You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You, Sonia!

Back in 1989, new hits did not spread like wildfire on Twitter. As an eager 11-year old I bought import copies of pop magazines Number One and Smash Hits, and managed to catch wind of the pop sensation Sonia.

I covered Sonia and ‘You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You’ back in January 2010, only realizing that this is the perfect time as it was a summer hit of 1989. Bowing at No.54 on 24^th June that year, three years later it became Sonia’s first ever UK chart-topper.

Written and produced by the immensely popular trio Stock, Aitken & Waterman, the track was one of many chart-toppers from the trio during the ‘80s. As noted in my previous post, one of the words was omitted from the title as Sonia actually sang you’ll never stop me from loving you. This was also applied to her later hit ‘Counting Every Minute’ where Sonia sings counting every single minute.

Today, Sonia is 42 years old and wrapped her career with a Greatest Hits set back in 2007. Her career spans over 18 years old and includes a cover version of ‘Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy.’ Originally recorded by the Atlanta vocal group The Tams  back in 1968, Sonia bested the original peak of No.32 finally reaching No.11 in 1991. It also earned her a Stateside hit as it climbed the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart (it peaked at No.13).

The odd thing is that the bank Abbey International used the track in its commercial dubbing it ‘Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Abbey.’ Even more odd that the commercial lasted 52 seconds!

Abbey International Ad (1991)

In 1993, Sonia was the sole contender in the UK contest Song for Europe, alas the UK leg of the Eurovision Song Contest. I was actually in London at the time, witnessing the singer performing all competing songs. It wasn’t particularly nerve-wrecking as she was destined to win, and her entry ‘Better the Devil You Know’ managed to place second behind Niahm Kavanagh’s ‘In Your Eyes.’ Sweden’s entry that year was Arvingarna’s ‘Eloise’ (No.7).

Throughout Sonia’s career, she placed  two other singles in the UK top ten – ‘Listen to Your Heart’ (1989) and ‘Only Fools (Never Fall in Love)’ (1991). Her final single was ‘Fool for Love’ in 2009, which never managed to chart.

The Sonia Infographic