Atomic Kitten

The modern-day Liver Birds kicked off in 1999 under the wing of OMD’s Andy McCluskey. The original line-up was Natasha Hamilton, Elizabeth McClarnon and Kerry Katona. This trio produced four top 20 hits, but it wasn’t until Katona left to shack up with Westlife lover Bryan McFadden and was replaced by Jenny Frost that the group really began to purr. The reason for this was “Whole Again”, which shot to No.1 and relaunched the Kittens. Now with fresh whiskers and a sound that worked, the girls produced more of the same over the next three years—R&B mixed with soulful ballads—and became the cats that got the cream. They clocked up three No. 1 hits—the other two being covers of “Eternal Flame” and “The Tide Is High”—and albums Right Now and Feels So Good both hit the top spot. Their mix of cheeky sex appeal, high heels and no-risk bubblegum pop won the day, and they even had a hand in writing their later albums. The trio sold 5.2 million singles and three million albums, but hung up their high heels at the beginning of 2004, with Hamilton wanting to spend more time with her toddler son.