Among a huge list of fellow celebrants today, including Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Sir Robert Helpmann, Tom Lehrer, Valerie Singleton, Hugh Hefner, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Hannah Gordon, Paul Robeson, Hugh Gaitskell, Patty Pravo, Marty Krofft, Charles Baudelaire, Marc Jacobs, Seve Ballesteros, Michael Learned, Dennis Quaid, Carl Perkins, Nigel Slater, Jacques Villeneuve, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Cynthia Nixon, John Hammond, Kristen Stewart, Sir Bernard Jenkin and - erm - the crazy Lil Nas X...
...I have chosen to focus in on just one of those "birthday boys and girls" - that paragon of late 90s "manufactured pop", Miss Rachel Stevens!
She was, of course, a key founder-member of that archetypal "bubblegum" band S-Club 7 - among whose output was this mega-hit, a staple at every one of our parties:
She also branched out into more "grown-up" music as a solo artist, with a modicum of success. This Richard X-produced number was one of her best [it sounds a bit like Goldfrapp, which is no bad thing in my book!]:
Heavens! That song was twenty-two years ago - and S-Club's is 26 years old! Where does the time go..?
Many happy returns, Rachel Lauren Stevens (born 9th April 1978)
Rachel Stevens and S-Club 7 were never on my radar. I must have already been too old.
ReplyDeleteI'd be surprised if many Americans even knew she/they existed. S Club had one hit Stateside, and poor Rachel, nada. Jx
DeleteNo party would be complete without that track. Pure joy.
ReplyDeleteReach! Jx
DeleteCrikey! I haven't heard "Some Girls" since it was released. And it is a bit Goldfrapp, isn't it - Fabulous!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Rachel was rather good on Strictly, too!
I do like sometimes to unearth some obscure and long-forgotten tracks - but not usually from the 21st century. She's certainly rarely played on radio these days. Jx
DeletePS I have never seen a single episode of Strictly Come Dancing in my life, so I wouldn't know.