5 hours ago
5
Andy McCluskey, founder/songwriter
People never believe me that Kraftwerk created Atomic Kitten. In 1996, my band OMD released Walking on the Milky Way, which I thought was one of the best songs I’d ever written. But in the age of Britpop, we were perceived as an 80s synthpop band, past our sell-by date. Radio 2 wouldn’t play the song and Woolworths wouldn’t stock it. I thought: “I’m functioning with one arm tied behind my back.” So my friend Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk said: “Why don’t you create a girl band as a vehicle for your songs?”
I arranged to meet Kerry Katona, and she came bouncing into the studio and proceeded to show us the topless photographs she’d just had taken, which I thought was an interesting interview technique. She wasn’t the greatest singer, but she was like Marilyn Monroe: she didn’t know how engaging and beautiful she was. She was also the band’s choreographer. And I knew she would put her head through a brick wall to be famous, because she’d had such a difficult life and thought being rich and famous would change everything.
Liz McClarnon came in with these bright blue contact lenses, while Natasha Hamilton had red hair and the highest cheekbones you’ve ever seen. I said to Stuart Kershaw [OMD drummer and Atomic Kitten co-creator]: “If she can sing, she’s in.” And, boy, could she sing.
Whole Again started as an electronic ballad until Stuart said: “This isn’t working. Give me a day and I’ll turn it into a modern gospel song”. He made the drums more like Killing Me Softly by the Fugees, and put in bass and organ. Suddenly, it had a completely different feel.
The song is about the moment a relationship has ended and you feel bereft, like there’s part of the jigsaw missing. Natasha leads the song, her big voice dialled down and resigned. Liz always had a voice that could break your heart. It took me 39 takes to get Kerry’s spoken verse, spread over several months, because she had her tonsils out, so her voice changed dramatically.
Whole Again hit No 1, but I had no idea how intense modern pop promotion had become. It just wasn’t working for Kerry. She got in the van to go The Pepsi Chart Show and had a breakdown: “No, I can’t do it”. Natasha, being the practical one, got straight on the phone to Jenny Frost: “Get in a taxi, go to the Pepsi Chart studios – and on the way, learn the middle-eight of Whole Again, because you’re going to sing it live.”
I think Whole Again resonates with anyone who has had their heart broken. It’s a universal theme. But there was nothing funnier than seeing a bunch of middle-aged, overweight, bare-chested England fans chant, “Southgate, you’re the one, you still turn me on” at the World Cup and Euros. That’s the most surreal thing that’s ever happened.
Natasha Hamilton, vocals
I’d been singing on stage from the age of 12, but when I walked through the door for my Atomic Kitten audition, I was like: “This is the one.” But it was intimidating, because Kerry and Liz had been working and living together for 18 months. I went in just trying to show what I’d got, which went down like a lead balloon. The girls said I was too cocky, but after a few sticky months of me being the outsider, we became as tight as sisters.
We were in the middle of a relentless promo schedule when we recorded Whole Again, so I was only in the vocal booth for 10 minutes. I listen to our voices now and go: “My God, we sound like chipmunks.” But I grew up on funk and soul – Earth, Wind & Fire, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight – and I think, for a pop song, there’s a soulfulness there.
To me, the girl in the song is hopeful. When I was going through my own divorce in 2013, I remember getting on stage, and the minute Whole Again started, I got the biggest lump in my throat and didn’t think I could get the words out. The song can stir up pain, but it can also be really cathartic.
We had to fight to release Whole Again. We knew we were treading a fine line because we hadn’t had the success people wanted. On the industry and press side, we weren’t taken seriously. We were three working-class kids, and I think there was a real “look-down-your-nose” attitude towards us. But ultimately, what the people want, the people get – so they couldn’t ignore us in the end.
I knew Whole Again would be big. The song had been getting so much traction live. We’d be dancing around like lunatics, then we’d drop this ballad and everyone was like: “Yeah, we’re here for this.” We were outselling U2 two-to-one and that gap just got bigger. Bono was like: “We’ve had our arse kicked by pop …”
I was that little girl who watched Top of the Pops every week and recorded the charts on cassette every Sunday. Pop music was my life. So for Atomic Kitten to hit No 1 – I’ve got goosebumps just saying it, even now. My favourite performance of it was at the Queen’s golden jubilee. Phil Collins was playing drums, Bryan Adams on guitar, 100,000 people on the Mall singing your song back to you – just insane.
