Whatever happened to... Olive?

You'll probably agree that Tinchy Stryder's new single is a proper stomper - thanks in no small part to its whopping great sample from Olive's 'You're Not Alone'. The original reached No.1 back in 1997, helped the dance trio to shift half a million copies of their debut album, and even won them an Ivor Novello gong. But what are they up to now? We got in touch with founding member Tim Kellett to find out.

When did you find out that Tinchy Stryder had sampled 'You're Not Alone' for his new single?
"I got an email from our old publisher asking what we thought of his demo, which was literally just Tinchy rapping over our song. It was quite different from the final version that appears on his album. Listening to it on the radio, it sounds really good - like it's had a good kick up the ass. It's great that the song's been given another chance."

Are you tempted to re-release the original?
"I don't know really. I had half a mind to phone up our old label RCA and tell them to get it back out there. We'll see if they think of doing that. People might just download it off our album and then by default it'll make a re-appearance in the chart."

How did 'You're Not Alone' end up becoming such a big hit?
"It wasn't the first song we released, but it was certainly our most famous. The first time we released 'You're Not Alone' it didn't really pick up, but then we got urged to re-release it and it went straight in at number one."

How did things change for you as a group?
"Beforehand we were playing in scrubby little venues to a few hundred people but when got that phone call telling us we were number one things really started to take off. We did a gig that night which was packed and then went on to win an Ivor Novello award for the song."

How did you end up signing to Madonna's label Maverick?
"We'd virtually finished our second album but RCA lost interest in us. Then we got a call from Guy Oseary, the head of Maverick Records, who told us that Madonna had heard the record and loved it. She used one of the songs on her film The Next Best Thing, but we never got round to releasing our second album over here. The terms of the contract were pretty awful but we did manage to wriggle out of it in the end."

What can you tell us about the new album?
"It's still going to have (classic Olive vocalist) Ruth-Ann singing on it, but we're going to feature other singers too. It seems a bit of an outmoded concept to use just one vocalist for a group like Olive. I want a lot of variety now! You'll probably have heard of some of the singers, but I can't give you any hints until the record's made! Even though the Tinchy Stryder single is coming out now, I'm not going to rush this album. It should be complete by about April or May next year."

Press play below to watch Olive's 'You're Not Alone' video.