Dear Poptastic Readers,
English singer/songwriter and former pop star Cathy Dennis performed her first live show in over 20 years this past weekend. Cathy reminded the audience that while she hasn’t continued releasing hits herself, she sure has continued writing them! Could this be the return of her singing career? We certainly hope so.
If you aren’t familiar with Cathy’s previous work, here’s a walk down pop memory lane: The year was 1989 when the world first heard of Cathy Dennis. Her first single was with the British house music producer D-Mob. The song was called “C’mon And Get My Love” and it was credited to D-Mob introducing Cathy Dennis. It was a top 10 hit in America, as well as going to #1 on the US Dance Chart. It was a fabulous dance pop song!
“C’mon And Get My Love” with D-Mob in 1989
At the end of 1989, Cathy released a solo song called “Just Another Dream” and it was produced by D-Mob. It only charted at #93 in the UK. It flopped big time.
“Just Another Dream” in 1989
(UK #93)
Cathy Dennis - Just Another Dream (Original UK Video) from Not Available on Youtube, Yet. on Vimeo.
Cathy was included on Band Aid II’s remake of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in December of 1989. It went to #1 in the UK.
“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid II in 1989
(Cathy is in the photo above in the bottom right)
Cathy had sang vocals for another D-Mob song called “That’s The Way Of The World” on his album A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That. It would be the next single in 1990. While it went to #1 on the US Dance Chart, the song was largely ignored by radio and didn’t do well on the pop charts.
Cathy’s next single at the end of 1990 would be another attempt at her first solo single. It was a new version of “Just Another Dream.” This new and improved version would be the first single to launch Cathy’s debut album Move To This. It worked. The new version of “Just Another Dream” was a hit! It was another top 10 hit in America, and the song just missed the #1 spot on the US Dance Chart in 1991.
Cathy’s album Move To This was also released shortly after the single for “Just Another Dream.” The album included the hit “C’mon And Get My Love”, but “That’s The Way Of The World” was left off. The album got great reviews. Her album did better in the UK than the US, but her singles did better in the US than the UK.
Move To This in 1990
(UK #3, Australia #32, Canada #44, US #67)
Her next single in the spring of 1991 was cover of “Touch Me (All Night Long)” originally recorded by Fonda Rae. Cathy only used the original chorus and she wrote new lyrics for the verses. This would be her biggest hit of her solo career. The single version was new new mix from the album version. It was top 5 in both the US and UK, and another #1 on the US Dance Chart.
Cathy’s next single at the end of summer in 1991 was her ballad “Too Many Walls” that she wrote with Anne Dudley, who provided an amazing string section. Cathy proved she was more than a dancefloor diva. She was a credible pop princess. Just like the previous single, this single was also slightly mixed from the album version.
“Too Many Walls” in 1991
The last single from her debut album was “Everybody Move.” It was given a new single remix by Shep Pettibone. The single came at the end of 1991 it didn't set the charts on fire. The music video was funny, though.
Cathy went back to the studio to write and record her sophomore album Into The Skyline. The first single “You Lied To Me” would be released in August of 1992. It was a bombastic pop song, but maybe suffered from having the wrong title, as a lot people thought the song was called “You Got Another Lover” or “Another Lover.” It was a moderate hit in both the US and UK.
“You Lied To Me” in 1992
(UK #34, US #32, US Dance #6)
Cathy Dennis - You Lied To Me from Not Available on Youtube, Yet. on Vimeo.
The album Into The Skyline was released in September of 1992. It was another top 10 album for her in the UK. Unfortunately, it didn’t chart in the US. There were decent reviews written about the album. It was a more mature outing as there were fewer dance tracks and more mid-tempo numbers. The album opened with a longer version of “You Lied To Me” and the second track was another fabulous song with D-Mob called “Why?” So many people thought “Why?” would be the obvious next single as it just sounded like a huge hit.
Into The Skyline in 1992
(UK #8, Australia #135)
Instead, the next single in November of 1992 was piano-led radio-friendly “Irresistible.” It had a slight radio mix and it did well with adult contemporary radio stations.
Also in November of 1992, singer Dannii Minogue released a song in the UK that Cathy co-wrote with D Mob and she provided backing vocals for it, too. The song was “Love’s On Every Corner.” It was a minor hit.
In the UK, the next single was “Falling” in February of 1993. The album version had music that sounded similar to Madonna’s “Vogue.” The single version was give a radio remix by RNB group PM Dawn. It was a moderate hit in the UK.
Cathy then provided uncredited vocals to PM Dawn’s single “Looking Through Patient Eyes.” The term uncredited only means that it wasn't billed as PM Dawn featuring Cathy Dennis. If you looked on the record information, you would see that Cathy was the female singer on the record. It was a top 10 hit in America, and it just missed the top 10 in the UK. It went to #1 in Canada.
“Looking Through Patient Eyes” by PM Dawn in 1993
(US #6, Australia #20, Canada #1, New Zealand #11, UK #11)
(US #6, Australia #20, Canada #1, New Zealand #11, UK #11)
In the late spring of 1993, North America got the ballad single “Moments Of Love.” It was a top 10 hit on the adult contemporary charts, but didn’t make much a splash anywhere else.
"Moments Of Love" in 1993
(US Adult Contemporary #8)
In January of 1994, UK fans finally got the D-Mob single “Why?” However, the music for the single version was drastically different from the glorious album version. It became the highest charting single from the album. Although not released in America, Cathy did perform the song on the TV show Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1993.
"Why?" with D-Mob in 1994
(UK #23)
In February of 1994, Cathy released a new single only in Japan called “It’s My Style.” The track was added to the Japanese version of the album Into The Skyline. It was another pop bop.
Cathy began work on her third album tentatively titled Inspiration. A song from the forthcoming album was put on the soundtrack to Beverly Hills, 90210: The College Years. The song was called “SOS.” But Cathy's album never surfaced.
In March of 1995, Cathy released another Japan-only single called “Love’s A Cradle.” It was ballad-esque track with a 60s-retro feel. She performed in on a TV show in Japan. The video is below.
Shortly thereafter, Cathy changed musical directions. The album Inspiration was scrapped. Cathy steered her career away from dance pop and in the direction of pop rock. The first single in this new direction was “West End Pad” in the summer of 1996. It was a moderate hit.
"West End Pad" in 1996
Also in the summer of 1996, Cathy ended up with quite a bit of royalties for a b-side she wrote for a then unknown girl group called the Spice Girls. Yes, that summer the Spice Girls released their debut single “Wannabe.” For the b-side, they recorded the song “Bumper To Bumper”, which Cathy co-wrote. “Wannabe” went to #1 in 10 countries. Each CD sold had the song “Bumper To Bumper” as the b-side, so that meant royalties for Cathy.
Cathy’s next single was a cover version of The Kink’s “Waterloo Sunset” in February of 1997. It just missed the top 10 in the UK. The music video featured Cathy singing along in a taxi cab while The Kink’s singer Ray Davies had a cameo as the taxi driver. Watch it below in a split screen with a performance.
Cathy’s third album Am I The Kinda Girl? was released in March of 1997 in the UK. However, it had been released in Australia in October of 1996. It had good reviews. Fans were mixed about it. The fans who loved her dance-pop albums felt disappointed. While other fans embraced the new Britpop sound.
In June of 1997, Cathy released her third and final single from album. The song was called “When Dreams Turn To Dust” and it was a minor hit. Little did we know, that it would be Cathy’s last solo single to date. That’s right—it’s been 22 years since Cathy’s last solo single. But she hasn’t ever really gone away as she shifted from pop star to songwriter.
"When Your Dreams Turn To Dust" in 1997
From 1999 to 2003, Cathy wrote a lot of hits for S Club 7, S Club Juniors, and S Club. See if you remember any of these songs: “Two In A Million” (UK #2 in 1999), “Reach”, (UK #2 in 2000), “Natural”, (UK #3 in 2000), “Never Had A Dream Come True”, (UK #1 and US #10 in 2000), “Have You Ever”, (UK #1 in 2001), “One Step Closer”, (UK #2 in 2002), and “Say Goodbye”, (UK #2 in 2003).
“Never Had A Dream Come True” by S Club 7 in 2000
(UK #1 and US #10)
It wasn’t only the S Club franchise that Cathy was writing hits for. In 2001, Kylie Minogue scored the biggest hit of her career with a song that Cathy wrote called “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.” It was #1 in 10 countries. Cathy also wrote “Come Into My World” (UK #8 in 2002). Both songs were on Kylie's Fever album.
“Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.” by Kylie Minogue in 2001
(It went to #1 in Austria, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, UK, and the US Dance Charts. US #7)
In 2001, Cathy wrote the theme song for the British TV show Pop Idol. The theme song would also be used for the US version of the TV show American Idol.
In 2002, Cathy wrote two #1 songs on both sides of the Atlantic. And both were songs for the Pop Idol/American Idol winners Will Young and Kelly Clarkson.
“Anything Is Possible” by Will Young in 2002
(UK #1, Ireland #2)
“Before Your Love” by Kelly Clarkson in 2002
(US #1, Canada #1)
In 2003, Cathy wrote a song for Britney Spears called “Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex.” The song was a response to Britney’s ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake who had a song about Britney called “Cry Me A River.” Unfortunately, Britney turned the song down. However, former S Club 7 singer Rachel Stevens took the song and it went to #2 in the UK.
“Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex” by Rachel Stevens in 2003
(UK #2, Denmark #2, Scotland #2, Ireland #3, Norway #5)
In 2004, Britney recorded the song “Toxic” that Cathy wrote. The original demo was leaked a few years later and it appears that Britney heavily relied on Cathy’s original vocals during the bridge and chorus. “Toxic” was a huge hit for Britney.
“Toxic” by Britney Spears in 2004
(#1 in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the UK, #2 in New Zealand and Sweden, #3 in France, #4 in Germany and Switzerland, and #9 in the US)
In 2007, Cathy had two big hits in the UK for Sophie Ellis-Bextor and the Sugababes. Cathy also wrote other songs for both artists that weren't singles, but album tracks. Glorious ones, at that.
“Catch You” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor
(UK #8)
“About You Now” by Sugababes
(UK #1, Ireland #2, and #4 in Austria and Germany)
In 2008, Cathy co-wrote “I Kissed A Girl” with Katy Perry and it was another huge hit that went to #1 in 10 countries.
“I Kissed A Girl” by Katy Perry in 2008
(#1 in Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. France #5)
In 2010, Cathy penned “Once” by Diana Vickers. It was a UK #1.
In 2014, Cathy co-wrote and sang the verses on the Galantis single “Runaway (U & I).” She was uncredited vocalist at the time. It went to #4 in the UK. In 2018, she also co-wrote and sang on the Galantis single “Emoji.” This was also uncredited.
“Runaway (U & I)” by Galantis in 2014
(Netherlands #3, Australia and UK #4, Belgium and New Zealand #6, Norway #12, US Dance #9
So that leads us to 2019. Earlier this spring, she announced she would be returning to the stage at the Mighty Hoopla festival in the UK. It was this past weekend, and her setlist was this:
Watch the whole performance here …
“Just Another Dream”
“I Kissed A Girl”
“Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex”
“Runaway (U & I)”
“About You Now”
“Too Many Walls”
“Toxic”
“Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”
“Touch Me (All Night Long)”
Watch the whole performance here …
Wasn't that fun? Yes! We really hope we get new music from Cathy this year. It appears that she is signed to the Fascination record label, so stay tuned.
Welcome back, Cathy!
Love,
—The Poptastic Confessions Collective
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