“Move To This” – A retrospective review of Cathy Dennis’ 1991 debut album.
Singers and songwriters from Norwich are few and far between. Recently Sigala has proven enormously successful in both clubs and commercially with his debut album “Brighter Days” and the many singles that have emanated from it. But prior to the 1980’s, pretty much no one from East Anglia’s ‘capital’ had ever bothered the charts. That all changed in 1989 when ‘dancing’ Danny D aka D-Mob released his single “C’mon Get My Love” and enlisted the vocals of Norwich born singer Cathy Dennis. The song climbed to No.15 in the UK but more importantly topped the US dance chart (his third single to do so there).
Cathy had formed a close partnership and friendship with Danny and that would become pivotal in her own ambition to break out as a singer in her own right. Soon after “C’mon Get My Love” was released, Cathy and Danny co-wrote and produced the song “Just Another Dream” which Cathy would release in early 1990 as her debut single. Sadly the single stalled at No.93 in the UK and did nothing worldwide. Undeterred, Cathy returned to Danny for comfort and would sing vocals on his next release “That’s The Way Of The World” which would make No.5 on the US dance chart and No.48 on the UK singles chart.
Cathy tried again with “Just Another Dream” in October 1990, this time making No.95 in the UK. The song was, however, accepted with open arms in America where it would climb to No.9 on the singles chart and No.2 on the dance chart. By now writing and recording for her debut album was complete and Cathy was eager to share this with her new found fame. Released in December 1990 in The US, the album entered the chart at No.173 but would take six months to finally peak at No.67, spending a total of 40 weeks on the chart and selling over 400,000 copies there.
The second single “Touch Me (All Night Long)” was the next to be released in America in January 1991, which was a drastic re-write of US singer Fonda Rae’s 1984 original, binning everything but the chorus and bringing in top club producer Shep Pettibone (Madonna) to give it added weight. Fonda had taken her song to No.70 in the US and No.49 in the UK, but with mass marketing Cathy improved on that and some. The song peaked at No.2 in late February and topped the dance chart. It wasn’t released in the UK till the following month but any fears the UK market was uninterested in her music would soon be forgotten when the song shot up the top 40 to peak at No.5.
“Move To This” was finally released in the UK the following month and would peak at No.3 selling over 250,000 copies and spending 35 weeks on the album chart. They say third time lucky and it was for “Just Another Dream” in the UK. By now heavily re-produced by Danny D, the single was re-re-released in June 1991 and with big promotion by BBC Radio 1, it quickly entered the singles chart, eventually spending two weeks at No.13 in July.
Cathy released the down tempo number “Too Many Walls” as the third single in September that year and got her third consecutive top 10 hit in America when the song made No.8 there and topped the US Adult Contemporary chart. In the UK it peaked at No.17 the following month. The fourth and final release, “Everybody Move” came at the end of what had been Cathy’s year and would peak at No.25 in the UK, No.90 on the US singles chart and No.41 on the dance chart.
Apart from the four singles “Move To This” is a superb collection of ten early 90’s pop/dance classics. From the cheesy “Taste My Love” to the jazz enthused title track and the soulful ballad “Tell Me”, the album is one non-stop riot of mature pop anthems that have not aged one bit, nearly thirty years on from its release. Cathy has only released two further studio albums since with varying degrees of success, “Into The Skyline” in 1992 and “Am I The Kinda Girl?” in 1997. She seems to of abandoned being a pop star for songwriting since the late 90’s, and why not, when you can boast of multiple number one’s with the group S Club 7 and the colossal force of “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head“, Cathy is a self made millionaire many times over. But there were times before the world uttered “la la la” over and over to itself, times when Cathy produced an ‘irresistible’ collection of great pop and dance tunes that we all love and still do. Is this for real, or is it just another dream?
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