You Know Dennis
Cathy Dennis, 2018
Cathy Dennis is arguably one of the greatest British songwriters of all time. Post-obit a successful stint equally a solo artist in the '90s, Dennis has since written for some of the biggest names in music, from Kylie Minogue to Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and Katy Perry. Her lyrical brilliance has been proven time and fourth dimension again, and her influence in the music industry is undeniable. Here, she tells Murray Stassen about her early inspirations and takes united states of america behind the scenes of some of her biggest hits.
"Music is something that you primarily feel," explains Cathy Dennis. Nosotros're speaking about songwriting, a few days later she was honoured for Oustanding Vocal Collection at The Ivors. This marks her sixth Ivor Novello accolade – the most won past whatever adult female in the prestigious event's history. "I am hugely cocky-disquisitional," she continues, reflecting on her career and songcraft. "Simply I've gone through these periods where I effort not to be likewise disquisitional, because I know what the perils of doing that are. Equally soon as you allow your head showtime getting too involved – it's difficult to feel it." With co-writes on eight US Top 10 singles and 17 United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland Top 10 hits, not to mention a bays cabinet alluvion with Ivors, Grammys and diverse others accolades (including an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of East Anglia), Dennis'south infectious pop lyrics and melodies have been at the top of the charts and on heavy pop radio rotation for the final 30 years. If anyone knows what music should feel like, information technology's Cathy Dennis.
Musical beginnings
Like many musical prodigies, Dennis' education in music started at a young age. Growing upward in a musical family unit in Norwich, her mum Linda Dennis was a vocalizer, and her dad, Alan Dennis, a jazz and classical pianist. "Both my parents were musicians and they both played in diverse bands together," she says. "My dad was the band leader then he wrote all the music for the rest of the musicians to play and my mum was a singer. "I had a rather unusual upbringing of spending a lot of time around them while they were doing their various gigs around the country, and watching them do their rehearsals equally a young child. So, although I knew their job was unusual, it felt strangely comfy, the thought of doing that for a living."
In addition to seeing her parents performing for a living, Dennis cites the likes of the Bay City Rollers, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and ABBA as some of her "early big influences". "I was mad about ABBA. I merely loved their songs and I loved Agnetha [Fältskog] in particular, simply I loved all 4 of them. I had a big phase of that," she says. "Then, at around the historic period of 12, I got into trip the light fantastic music. I was really excited about Michael Jackson and his Off The Wall album in particular. Dance music actually became a prominent pastime for me and I started going out to clubs with my friends, specifically merely to become and absorb as much dance music every bit I could." She says that it was also around this fourth dimension that she started to properly analyse the music and by the age of 15 was writing songs herself, with her first song beingness one she penned with her dad. "He wrote the most gorgeous chord changes and I felt really inspired to write a melody and lyric on that so I paid for myself to tape it in a local studio in Norwich," she recalls. "It wasn't until a lot later that I realised how useful the time that I had spent [writing] with my parents actually was."
Signing with Simon
2 years afterwards when Dennis was 17 she "heard that Simon Fuller was looking for a daughter vocaliser to manage" and succeeded in setting upwards an audience with him. "They obviously had a lot of people interested because he had already established himself," she explains. "Initially, I was told that they already had the girl they were looking for, a model who couldn't actually sing very well, every bit opposed to me who had a lot more musical interest. Fortunately, information technology somehow developed that they changed their minds near information technology. So, I auditioned and the rest is history, actually." Dennis signed deals with Fuller's nineteen Direction and Polydor afterwards that. She first institute herself in the charts via the tracks C'monday And Get My Dearest and That's The Way Of The Globe, both by British producer D-Mob aka Dancin' Danny D. Those two singles reached No.15 and No.48 in the Great britain Singles Chart respectively. Her 1990 debut solo album, Move To This, hit No.3 in the Great britain Anthology Chart with the four singles But Some other Dream, C'mon And Become My Dear, Touch Me (All Nighttime Long), and Too Many Walls performing well in the charts around the world.
Two more solo albums, Into The Skyline (1992) and Am I The Kind of Girl (1997) followed. Looking dorsum at her time as a solo artist, Dennis says that "it was a great experience", and that she misses the "freedom you get as an creative person". "It was a big part of my life," she adds. "You lot tin can't compete with that liberty, because when you're a songwriter, you're actually trying to tailor information technology to other people. Writing for other people "Now that I look back on it, I knew that as soon every bit I had made that transition to songwriting that I was going to experience a lot more restricted. I remember that is why I initially rebelled against [writing songs for other people]." So why did Dennis decide to make the change from existence a solo artist to being a professional person songwriter? "In the end, I didn't know what else to do with myself," she says. "I considered a few other options, but I felt that I had been given a talent and that it would exist abusing that gift if I were to just ignore it or throw it away. I also looked upon it, at the time, as [making] a living. So that helped me with the subject for the whole process."
Dennis diverted all of her attention towards writing songs later departing means with her record characterization in 2000 and a string of hits ensued over the side by side few years. She co-wrote the Stargate-produced S Club 7 rails Two In a Million with Simon Ellis (which was on the group's debut album Southward Club). It reached No.2 in the Britain Singles Chart and was 1 of the first of the group's many Dennis-written Elevation 10 hits. She also wrote for the likes of Will Immature, Rachel Stevens, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and of class Kylie Minogue, whose Tin can't Get You lot Out of My Head topped the United kingdom Singles Nautical chart for four weeks in the Autumn of 2001.
An emotional process
Dennis wrote Can't Get You Out of My Head with Rob Davis in his habitation studio in 1 afternoon. "[Its success] didn't make me feel not bad, because I had not come out of the session with any emotional scars," explains Dennis. "With [Britney Spears'] Toxic, even though I didn't like the song initially, until I heard it on the radio, I felt more satisfaction because it had been a much harder process to complete." Dennis says that she'southward "ever tried to write from an emotional signal of view" and about what she'southward going through at the time, rather than make lyrics up for the sake of writing a vocal. "It merely dawned on me this morn that at that place are really people who write songs lyrically coming from a business angle, trying to sum up what people want to buy music for," she says. "That'due south something I've never done."
Marrying music, melody and lyrics
Earlier on in her career, when she "was by and large writing on her own", the writing process would involve sitting down with a guitar, or at a piano, and so building lyrical and melodic ideas around chord progressions she created herself. "As soon I started writing with other people I found myself more in the role of lyricist and melody writer, so therefore the other person was much more musically responsible," she explains. "Although, I am very opinionated and I do have a lot of ideas musically. I like to be in situations and in relationships with people who are open to my ideas musically, as well equally on the lyrics and melody side." She tells united states that her advice for any aspiring songwriter would exist "to practice as much inquiry equally possible and to exercise as much analysis as possible". "That's something I'thou still obsessed with," she says. "Find out what works for you – and know what works for you – and don't compromise on that."
Winning women
Commenting on how much the music industry has changed over her three-decade long songwriting career and especially how dissimilar it is to when she offset started out, Dennis notes how important it is that "there are a lot more female songwriters now". "Information technology's the healthiest it's ever been in terms of women redressing the balance," she says. In terms of the contemporary British songwriters that Dennis admires, she cites Jess Glynne "because she is so diverse and consistent", only also Ed Sheeran, "as we all know he is a genius".
With our interview nearing its end, we return to the topic of winning awards, which Dennis has become well accustomed to over the last 30 years. But in spite of the number of times she's walked upward to the stage to collect i, she says that the novelty hasn't quite worn off yet – her Ivor Novello Honor for Outstanding Song Collection is particularly significant for her. "Every other award has been about one specific song, so to receive something [to recognise] your whole career upward to this appointment is a lot more overwhelming," she explains. "And when you lot scout a video of yourself [at the ceremony] from 25 years ago, y'all remember the way that yous felt and how y'all thought at that time. In that location's something really emotive about that. "So, I wasn't able to command my emotions at all. And, why should I?"
Cathy Dennis reveals the process backside a few of her nigh famous songs
Kylie Minogue, Tin can't Become You Out Of My Caput
"That wasn't written with any specific artist in mind. It was the first of a couple of songs Rob Davis and I wrote together and it was a ridiculously relaxed afternoon. It really was written and demoed in two-and-a-half hours. It'south really annoying, because you spend the balance of your career wishing that things would come that easily, simply it just doesn't work like that all the time unfortunately. "We just did it effectually Rob'due south house and he had a little studio… We would exercise an hour's work and then have a intermission, and so practice a chip more and take a break. Then I was gone before it hitting three hours. I didn't arrive the way of my ideas that solar day… I have spent a lot of my career getting in my own way by playing devil's advocate and trying to edit my work perhaps too much. Only that was one occasion when I didn't."
Britney Spears, Toxic
"That was written in Sweden with Bloodshy & Avant [Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg] and Henrik Jonback. I went over there to write with Janet Jackson in mind. I was at that place for about 10 days in total. I'd had a meeting with Janet, I think in London, but it may take been in New York. I thought I'd have a go at writing something that would work for her and information technology didn't come out at the time. We did have this song Toxic, though. "Information technology was started on day one of seven… and so took part of day 2 to try to stop it. And because I couldn't quite finish it, I said: 'Await, allow's start on something else.' So we wrote another three songs that week and in my spare fourth dimension while I was in my hotel room I was very busy editing my lyrics on Toxic. Eventually on day seven, which was the twenty-four hour period I was flying back to England, I had run out of time. I knew that it was D-Day and I had to sing and that was what I came up with after a lot of editing."
Volition Young, What's In Goodbye
"The co-writer was Burt Bacharach. I felt such an enormous sense of responsibility. This was my one opportunity with someone with who I had grown upwardly idolising. I knew that I couldn't mess it upward. Every few weeks I would get a bulletin maxim: 'Hey, Burt wants to speak to y'all'. And I knew he would say: 'Is it finished? Is information technology finished?' And I had to keep maxim: 'Not quite, I'grand getting there'. It took four months. When it was finally completed and recorded, Burt said that he was very happy with what I had done. Then I was but happy that I didn't allow him down."
Article start featured in The Works [2018]
Source: https://ivorsacademy.com/info_advice/perfect-pop-cathy-dennis-interview/
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