Vision. Both Jenny Frost and Liz McClarnon have since then embarked on solo careers.

Band members

Jenny Frost

Jennifer Frost (born February 22, 1978 in Liverpool, United Kingdom), started her musical career in the girl-band Precious and replaced Kerry Katona in 2001. After the split of Atomic Kitten, Jenny has embarked on a solo career and released her first single Crash Landing on October 10, 2005.

Natasha Hamilton

Natasha Maria Hamilton (born July 17 1982 in Liverpool, United Kingdom) joined Atomic Kitten after Heidi Range left the band. On January 23, 2004 left the band to spend more time with her son.

Kerry Katona

Kerry Jayne Elizabeth Katona (born September 6, 1980 in Warrington, United Kingdom) was one of the original members of Atomic Kitten. Kerry was featured on the original Right Now album in 2000 and left in January 2001 because she had become pregnant. Her place in the band was taken by Jenny Frost.

Liz McClarnon

Elizabeth Margaret McClarnon (born April 10, 1981 in Liverpool, United Kingdom) was one of the original members of the group. While in the band, she co-wrote many of their songs. Her solo release "Woman In Love" is scheduled for early 2006.

Andy McCluskey

Andy McCluskey (born June 24, 1959 in Liverpool, United Kingdom) was the lead singer and primary songwriter for the band OMD. In 1997 he founded Atomic Kitten and wrote and produced many of the early songs. In 2002 the girls terminated the songwriting/production agreement with Andy.

Heidi Range

Heidi India Range (born May 23, 1983 in Liverpool, United Kingdom) was one of the original members, but left the group shortly after the group formed and was replaced by Natasha Hamilton. Heidi is currently a member of Sugababes.

Discography

Albums

Singles

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Atomic Kitten ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Atomic Kitten; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.