Sonia (singer)

Sonia at Lets Rock Bristol Festival 2014

Sonia (actually Sonia Evans , born February 13, 1971 in Liverpool ) is an English pop singer who took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 . Of Sonia's first eleven singles, nine made it into the top 20 and two made it into the top 30 in the UK. Including the number one hit You'll Never Stop Me Loving You.

Career

Sonia began her singing career in a Liverpool band. In 1989 she surprised Pete Waterman , a third of the production team Stock Aitken Waterman , in his live radio show. He signed her and her first single You'll Never Stop Me Loving You was a number one hit in June 1989 with 350,000 units sold .

This was followed by the singles Can't Forget You , Listen to Your Heart , Counting Every Minute and End of the World . The charity single You've Got a Friend was released as a duet with the boy band Big Fun . In addition, Sonia was involved in the Band Aid II project in 1989 . The album Everybody Knows , released in mid-1990, reached number eight in the British charts with 500,000 units sold and was awarded gold.

In 1991 Sonia separated from Stock Aitken Waterman and moved from PWL to IQ Records. She now wrote some of her songs herself and had full control over her image as well. From their second album Sonia three singles were released. Only Fools (Never Fall in Love) became their third top 10 hit in the UK and also made it into the German singles charts . It was followed by Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy and You to Me Are Everything , which reached top 20 positions in the UK charts.

In early 1993 she was internally selected by the BBC to represent Great Britain at the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest . During the preliminary round, she was allowed to present eight titles, from which the winning song Better the Devil You Know was determined by televoting . The top four titles were later released on the singer's third album, also called Better the Devil You Know , which was released on Arista Records . With the song Better the Devil You Know Sonia took second place at the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest and reached number 15 on the British singles charts. The album, which in addition to the single Boogie Nights also contains the title Set Me on Fire , which was written by Lisa Stansfield for Sonia, did not have the desired success, which is why Arista broke the contract.

After Sonia had taken on the role of Sandy in the musical Grease , the single Hopelessly Devoted to You was released in 1994 , the original of which was sung by Olivia Newton-John in 1978 . It also contained The Anthem Medley, a potpourri of I Am What I Am , You Make Me Feel Mighty Real and Don't Leave Me this Way .

In November 1995 a cover version was released again with the single Wake Up Everybody . At this time Sonia had recorded the album Love Train: The Philly Album , which contained other cover versions of famous Philly soul classics, but was never officially released. Only promo CDs were pressed. She also played in the musical What a Feeling! . After that it became quieter for Sonia.

2003, directed once again the attention of a wide audience on Sonia when she as a candidate on the reality TV telecast Reborn in the USA participated, but was voted out after the fifth week. In the wake of this gig, a greatest hits album was announced, which was only released in 2007. In 2009 her single Fool for Love was released , which could not place in the charts.

In 2012 Sonia performed at the Stock Aitken Waterman reunion concert Hit Factory Live at The O2 in London alongside Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, among others .

In 2018, after appearing on the Channel 5 series Celebrity 5 Go Caravanning , she released her single Dancing in the Driver's Seat , which was followed by more.

In 2019 Sonia signed a new record deal with Energise Records.

Discography

Sonia at Birmingham Pride 2008

See also : Band Aid II

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	CH	UK
1990	Everybody knows	-	-	UK7th gold (10 weeks)UK	First published: April 23, 1990 Recording: PWL Studios, London
1991	Sonia	-	-	UK33 (2 weeks) UK	First published: October 7, 1991 Recording: Skratch Studios in Chertsey
1993	Better the Devil You Know	-	-	UK32 (2 weeks) UK	First published: May 17, 1993 Producers: Mark Cyrus, Nigel Wright

More albums

• 1992: Only Fools
• 1997: What a Feeling! (The Original Cast Recording of the Spectacular Movies & Musicals Concert Tour) (with Luke Goss and Sinitta )
• 1998: Love Train - The Philly Album
• 2007: Greatest Hits (compilation)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	CH	UK
1989	You'll Never Stop Me Loving You Everybody Knows	DE20 (12 weeks) DE	CH21 (5 weeks) CH	UK1 (13 weeks) UK	First published: June 12, 1989 Author, producer: Stock Aitken Waterman
	Can't Forget You Everybody Knows	-	-	UK17 (6 weeks) UK	First published: September 25, 1989 Author, producer, arranger: Stock Aitken Waterman
	Listen to Your Heart Everybody Knows	DE72 (6 weeks) DE	-	UK10 (10 weeks) UK	First published: November 27, 1989 Author, producer, arranger: Stock Aitken Waterman
1990	Counting Every Minute, Everybody Knows	-	-	UK16 (7 weeks) UK	First published: March 26, 1990 Author, producer, arranger: Stock Aitken Waterman
	You've got a friend	-	-	UK14 (6 weeks) UK	First published: June 11, 1990 with Big Fun Saxophone : Gary Barnacle
	End of the World Everybody Knows	-	-	UK18 (7 weeks) UK	First published: August 13, 1990 Authors: Arthur Kent, Sylvia Dee
1991	Only Fools (Never Fall in Love) Only Fools	DE51 (13 weeks) DE	-	UK10 (8 weeks) UK	First published: May 20, 1991 Authors: Barry Upton, Tony Hiller
	Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy Only Fools	-	-	UK22 (5 weeks) UK	First published: August 19, 1991 Authors: James B. Cobb Jr., Ray Whitley Original: The Tams , 1968
	You to Me Are Everything Only Fools	-	-	UK13 (5 weeks) UK	First published: November 4, 1991 Authors: Ken Gold, Michael Denne Original: The Real Thing , 1976
1992	Boogie Nights Better the Devil You Know	-	-	UK30 (3 weeks) UK	First published: August 31, 1992 Author: Rod Temperton
1993	Better the Devil You Know Better the Devil You Know	DE59 (8 weeks) DE	-	UK15 (7 weeks) UK	First published: April 19, 1993 Authors: Dean Collinson, Red
1994	Hopelessly Devoted to You B-Side: The Anthem Medley	-	-	UK61 (1 week) UK	First published: July 18, 1994 Author: John Farrar Original: Olivia Newton-John , 1978

More singles

• 1992: We've Got the Power (The Gladiators feat.Sonia)
• 1995: Wake Up Everybody
• 2009: Fool for Love

swell

1. ↑ Sonia Evans. In: Talking Heads Voices. Retrieved May 19, 2020 . 
2. ↑ UK NATIONAL FINAL 1993. Retrieved May 19, 2020 . 
3. ^ Sonia - Better The Devil You Know. Retrieved May 19, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Sonia - Love Train - The Philly Album. Retrieved May 19, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Hit Factory Live: Kylie and Jason reunited. See full setlist! Retrieved May 19, 2020 (English). 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK
7. ↑ ^{a b} UK gold / platinum database

Web links

• Sonia's website
• Sonia at Allmusic (English)
• Sonia at Discogs (English)