Of course, by this time, Kerry, like her fellow band members, was quite wildly excited by the direction her life had taken. Despite that initial run of shop jobs and bar work, she was actually still very young by the time the band made it and was almost taken aback at the momentum with which events were now progressing. Just a few months earlier, no greater future than that with The Porn Kings had seemed to be on offer; now, there was a very real chance that she was going to become a pop star. And, little did she know it, the new group was extremely lucky. It had actually taken several years to get the Spice Girls into shape before they were let loose on the public; in the case of Kerry and her friends, the whole process lasted less than twelve months.
In fact, their very earliest movements brought to mind not the Spice Girls but Take That. Just as the boys had done almost a decade earlier, Kerry, Liz and Tash, as they were now known to each other, started to play clubs, under-18 shows and gay pride festivals, building up the foundations of a following as well as learning their trade. The men in charge knew exactly what they were aiming at. ‘We have a lot on our plates if we want Atomic Kitten to surpass the Spice Girls,’ said Martin. ‘But the songs are great, the girls can sing and they look fantastic.’ The boys also set up a record company, Engine Records, to deal with the girls; if they didn’t sign to a big label, there was talk of releasing a limited edition through Engine.
But the new group was to take off – and fast. Their first really big gig was at the Paradox Club in Liverpool performing as a warm-up act, where they went down very well with an enthusiastic audience. Next was an outing at the famous Heaven club in London, where they began to arouse some interest from the music scene. Radio roadshows were to follow, culminating in an appearance at Birmingham’s Gay Pride event at the end of May. The girls were definitely making a mark.
They had been busy in the studio, too – ‘Right Now’, ‘See Ya’ and ‘Holiday’ had all been recorded and were ready to be heard. Everyone involved was confident that it was now a case of when, rather than if, the girls became stars.
The next task was to find a big record label. With Andy, Stuart and Martin at the helm – who, between them, knew everyone there was to know in the music business – this was not a difficult task, on top of which a buzz was gathering round the girls. People were beginning to ask who their increasingly feisty girls were. And so, with some fanfare, in the summer of 1999, the girls signed with Innocent Records, a subsidiary of Virgin.
The girls were wildly excited at the news, as were their families and friends. The Woodalls, in particular, were overwhelmed; they were seeing their tough little Kerry emerge from a massively underprivileged and fraught childhood into a bona fide singer in a girl band. And it was definitely Kerry who was the dominant one of the three at that stage. Ironically, given that she was to be the first to leave, Kerry was the mouthiest of a mouthy trio. She was ecstatic that she was on the verge of the big time, and made sure everyone else shared her joy, along with almost becoming the band’s de facto spokeswoman. Indeed, it was she who made an announcement once the deal had been signed.
‘The songs that Andy and Stuart have written are so good that I think we can make it big,’ said Kerry in her first recorded public statement, as the press began to wake up to the new singing sensation in their midst. ‘Our first single, “Right Now”, comes out on November 22 and we are hoping that it will reach the Top Ten. My ambition is to play one of the big festival venues because, if you do that, you know you have made it big. I’d also love to tour America and be successful over there. I didn’t expect it all to happen so fast. My family and friends are still in shock.’ As for Kerry herself, she had to postpone the celebrations; shortly after signing the deal, she went into hospital to have her tonsils taken out.
The buzz continued to grow. Andy and co knew that the girls had to make an instant splash once they’d arrived on the scene, and so were promoting them as heavily as they could. Another Atomic Kitten song, ‘Something Spooky’, was to be used as the theme tune for the children’s television show Belfry Witches, which started that September. The girls signed up to support 911 during their UK tour that September and they also agreed to appear at the Liscard Show in Wallasey on the August Bank Holiday.
The girls were well aware what an opportunity awaited them and happily complied with all their mentors’ demands. The trick was to get as much exposure as possible and establish themselves as rapidly as possible almost before anyone realised they had arrived. And it was not proving difficult. The girls’ natural exuberance and their strong personalities were both winning them friends and making a mark; people were remembering them, and liking them, too.
By October 1999, plans were well advanced to launch the Kittens proper on the world stage. They had spent the summer building up a following, learning their trade and creating that all-important buzz that is absolutely crucial when launching a new pop act. It had been decided that their début single was to be ‘Right Now’, so Andy and his team, determined to leave absolutely nothing to chance, had hired Absolute to mix the instrumentals. It showed just how seriously everyone was taking this new venture; Absolute had worked with the Spice Girls and, more latterly, with a solo Geri Halliwell. Atomic Kitten was quite clearly to be pitched at the big league.
Meanwhile, the serious marketing that involves launching a new group was being employed behind the scenes. The cable TV music show The Box had been given a promo video of ‘Right Now’ and had given their assurance that it would be played at least 12 times a day. Staff at the channel were said to be seriously impressed by the new band. The girls were also doing their bit; they were giving interviews to assorted newspapers and the magazines Smash Hits and TV Hits, as well as appearing on the Big Breakfast and Live and Kicking. Further appearances followed on This Morning.
Work on the début album, due for release early the following year, was also under way; it was to appear first in Japan, where the girls had already amassed quite a following. Indeed, they already had a sponsorship deal for a chocolate bar in the Far East.
Everyone involved was very canny about how best to show off the new team. One of Atomic Kitten’s many appearances was at none other than Kerry’s old stomping ground – Padgate High School. The trio put on a lunchtime performance of ‘Right Now’, ‘See Ya’ and ‘Big Country’, all of which enthralled the current pupils of the school. Kerry was delighted. ‘It was amazing – we went down really well,’ she said. ‘It was just like being back at school and it felt so good to see everybody enjoying something I had done.’
Kerry was sure she knew the secret of their success. ‘We’re so in your face,’ she said. ‘We’re real. We’re not like, “Hi, our record company said we have to wear these clothes and have to be in bed by eight o’clock.” We’re not going to pretend we’re all sweet and innocent, ’cos no one’s sweet and innocent.’ While the band might have been manufactured to a certain degree, it had a freshness few of the others seemed to capture. But even the ever-optimistic Kerry couldn’t really have foreseen what was about to happen. The three girls – Atomic Kitten – were about to experience success beyond their wildest dreams.
By November, excitement was really beginning to mount. ‘Right Now’, which had not yet been released, was getting plenty of air play from local radio stations, again a crucial element in making the single a success. It had already caused a controversy, too, something that has never been known to harm record sales – the appearance on Live and Kicking had been briefly postponed as the lyrics of the single were deemed too raunchy for young ears. The problem was resolved when the girls agreed to sing ‘See Ya’ instead. They were also recruited to turn on the Christmas lights in Edinburgh, Chester and, of course, Liverpool; success now seemed assured.
And the work was beginning to pay off. By mid-November, the single had been playlisted by Radio 1; their promo CD had also made it to number 15 in the Music Week dance chart, a very respectable showing, given the single hadn’t even been released yet. The girls were beside themselves with what they had achieved, but at the same time it was very hard work. The single was going to be released