Sinitta

Back in 1986 Sinitta took the charts by storm with “So Macho” which reached #2 in the UK. The following year Sinitta teamed up with Stock Aitken Waterman to release “Toy boy” which followed “So Macho” into the UK top 5 reaching #4. Sinitta released 3 further singles with the trio GTO, Cross my broken heart & I don’t believe in miracles while Sinitta's success continued with another top 5 UK hit in 1989 with “Right back to where we started from” reaching #3, in total Sinitta achieving 12 UK top 75 singles and 2 top 75 albums.

It was on the 19th March 2017 that Sinitta first joined us at Cheer Up in TriBeCa Manchester with Sinitta appearing with us eight times so far. In late 2021 we joined Sinitta for "Cheer Up’s Sinitta roadshow" which saw us travelling across the UK and hosting events together in Leeds, Nottingham, Southampton and London. In 2022 Sinitta appeared with us for the launch of Brighton Pride and in addition to the events Sinitta took part with Cheer Up's Pride in London’s parade alongside Hazell Dean and Denise Waterman on the 2nd July 2022, celebrating ten years of Cheer Up, was the 50th anniversary of London Pride. Most recently Sinitta joined us at London's iconic The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in April 2023 to perform another energetic set to a venue full and shared the stage with Sonia (and her mother Miquel Brown) at Cheer Up's New Years Eve party seeing in 2024 at Centre Stage Brighton.

EVENTS

The Queen of Hi-NRG Hazell Dean released her first single, “Our day will come” in 1975, signed to Decca records. In the early 80’s Hazell recorded the infamous “Searchin (I gotta find a man)” which crossed over from the club scene to the UK charts with the single peaking at #6 in 1984. "Searchin" was followed by “Whatever I do (Wherever I go)” which saw Hazell team up with Stock Aitken Waterman with the single giving Hazell her second UK top ten hit reaching #4. Hazell worked with the legendary trio across the next decade releasing two albums “Heart first” & “Always” and achieving further Top 75 UK hits including “Who’s leaving who” which reached #4 in 1988, “Maybe”, “Turn it into love”, “Back in my arms (Once again)”, “No fool (For love)” and “They say it’s gonna rain” which reached number 1 in South Africa. Hazell continues to make music today with her most recent release, “Suddenly love came around”.

Hazell Dean

Hazell Dean makes Cheer Up history alongside Nathan Moore for being the first artists to join us at a Cheer Up party, Hazell's first time being Cheer Up's reunion on the 8th February 2013 at Eden Birmingham. In total Hazell has appeared at Cheer Up 5 times including Cheer Up’s 2nd birthday on the 4th July 2014 in George & Dragon London and most recently alongside Sonia in TriBeCa Manchester on the 20th September 2019. In 2022 we had Hazell join us alongside Sinitta and Denise Waterman as part of Cheer Up's Pride in London parade and in 2023 Hazell joined us as part of Cheer Up's Brighton & Hove Pride parade. In 2024 on the 40th anniversary of Hazell's anthem "Searchin'" we celebrated the occasion with "An evening with" at Zodiac Bar with Hazell talking about her life as well as surprising us with a rendition of "Searchin'".

In 1989 Sonia’s debut single “You’ll never stop me loving you” reached #1 on the UK charts beginning a successful career for Sonia with Stock Aitken Waterman. In 1990 Sonia released her debut album “Everybody knows” which reached #7 and produced 5 UK top 20 singles including "Can’t forget you", "Listen to your heart" & "Counting every minute" with Sonia becoming the first ever female UK artist to have five top 40 singles of their debut album.

In 1991 having parted from Stock Aitken Waterman, Sonia signed to BMG's IQ records releasing “Only fools (Never fall in love)” which gave Sonia her 3rd UK top 10 hit single. In 1993 Sonia represented the UK at Eurovision song contest with the single, “Better the devil you know”, which saw Sonia come 2nd in the contest and with the single reaching #15 in the UK and features on Sonia’s 3rd album “Better the devil you know”.

Sonia

When planning Cheer Up’s first event in Liverpool back in 2013 there was only one artist which fitted the brief, Sonia and just like that Sonia first joined us at Cheer Up on the 8th November 2013 at Le Clique Liverpool with Sonia appearing at Cheer Up nine times across the UK including a special “Everybody knows album show” in Manchester on the 11th November 2016 which also featured Chloe Rose with Sonia appearing with us at Cheer Up in Newcastle and London. When venues re-opened after lockdown Sonia joined us for a third time at TriBeCa Manchester on the 3rd July 2021 as part of Cheer Up’s 9th birthday joining us back in Manchester in November 2023, ten years since Sonia's first appearance at Cheer Up in AREA Manchester with Sonia joining Sinitta for Cheer Up's Centre Stage Brighton New Years Eve party seeing in 2024.

Samantha Fox

With 9 top 40 UK singles as well as huge success across Europe, Asia and America, Samantha's first taste of chart success came in 1986 with her single “Touch me” which reached #3 in the UK and #4 on the American singles chart. Samantha’s debut album “Touch me” charted across the globe with it going top 40 in both the UK and USA with the album achieving silver certification in the UK and gold in America and featured further UK top 40 hits “Do ya do ya (Wanna please me)” and “Hold on tight”. The hits continued across the decade with Samantha Fox teaming up with Stock Aitken Waterman on numerous occasions during that time firstly on her #8 smash hit “Nothing’s gonna stop me now” in 1987, this was followed in 1989 when Stock Aitken Waterman produced Samantha's cover of Dusty Springfield “I only wanna be with you”.

In recent times Samantha released her single "Hot boy" in 2018 with Samantha Fox joining us at Cheer Up for the first time on Friday 10th August 2018 at Eagle London. In July 2023 Samantha joined us as part of her 40th anniversary in showbiz with an up close & personal performance at AREA Manchester. Performing 10 tracks including Touch me, Nothings gonna stop me now, I only wanna be with you, Naughty girls, Santa Maria also performed tracks for the first time in many years including Another woman, I surrender and True devotion.

EVENTS

In January 1995 Nicki French released “Total eclipse of the heart”, the Bonnie Tyler classic was produced by Mike Stock & Matt Aitken and saw the release by Nicki climb into the UK top 5 with the single becoming a worldwide smash hit with it reaching #2 in Australia, #2 in America and #1 in Canada. Nicki’s follow up “For all we know” gave Nicki a 2nd UK top 75 hit and was followed by a third “Did you ever really love me”. Nicki’s debut album “Secrets” which she recorded with Mike Stock & Matt Aitken didn’t receive a UK release though become a much sought after album in the mid 90’s when it was released in the USA and Australia.

In 2000 Nicki represented the UK at Eurovision with “Don’t play that song again” which saw Nicki return to the UK top 40 with Nicki continuing to release music with recent releases including “This love” with Mike Stock in 2016 and her 2018 album “Glitter to the neon lights” on Energise records which features the singles “Teardrops”, “Steal the crown” & “On your marks, get set, go”’

Nicki French

Nicki has joined us at Cheer Up seven times with Nicki’s first appearance being at Cheer Up’s “Love this” Ball at Eden Birmingham on 14th February 2014. This was followed on the 18th March 2016 with Cheer Up’s The decade party at Funfair Brighton when Nicki performed alongside Hazell Dean, also had Mick Brown join the night with an exclusive DJ set. On Saturday 9th March 2019 we celebrated Nicki’s “Secret” album with a special “Secrets” show at Eagle London and in 2022 Nicki joined us twice, firstly in Centre Stage Brighton and then completing Cheer Up's "The decade", Nicki came up to Kitty's in Liverpool for "A very Nicki Christmas show" on the 9th December and returned to Liverpool in May 2023 as part of Cheer Up It's Eurovision event at The Yacht Club while the Eurovision song contest was being hosted in the city more recently Cheer Up being part of the Energise 30 celebrations at The Two Brewers with Nicki returning to London with us, this time at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern on Friday 6th September 2024.

Sybil

In 1989 Sybil went top 20 on both the UK and US single charts with “Don’t make me over”, this was followed by Sybil’s first UK top 10 hit “Walk on by” in 1990 which was released on PWL records, with its follow up “Crazy 4 U” also released on PWL in the UK. In October 1990 Sybil teamed up with Stock Aitken Waterman to release the delicious “Make it easy”. In 1993 Sybil returned with “The love I lost” produced by Stock Waterman saw Sybil return to the UK top 10 peaking at #3, this was followed by “When I’m good and ready” which continued Sybil's Top 10 hits reaching #5 with Sybil’s 1993 “Good & ready” album reaching #13 that summer and featured further singles “Beyond your wildest dreams”, “Stronger together” & a remixed version of Sybil’s 1987 single “My love is guaranteed”. In 2016 Sybil teamed up once again with Tony King who was a huge part of Sybil’s time while with Stock Aitken Waterman and signed to PWL, with them recording a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Together you & I”.

It was in 2015 Sybil first joined us at Cheer Up appearing alongside Sonia at Newcastle’s SR44 on the 18th September 2015. Two years later Sybil was back as she joined Cheer Up for Manchester "Love & Pride” event with Haywoode and Tina Cousins on the 27th August 2017.

Lonnie Gordon

In a recent Stock Aitken Waterman online poll of “Your favourite Stock Aitken Waterman singles” Lonnie Gordon’s 1990 smash hit “Happenin’ all over again” was voted the 3rd best single by Stock Aitken Waterman and you can understand why with Matt Aitken more recently saying "that the work they did with Lonnie was some of the trios best". Though Lonnie’s album with the trio “If I had to stand alone” didn’t receive a UK release back in 1990, Lonnie did release three singles from it, “Happenin’ all over again”, “Beyond your wildest dreams” & “If I have to stand alone” which Lonnie Gordon performed alongside the sensational “How could he do this to me” when she appeared at Cheer Up at London’s Kazbar on 28th June 2013 .

Tina Cousins

In 1998 Tina Cousins alongside Sash! reached #2 on the UK charts with "Mysterious times” this was followed by "Pray” which saw Tina return to the UK top 20 in 1998. In 1999 Tina re-released her debut single “Killin’ time” which reached #15 in the UK with Tina achieving further UK top 75 hit singles with “Angel”, “Forever”, “Wonderful life” and the #8 smash hit as featured with Sash! once again, “Just around the hill”.

Tina first appeared at Cheer Up on the 27th August 2017 at Manchester's “Love & Pride” Party alongside Sybil & Haywoode, this was followed on the 19th March 2022 when Tina joined us at London’s oldest LGBTQIA+ venue City of Quebec.

Deuce

In January 1995 Deuce released their debut single "Call it love" reaching #11 in the UK it was followed by their second single "I need you" which had been shortlisted to represent the UK for the Eurovision song contest in 1995. Though they missed out from representing the UK in Eurovision "I need you" would become their highest charting single in the UK reaching #10. Craig, Kelly, Lisa and Paul who had teamed up with Phil Harding and Ian Curnow as CHAPS , the duo having huge success within the PWL Hit Factory released their debut album "On the loose" in August 1995 reaching #18 and featuring a third single, "On the bible".

In September 2024 the four original members of Deuce returned for a very special Cheer Up event, "Deuce on the loose in Vauxhall" with Craig, Kelly, Lisa and Paul joining us for an event to celebrate the reissue of their album "On the loose" at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern. The event saw all four members in the same place for the first time in 28 years. It was Deuce history as the group returned for a conversation with and talk about their time as part of Deuce.

The Fizz

In 1981 Bucks Fizz Cheryl, Mike, Jay & Bobby “Making your mind up” reached #1 on the UK charts having won the Eurovision song contest while representing the UK. This began a decade of success which included two further UK #1’s “The land of make believe” & “My camera never lies”. Fast forward to 2016 and Cheryl, Mike and Jay teamed up with Mike Stock to release a remix version of “The land of make believe” under the new group name The Fizz. In 2017 The Fizz with Mike Stock released their first album together, “The F – Z of Pop” which reached #25 in the UK and featured four singles including “Dancing in the rain” & “Amen”.

In 2020 the group released their album “Smoke & Mirrors” which saw The Fizz return to the UK top 30. On the 19th February we teamed up with The Fizz & Mike Stock to organise and host the “Smoke & mirrors” album launch at Camden Assembly which saw the trio perform tracks from the album including “TOTP”, “The world we left behind” & “Everything we do” as well as previous singles as The Fizz and Bucks Fizz.

ROZALLA

In 1991 Rozalla stormed into the UK charts with the anthem "Everybody's free (To feel good)" with the single reaching #6 followed by two further top twenty singles, "Faith (In the power of love)" and "Are you ready to fly" with the singles featuring on Rozalla's "Everybody's free" album which peaked at #20 in the UK. In 1994 now signed to Sony records Rozalla released further Top 40 hit singles, "I love music", "This time I found love", "You never love the same way twice" & "Baby" which featured on the album "Look no further"

Thirty years on since that album release and Rozalla is back with the album "Turn on the light" released on Energise records. To celebrate the albums release Cheer Up teamed up with Rozalla for the official album launch on Saturday 24th February 2024. Rozalla performed new tracks from the album "Turn on the light", "Lotta love" & "Someone I used to love" alongside the hits "Are you ready to fly", "Faith" & "Everybody's free (To feel good)". On 22nd April 2022 Cheer Up's Mario Kyriacou was invited to DJ at a private wedding party which also included live performances from Rozalla as well as Kym Mazelle and Miquel Brown at East London's Dirty Bones.

Toyah Willcox

With 8 Top 40 UK singles including “It’s a mystery”, “Thunder in the mountains”, “I want to be free”, “Don’t fall in love (I said)”, Toyah continues to release music some 40 years on. On Friday the 8th November 2019 Cheer Up teamed up with TriBeCa Manchester for “80’s New Wave V’s 80’s Pop”, a night celebrating all things 80’s with a special live performance from TOYAH who performed those classics and so much more.

Scooch

In 1999 Scooch released their debut single, “When my baby” reaching #29 in the UK charts. It was followed by “More than I needed to know” in early 2000 which reached #5 in the UK and topped the charts in Japan. Scooch released two further singles with Mike Stock & Matt Aitken, “The best is yet to come” and “For sure” which both went top 20. Their album “Four sure” reached #41 in the UK and #20 in Japan titled “Welcome to planet pop”. In 2007 Scooch represented the UK at Eurovision with “Flying the flag” which saw Scooch return into the UK top 5.

On the 24th April 2015 it was roll up, roll up as Cheer Up headed to Circo Liverpool with Scooch's Natalie, Russ, Caroline and David who performed their 5 hit singles as well as a Stock Aitken Waterman Medley.

Kym Sims

In 1991 Kym Sims released her debut single “Too blind to see it” which was already a smash hit in America with the single reaching #5 in the UK. This was followed by the equally fantastic “Take my advice” which continued Kym's success on both the UK and USA charts with Kym’s debut album “Too blind to see it” also entering the UK top 40 with its third release "A little bit more" continuing the top 40 trend. Fast forward to 2017 and Kym’s most recent single “Turn it up” saw Kym return into the US Dance chart top ten.

In 2018 on the 6th July Kym first joined us at Cheer Up for Cheer Up's first ever spin off night “Popalicious” at London’s Eagle during Pride in London weekend. The night was a huge success with Kym returning the following year on the 10th August 2019 for Cheer Up’s “Divalicious” night.

In 1986 Haywoode reached #11 on the UK charts with the classic "Roses" with Sid recording with Stock Aitken Waterman on her debut album "Arrival", releasing both tracks as singles, “Getting closer” & “You’d better not fool around”. Haywoode's debut album also featured the singles “A time like this”, “Single handed” and “I can’t let you go”. Most recently Haywoode returned to the studio to record “Look my way”, the track which originally appears on Kylie Minogue 1988 “Kylie” album had been written by Stock Aitken Waterman with Haywoode in mind. “Look my way” was released in 2019 and was featured on a reissued version of Haywoode’s “Bounce back” album.

Haywoode

On the 22nd July 2016 Haywoode joined us for the first time at London’s The White Swan to perform the singles "Getting closer", "You’d better not fool around" and "Roses" as well as performing a cover of Bananarama “I heard a rumour”. Haywoode joined us the following year at Cheer Up’s Manchester Pride event, “Love & Pride” alongside Sybil & Tina Cousin on the 27th August 2017. In October 2023 Sid joined the likes of Nicki French, Tight Fit, Rozalla, Sean Smith, Peter Wilson for Energise 30 celebrations at The Two Brewers alongside her other singles, "Look my way" which Haywoode released on the label.

Nathan Moore

Nathan Moore one fourth of Brother beyond stormed the UK charts in 1988 with “The harder I try” reaching #2 and “He ain’t no competition” reaching #6, both written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman and appeared on the groups debut album “Get even” which reached #9 in the UK with the group having further Top 40 hits with “Be my twin”, “Can you keep a secret” and “Drive on” with Nathan in more recent times joining boyband Worlds apart.

Nathan Moore alongside Hazell Dean was the first artists to perform at Cheer Up on the 8th February 2013 at Cheer Up’s reunion in Eden Birmingham, since then Nathan has joined us two further times on the 14th November 2014 in Manchester and 14th September 2019 in London.

Chloe Rose

Chloe Rose teamed up with Mike Stock to release the single “For me” in 2016. On the 11th November 2016 Chloe and her band joined us at Cheer Up in TriBeCa Manchester where she performed "For me" and the planned follow up, “The beat don’t lie” as well as a rendition of Donna Summer “This time I know its for real”.

Kerry Katona

Famed for being one third of Atomic Kitten before leaving the trio in early 2000 while at the top of the UK charts with the groups 4th single “Whole again”. Since then Kerry has carved her own career which has seen her present, star in her own reality show as well as treading the boards, also returned to Atomic Kitten for some special live performances.

It was on the 12th October 2018 that Kerry joined us for Cheer Up’s “Spice up your life”, a night celebrating your favourite girl bands in Eagle London were she performed some of those classic Atomic kitten hits including "Whole again" and "Right here, right now".