Released on 23 April 1990, "Everybody Knows" was the debut album by English dance-pop singer Sonia, released in April 1990. The album was predominantly written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman and includes the UK and Irish number one single "You'll Never Stop Me Loving You" and the UK top 20 hits "Can't Forget You", "Listen to Your Heart", "Counting Every Minute", and "End of the World". At the time of release, Sonia became the first female UK artist to achieve five top 20 hit singles from one album.
Back in the days when Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW) were ruling the charts in the mid to late 80s writing hits for Kylie, Jason Donovan, Donna Summer and many more. Sonia was the newest name to be added to this list when she recorded and released a classic pop track called "You'll Never Stop Me From Loving You" in June 1989.
Comparisons were made inmediately to Kylie straight away, which is fair comment production wise; You'll Never Stop could easily have fit on Kylie's 1989 album Enjoy Yourself. The difference was Sonia's soulful pop powerhouse vocal which really gets going as we hit the chorus. Lyrically the entire album it deals with love and is actually a bit stalkerish. The song itself is classic SAW and is very much of it's time with that familiar drum loop used in so many of their tracks, but what helped it climb all the way to Number 1 on the UK's Official Chart was Sonia's instant likability.
Sonia was an eighteen year old girl who never seemed to stop smiling and was very clean cut. It's no wonder the Kylie comparisons came, although at the same time Kylie was starting to subtly move away from the cutesy look so Sonia felt like a natural successor especially having the SAW team behind her.
Unfortunately, the follow up track "Can't Forget You", peaked at 17, it was still unmistakably a SAW production, however the track was slightly more downbeat and mellow than it's predecessor. The track was written specifically for Sonia after she had a chat with Mike Stock about her relationships. It's a mid-tempo bop with another great middle 8. For her third single, Sonia released the uplifting "Listen To Your Heart " aand it gave her a second Top 10 hit when it peaked in January 1990 at Number 10.
The four single gave an even dancier Sonia as SAW added hints of New Jack Swing on "Counting Every Minute" reached number 16 on the UK Official Charts and built anticipation for the debut album, which now contained four Top 20 hits. Sonia's debut album with her smiley face appearing not once, but five times on the cover; three of those pics with her wearing floppy hats, it was unashamedly pop and Sonia was the new girl-next-door with bags of energy and a powerful singing voice.
The then standard 10 tracks, six were written by SAW, three were written by SAW studios extended family members Phil Harding, Ian Curnow and Bill Clift and the remaining track was a cover version, the album opened with the hit "You'll Never Stop Me From Loving You", with the likes as "Listen To Your Heart", and "Someone Like You" had a certain ABBA sound but with dance beats, "Counting Every Minute" and "Can't Forget You" are standard SAW but a certain Steps sound-a-like is hearing on "Now That I'm Without You", and certain slashes of Lonnie Gordon's "Happening All Over Again" sound, "Can't Help The Way That I Feel" leans slightly in to House sounds mixed with classic 80s tinkles.
The penultimate track on the album is the final Harding/Curnow/Clift track "Climb To The Top Of The Mountain." Featuring the ‘woo jack' in the background as featured in Counting Every Minute which appeared in several tracks in the late 80s and early 90s. This was a positive track, where Sonia wants to shout from the top of a mountain about how great her relationship is – a nice contrast to some of the more downbeat lyrics elsewhere on the album. The album finished with the fifth and final single from "Everybody Knows" was a cover of the 1960's ballad End Of The World which went to Number 2 in the US and 18 in the UK for Skeeter Davis. It gave Sonia a chance to showcase her voice and that's exactly what she does as she gives a subtle, yet emotional vocal telling the tale of the aftermath of a break up. It reached Number 18 on the Official Charts in the summer of 1990 and was a great way to end the album.
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