Liz McClarnon
McClarnon performing as Beth in Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds, 2010.
McClarnon performing as Beth in Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds, 2010.
Background information
Birth nameElizabeth Margaret McClarnon
Born (1981-04-10) 10 April 1981
OriginLiverpool, England
GenresPop
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • actress
Years active1997–present
LabelsAll Around the World
Member ofAtomic Kitten
Spouse(s)
Peter Cho
(m. 2023)
Websitelizmcclarnon.com

Elizabeth "Liz" Margaret McClarnon Cho (born 10 April 1981) is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She is the longest serving member of the girl group Atomic Kitten, with whom she has scored three number-one singles and also two number-one albums. McClarnon co-wrote several Atomic Kitten songs, including the UK top 10 hits "See Ya", "I Want Your Love" and "Someone Like Me".

Career

1997–2005: Atomic Kitten

In 1997, while McClarnon was still in secondary school, her music teacher arranged for her to take part in an audition with OMD frontman Andy McCluskey, who was aiming to create a new girl group. The group became Atomic Kitten, made up of McClarnon, Kerry Katona and Natasha Hamilton, and they released their first record in 1999. Katona left the group in 2001 and was replaced by Jenny Frost. Atomic Kitten have had three UK number one singles, "Whole Again", "Eternal Flame", and "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)". They also had two UK number one albums, Right Now, and Feels So Good, both being certified double-platinum in the UK for sales of over 600,000 copies each. The total worldwide sales are estimated at 6.2 million singles and 4 million albums. Liz is the only member of the group to write any material.[1] McClarnon appeared in the video for "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" with the FHM Hot 100, which charted at number 10 in the UK.

2005–2012: Solo career and stage

In 2005 McClarnon signed a solo deal with All Around the World. In December she was the opening act of Magnet Tour, by Robin Gibb.[2] On 13 February 2006, she released her first solo single, "Woman in Love", a cover of Barbra Streisand's 1980 hit.[3] The song was released as a basic single worldwide, but in the UK it was released as a double A-side with a cover of Jackie Wilson's "I Get the Sweetest Feeling". "Woman in Love" peaked at Top100 in Austrália, Nederland, Belgium, Ireland, Top20 in Spain and Top5 in UK and Scotland.[4] On 27 December 2006 McClarnon appeared in the ITV documentary The Girl With the Golden Hair and performed three songs with Richard O’Brien: "Thank You for the Music", "I Wonder (Departure)" and "I’m a Marionette".[5] In March 2007, McClarnon recorded "(Don't It Make You) Happy" to compete for the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, but failed – the competition was won by Scooch.

Despite the success of the first single, McClarnon's album release was delayed several times for 3 years, until it was canceled when she left the label in 2008. That year, McClarnon won Celebrity MasterChef.[6] In 2009 she recorded "Lately" for the Global One Music Charity Project. The same song has been recorded by different artists all around the world in different languages.[7] In 2009, McClarnon signed with the label 3 Beat Records and planned to release "Not in Love" as a single, but this never happened and she left the label. In 2010 she presented the reality show Hotter Than My Daughter, aired at the beginning of February 2010 for six weeks, on BBC Three.

From 2010 to 2011, she played Beth in Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.[8] In 2011, McClarnon was cast as Paulette in the first UK tour of Legally Blonde The Musical.[9] She also starred in the Cinderella pantomime in the Liverpool Empire in 2012, playing the lead role.[10]

2013–present: Atomic Kitten return

On 31 January 2013 the original line-up of Atomic Kitten – McClarnon, Hamilton and Katona – would reform for The Big Reunion, along with five other pop groups of their time – 911, Honeyz, B*Witched, Five and Liberty X. They have been performing live touring Europe ever since.[11]

Discography

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
[12]
AUS
[13]
BEL
[14]
EUR
[15]
IRE
[16]
NL
[17]
SCO
[18]
SPA
[19]
"Woman in Love" 2006 5 7752202177216 non-album single
"I Get the Sweetest Feeling"
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Promotional singles

Title Year Album
"(Don't It Make You) Happy" 2007 Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2008 Celebrity MasterChef Contestant Series 3
2010–2011 Hotter Than My Daughter Presenter

Stage

Year Title Role
2010–2011 Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds Beth
2011 Legally Blonde The Musical Paulette
2012 Cinderella Cinderella

References

  1. "Musicstop article". Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  2. Biography of Liz McClarnon at PremierModelManagement Archived 18 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 28 July 2006
  3. Gibb songs – projects (2005–) Archived 19 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2 January 2006
  4. Cadena.es Archived 6 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Chart for 15 October 2006. Retrieved 22 October 2006
  5. "Liz McClarnon: English Pop Singer, Dancer & Television Presenter Reveals Her Fitness Secrets – Women Fitness". Women Fitness. 17 April 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  6. "Series 3: Liz McClarnon". Celebrity MasterChef. BBC. Archived from the original on 9 April 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021. Atomic Kitten's Liz McClarnon was all smiles when she won back in 2008.
  7. Lately Release Postponed Archived 17 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 May 2009
  8. And my big anouncement [sic] is..... Blog Liz McClarnon. Retrieved 20 February 2011
  9. Woolman, Natalie (3 June 2011). "Liz McClarnon joins Legally Blonde tour cast". The Stage. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  10. Cantwell, Nick (3 February 2018). "Road to C2C Festival #4 – Liz McClarnon". Belles and Gals. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  11. "The 90s are back: reunions from Atomic Kitten, 5ive, and more". Gigwise. 10 April 2013.
  12. "UK Charts > Liz McClarnon". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 July 2010.<
  13. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 181.
  14. "Belgium Charts". Ultratop – Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  15. "The ARIA Report: European Top 20 Charts – Week Commencing 27th February 2006" (PDF). ARIA. 27 February 2006. p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  16. "Irish Charts > Atomic Kitten". irish-charts.com Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  17. "Netherlands Charts". dutchcharts.nl Dutch Charts. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
  18. "Spanish singles official site". Promuicae.es. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.