Whatever happened to... Atomic Kitten?

Having failed to set the charts alight with their first three singles, it looked as though Atomic Kitten would suffer the fate of so many other turn-of-the-millennium girlbands. But after 'Whole Again' stormed straight to the top of the charts in 2001, the Scouse three-piece managed to turn it all around. Racking up four top five albums and selling over 12 million records across the globe, they became one of our most successful pop exports. We caught up with Liz McClarnon to reminisce about the group's glory days.

How were Atomic Kitten different from other girlbands?
"I think Atomic Kitten were really successful because we had a truly global reach. We went to Japan to launch ourselves before we even released anything in Britain. When our second single was coming out over here, we were already releasing our first single in Germany and other parts of Europe. It was really nuts. If you look at Girls Aloud for example, they don't really go abroad, which is alien to me."

'Whole Again' really turned things around for you, didn't it?
"Yeah, it was our fourth single but it saved us from the brink. I remember our manager phoned us early in the week asking if we wanted to know the midweeks and I panicked a little bit. His voice was really monotone but then he told us we'd gone to number one. U2 had a single out that week and we were miles ahead! I literally felt ill and could have been sick. Tash was in the adjoining room in the hotel and came through and went nuts. It sold more each of the four weeks it was at number one which is normally unheard of."

What moment do you look back on most fondly?
"Probably when we played Party In The Palace and afterwards we watched the fireworks in the Queen's garden with all our family and friends. We then went into the Palace for drinks and got to meet the Queen. I can't remember if she was a fan of us but the two Princes certainly were!"

Are you going to work with the girls again any time soon?
"Certainly not for a little while, but it's not been ruled out for the future. We do some mini-gigs because we don't get to see each other all that often. Sometimes we get a concert in somewhere like China, Russia or Dubai. We leave our families at home, take our dancers and band and head out for a mad weekend. We pretend we're 20 and get completely drunk together and have a wicked time! I've known the girls for most of my life now so we're really close."

Which songs go down best when you perform them live?
"Songs like 'The Tide Is High' and 'Be With You' are still really popular. We often end with 'Whole Again' because everyone still sings along to it. I still look back really fondly on songs like 'See Ya' and 'Someone Like Me', which I both wrote - maybe because they're still making money for me! I'm really grateful for learning songwriting skills at such a young age because it is really helping me out now."

Press play below to watch the video to 'Whole Again':