“Reach” — S Club 7
Even on a cold, wet winter’s day in the UK, you’ve got to be in a pretty glum place not to feel uplifted by S Club 7’s “Reach” (often called “Reach For Stars”). It makes you feel summer has come back early…although in truth you’re only getting warmer because the heated seats in your car have kicked in…
I’m not going to pretend “Reach” is the most intellectually compelling pop song ever to hit the UK charts, but it’s an insatiably happy song and, let’s face it, we could all do with one of those every now and then. So I love it.
Writing about S Club 7 and “Reach” also allows me to pay tribute to the songwriting skills of Cathy Dennis, who wrote “Reach” along with Republica’s (“Ready To Go”) Andy Todd.
A “behind the scenes” songwriter, Cathy Dennis isn’t a name most people know, but she was responsible for some of the biggest selling songs of the early 21st Century — most recently with Swedish electronic duo Galantis, for whom she co-wrote hits like the very catchy “Runaway (U & I)”…https://youtu.be/5XR7naZ_zZA ).
Cathy Dennis also had a reasonably successful singing career before moving into full-time songwriting — I always enjoyed her lovely cover of The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset”, for example (here if you’d like a listen… https://youtu.be/SVs5Lx_kFJE)
