Reach!

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:

S Club 7 - Reach

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!]:

Rachel Stevens - Some Girls

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)

Whisper before I shout

Another timeslip moment. I am not sure exactly where the whole decade has gone since the ex-S-Clubber Miss Rachel Stevens hit the charts with this, her debut hit, but it seems like only yesterday...

Rachel Stevens - Sweet Dreams My LA Ex

If I were in your shoes
I'd whisper before I shout
Can't you stop playing that record again
Find somebody else to talk about
If I were in your shoes
I'd worry of the effects
You've had your say but now its my turn
Sweet dreams my L.A. Ex

Sweet Dreams My LA Ex was another in the list of classics from the powerhouse songwriter Cathy Dennis (the woman behind Britney's Toxic and Kylie's Can't Get You Out Of My Head), yet even this catchy piece of pop fluff was never enough to give Miss Stevens (whose voice is not the - ahem! - most powerful in the business) a long career in the charts. In two years the hits had dried up, and her last notable appearance outside of the lads' mags and gossip columns was as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing five years ago...

How time flies.

Rachel Stevens official website.

I said, REACH!

Ten years ago, this piece of unabashed pop fluff was the UK's Number One, and a nation groaned at the continued dominance of cheesy music...

S Club 7 - Bring It All Back

Much, much better was this one...

S Club 7 - Reach

A sing-a-long anthem that has extra meaning for us, remembering parties at The Angel in Stratford, and of course the "CK Sunday" drag show at Halfway to Heaven...

Have a good weekend!