Atomic Kitten’s Natasha Hamilton: “Britney Spears wanted to release ‘Whole Again’. We had to say, ‘Back off, bitch!’”

“I wore a T-shirt saying: ‘U2: Just Another Irish Boyband’.”

CORRECT. The same year that U2 nabbed our Godlike Genius gong.

“Back then, we were three ballsy scousers up for a laugh. We’d been in a chart battle with U2, and our single ‘Whole Again’ had beaten theirs  [‘Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of’] to Number One. Bono came over to me at the NME Awards and said: ‘I believe you’ve got something on your T-shirt that I need to see’, so I opened my jacket to show the shirt and he laughed: ‘Fair play! Pop kicked our arse’. Which was nice. We got pissed a few times with Bono and The Edge and they’re nice guys.”

Who were the best bands to party with back in the day?

“We had a sesh with Liam Gallagher in Japan once. He was being rude to the hotel staff so we thought ‘He’s an absolute knobhead!’. We were on separate tables, but as the night went on, he kept getting closer to us and in the end, we said: ‘Liam, do you want to sit with us?’. And he replied: ‘[Imitates Liam’s accent] ‘Aw yeah, all right, g’wan then’. We ended up having a laugh.”

For a bonus half-point: In 2003, Atomic Kitten were nominated for NME’s Worst Band of the Year Award. Who beat you?

“[Laughs] I don’t know…Steps?”

WRONG. You were pipped to the post by Nickelback! S Club Juniors, Westlife, Stereophonics and Blue were also in the running.

“[Laughs] At least we can say we were never NME’s Worst Band! That’s how fickle it was. NME were loving us two years previously!”

Were any indie bands sniffy towards Atomic Kitten at that time?

“Toploader had an issue with us and complained that we released covers. I said: ‘Mate, your biggest hit was a cover*, so pipe down!’. Are they still going?! I thought it was weird they were picking on young girls, but that’s men for you!”

*Toplader hit Number Seven on the UK charts with a cover of King Harvest’s ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ in 1999.

“I’ve got no idea!”

WRONG. It was DMA’s.

“I have no idea who they are!”

Icelandic Eurovision entrant Daði Freyr also covered the track…

“That was a surprise because I was watching Eurovision last year and the next minute, I thought: ‘I know this song!’. And Daði Freyr did an incredible interpretation of it. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Would I do Eurovision if I was asked? I don’t know. I feel it’s an honour to represent your country, but the UK doesn’t tend to get behind our entrant.”

“I’m really trying to think of all those German electronic bands I’ve been into! No idea [Laughs].”

WRONG. Kraftwerk’s Karl Bartos.

“I’m going to have to go and Google these! Andy never told us that.”

“[Sings] No soy de aquellas que siempre abandonan sin mas…oh no…”. It’s ‘The Tide is High’ in Spanish, which we released [in Spanish territories] as ‘Ser tu pasión’.”

CORRECT. Impressive!

“Thank you! [Laughs] Our Spanish teacher said our accents were great and we nailed it. I did Spanish at school, so it felt quite easy, and when it’s a song, it’s easy to remember. Honestly, I can’t remember my kids’ names some days, but I can still remember ‘The Tide Is High’ in Spanish!”

Did any of the original artists give you any reaction to your cover versions?

“Kool & The Gang were in the studio when we recorded their song ‘Ladies Night’ and they chose our vocal takes and were happy with it. I don’t know what Blondie thought of our version of ‘The Tide Is High’, even though I know it was The Paragons who sang the original version [in 1967]. Debbie Harry probably thought it was bad, but my dad was a massive Blondie fan, so he was happy about it! [Laughs]”

“I don’t think anyone did stand in for me, but when they filmed the movie, I had gastroenteritis, so they had to write it into the movie to explain why I wasn’t there.”

WRONG. Reports claimed Lily Allen had secretly supplied vocals. Her father, Keith Allen, appeared in the film. 

“I wasn’t there, so I couldn’t tell you. I’d have to ask the girls, but it’s not a story I remember them telling me. I don’t know – maybe she did!”

“That’s hard! I mean, we had Phil Collins on drums, so maybe he went on before us, and then…Will Young?”

CORRECT.

“Yay! Phil Collins played drums for us and Bryan Adams was on guitar when we sang [a cover of Martha and The Vandellas’] ‘Dancing in the Street’ there. That was a crazy day – a ‘who’s who’ of the music world. We even sang backing vocals when Brian Wilson performed ‘Good Vibrations’, and we sang ‘Hey Jude’ with Paul McCartney, which was the last song of the night. Paul said: ‘Come on guys, let’s keep going!’ and those Na na na nananana, nannana’s went on for about 10 minutes. By the end of it, you’re thinking: ‘Alright, Paul, it’s been milked enough!’. [Laughs]. Brian [Wilson] wasn’t very chatty because he was recovering from illness, but it was an honour to sing with him. During the day, we were talking to Sharon Osbourne while Ozzy was running around a tree at Buckingham Palace, as she said: ‘Oh, he’s doing his warm-up!’.”

On a similar Royal tip, a year earlier, Atomic Kitten taught King Charles how to dance to Destiny’s Child at Party in the Park…

“My goodness! We got put in the royal box, and I nearly had heart failure because my chair was next to then-Prince Charles. I thought: ‘What are we going to talk about?!’. Destiny’s Child were performing ‘Independent Women, Part 1’ singing ‘Throw your hands up at me’. And he said to me ‘How does one throw one’s hands up?’ and I demonstrated. Then he started doing it! It made worldwide headlines. We got invited for drinks back in Buckingham Palace, and I remember thinking, ‘I thought the carpet would be a lot thicker’. I just felt like I was supposed to float through the palace or something. We hung out with Prince Harry too a few times in [London night spot] Chinawhite’s back in the day, and he was a big pop music fan.”

“I knew I’d be rubbish at this! Toadie? Oh, he’s in Neighbours!”

WRONG. It was Nick Smith, played by Christopher Egan.

“Oh, when we did filming in London? I’ve just remembered that! They were doing a UK special, and we were asked to cameo because we’d had success in Australia. He’s walking out of a theatre and casually bumps into Atomic Kitten.”

“I vaguely remember this! Mark Owen?”

CORRECT. Among many others, you could have also had members of Reef, Idlewild, and ‘19’-hitmaker Paul Hardcastle.

“I remember almost scoring a goal, and Mark Owen slapping me round the head – in a positive, encouraging way, like teammates do on the pitch. If it had been anyone else, I probably would have hit them back! I was the world’s biggest Take That fan as a kid. I had posters all over my wall and ceiling. I wrote an Atomic Kitten song [‘I Won’t Be There’] with Gary Barlow. He drove me round the grounds of his house in a golf buggy as I thought: ‘If 12-year-old Tash could see me now, she would lose her shit!’. When Robbie Williams randomly turned up at a gig we [Atomic Kitten] were doing in Cannes one time, he kept calling me ‘Freckles’ which I wasn’t keen on, because it was like a little sister thing and I wanted it to be more of sexy-vibe thing [Laughs].

“When ‘Southgate You’re the One’ first became a football chant, it felt weird. Suddenly, I kept getting videos in my social media inboxes of pubs packed with guys screaming it. The funniest thing is the three of us keep getting Instagram messages saying: ‘I wrote the lyrics, so you’re getting sued!’. I’m like: ‘Mate, it’s our song!’. When we play pre-England game gigs, it’s an experience watching a roomful of men trying to hit the high notes on ‘Eternal Flame’!”

#OnThisDay 2001: Popstar Darius' rendition of God Save the Queen at the NME charity football tournament didn't much impress Big Brother's 'Nasty' Nick, but Atomic Kitten were still starstruck.

It doesn't get much more February 2001 than this. pic.twitter.com/9O0Q5hV7l0

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) February 5, 2022

“Kylie Minogue wrote the title track and then…I don’t know…one of The Bangles?”

CORRECT. Kylie Minogue co-wrote ‘Feels So Good’, The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs wrote the cut ‘Love Doesn’t Have to Hurt’.

“You learn something new every day! [Laughs] Kylie Minogue said she liked what we did with ‘Feels So Good’. We kept her backing vocals on it. You can hear them. It sounds more like a Kylie song, to be fair. We were honoured to sing it.”

Apparently, Atomic Kitten were once in the frame to sing Kylie’s 2001 mega-hit ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’…

“Hugh Goldsmith, who was head of our label, was fuming because he knew ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ was going to be a smash, and he wanted it for us, but it was shown to Kylie first. There’s no way we could have done it the way Kylie did. She made it iconic. On the flip side, Britney Spears wanted to release ‘Whole Again’ in America and we said: ‘Not a chance! That’s ours!” It had been a hit in the UK, but we hadn’t been over to America yet, so we had to say: ‘[Joking tone] Back off, bitch!’ [Laughs]”

In geography, which African peak has a Swahili name that means ‘shining mountain’?

“[Laughs] Mt. Kilimanjaro!”

CORRECT.

“On the day, I could not think of that mountain! It had gone out of my head. I took great pride in running into the green room afterwards screaming: “I WON!” as the cast of EastEnders said: ‘Calm down, babe!’.”

You recently released your debut solo single ‘ Edge Of Us’ and have an EP coming out soon. What can we expect?

“It’s pop with good energy, but the things I talk about are not just surface-level shit. There’s a lot of life experience within my lyrics which puts me in a vulnerable position, but this whole process is learning not to give a shit about other people’s perceptions, and live in the truth and tell my story. Whoever that resonates with, they’re my people.”

The verdict: 6/10

“I thought I’d score 1/10, so I’m happy!”

Natasha Hamilton’s single ‘Edge Of Us’ is available now. She plays Manchester Pride on August 25