Atomic Kitten are an English girl group from Liverpool, first established in 1999.

Created by Andy McCluskey, the trio include Natasha Hamilton, Liz McClarnon, and Jenny Frost who replaced Kerry Katona after her leaving in 2001. Heidi Range, of Sugababes fame was a founding member of Atomic Kitten but was replaced by Natasha Hamilton.

1999-2001: Right Now
Atomic Kitten was first conceived in 1997 by Andy McCluskey of 1980s band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. McCluskey originally chose Heidi Range (now in the group Sugababes) to be a member along with Liz McClarnon and Kerry Katona, but Range decided to opt out and was replaced by Natasha Hamilton. This line-up was finalised in 1999.

The group's first single, "Right Now", debuted in December 1999 and reached the UK Top 10. After their initial success, Atomic Kitten performed an Asian tour and scored their first hit there with "Cradle". The album, also titled Right Now, was first released in Japan on March 16, 2000, and subsequently released in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2000 with a slightly modified track list. In July 2000, the group also recorded a cover version of "The Locomotion" for the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

The Right Now album was unsuccessful upon its first release, peaking only at no.39 in the UK album chart. Initially, there were no plans to focus on the global market and Atomic Kitten's record label, Innocent Records, was even considering dropping them because of their limited success. However, the record company were persuaded to allow the group to record one more single. The single, "Whole Again", became their first no. 1 hit in the UK in 2001. The song and video for "Whole Again" originally featured Kerry Katona; however, she left the group several days prior to the number-one position because of her pregnancy. The single was remade when Jenny Frost was added to the line-up as Katona's replacement. This led to a decision to partially re-record and re-release the album, which then went to no. 1 in August 2001.

The next single, "Eternal Flame", a cover version of the 1989 hit by The Bangles, also became a no. 1 hit.

2002-2003: Feels So Good
Following the success of "Whole Again", a new album, Feels So Good, was recorded. The songwriting and production agreement with Andy McCluskey was an increasing source of tension within the group, and the girls decided to terminate the contract with McCluskey halfway through the recording of the album.

The title track from the album Feels So Good was written for the group by Kylie Minogue. Although the song was never released as a single, the song was given positive reviews and has been quoted as the albums high point.

The album's high point is most definitely the title track, written for the Kittens by none other than Kylie Minogue; it is typical pop-diva material with a disco class and fat rhythm section that will undoubtedly make it a camp anthem for the latter half of 2002.

The first single off the album was "It's OK!". Even though this song performed well in the charts, securing a No. 3 position, it was the next single "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)", a remake of the 1965 song by The Paragons (also made famous by Blondie in 1980), which attained Atomic Kitten their third number-one single. In April 2002, Hamilton announced that she was pregnant, but rather than leave the group, she opted to continue with the scheduled 2002 tour. Hamilton filmed the music video for "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)", and made an appearance at Party in the Park before finally going on pregnancy leave.

During January and February 2003, Atomic Kitten toured around Southeast Asia, visiting Singapore, Thailand, and Korea. Hamilton, who had given birth to her son, Josh, on August 24, 2002, decided to take her newborn baby with her on the tour as well.

2003-2004: Ladies Night and split
In April 2003, the group released the album, Atomic Kitten in the United States. Until that time, the group had not focused on the American market, and the album consisted of tracks from their first two albums,Right Now and Feels So Good. Promotion for the album began with the single, The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling), appearing on the soundtrack for the Disney film, The Lizzie McGuire Movie starring Hilary Duff. However, after the album only managed to peak at #102 on the US Billboard chart, it was decided the group would focus solely on the European and Asian markets.

Before recording their third album, Kool and the Gang approached the group about a collaboration for their album of duets, Odyssey. Kool and the Gang wanted to record an updated version of their hit "Ladies Night" and were looking for a girl group to sing the lyrics. Atomic Kitten liked the idea and enquired whether they could use it for their next album which was subsequently named Ladies Night in honour of this collaboration.

Atomic Kitten spent late 2002 and early 2003 in the studio recording their third and final studio album. Up until the recording of Ladies Night, the group mainly relied on songwriters, though they had occasionally co-written songs featured on their albums. While recording Ladies Night, they decided to be directly involved in the creation of eight of the fifteen songs. Ladies Night was released on November 10, 2003, and peaked at no.5 in the UK album chart.

In early 2004, a tour to support the Ladies Night album and the upcoming release of their Greatest Hitsalbum was planned. Shortly before the tour kicked off, the group announced they would be splitting after the completion of the tour.

2005-2008 occasional and charity work
On January 23, 2004, Natasha Hamilton decided to devote more time to her young son and wanted to take a hiatus from the group. Atomic Kitten released the single "Someone Like Me/Right Now 2004" as a "goodbye" to their fans, but were reunited on Valentine's Day 2005 to release the charity single "Cradle 2005", a new version of the original song from their album Right Now. "Cradle 2005" peaked at No. 10, with proceeds going to World Vision.

In 2005, the group was featured on the soundtrack of Disney's Mulan II with the song "(I Wanna Be) Like Other Girls". In 2005, they also performed together in Krakow, Poland on August 28 at the Coca-Cola SoundWave Festival.

In 2006, Atomic Kitten recorded a one-off single, "All Together Now (Strong Together)", in association with Goleo VI, the official mascot of the FIFA World Cup 2006. The track is taken from The Official FIFA World Cup Album and was released for digital download and in CD form on June 6, 2006, in Germany, where the World Cup was held ten days later. The single was listed by the HMV website for physical release in the UK many weeks prior to the competition, but was later withdrawn due to the amount of competing football records that were being released at that time. The proceeds of the single went to SOS Children's Villages.

On December 4, 2006, the group reunited again for a one-off performance of "Whole Again" and two other songs at a benefit concert for the Michael Shields appeal at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.

On December 31, 2006, Atomic Kitten performed at the Ocean Terminal in Hong Kong at Nokia's New Year's Eve celebration. The appearance marked their second international appearance since splitting in 2004.

Atomic Kitten released another charity single, Anyone Who Had A Heart on January 27, 2008, a version of Dionne Warwick's 1963 hit as part of the Liverpool Number One Project. The single peaked at no.77 in the UK. On January 19, 2008, Atomic Kitten had returned to the stage for The Number One Project, where they sang "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "Whole Again" and "The Tide is High (Get the Feeling)" live. On January 25, 2008, the group appeared on GMTV, talking about The Number One Project and performed "Anyone Who Had a Heart" in the studio. Later that same day Liz McClarnon and Natasha Hamilton appeared on Radio 1's Scott Mills Show.

Although a reunion was due to surface after reuniting in 2008, it never materialised and the girls continued with solo projects: Hamilton gave birth to her third son Alfie in June 2010, Frost presented the first four series of Snog Marry Avoid?, and McClarnon presented Hotter Than My Daughterand also appeared at the Liverpool Empire in December 2012 alongside Coleen Nolan in Cinderella .

2012–13: Reformation of original line-up, The Big Reunion and touring

In March 2012, Hamilton confirmed that the group were reuniting for a summer tour, and that they would love to perform at the Diamond Jubilee Concert. She also stated that the group were in talks to star in their own reality television show regarding the comeback, following on the success of the 2011 Steps reunion and reality show. Hamilton stated that she hoped Katona, who quit the band in 2001, would join her, McClarnon and Frost on stage for a performance. The reunion was later dismissed by all members due to the fight between Katona and Frost.

However, on 18 October 2012, it was announced that the original line-up of Atomic Kitten (McClarnon, Katona and Hamilton) would reunite for an ITV2 series along with five other pop groups of their time – 911, Honeyz, B*Witched, Five and Liberty X.[5]Frost was not involved because she was expecting twins, whom she gave birth to in January 2013.

On 20 November, the girls were spotted leaving a recording studio together. The Daily Mail reported that they were seen filming their reformation for The Big Reunion. In an interview with the Radio Times on 29 January, the group confirmed that they would continue their reunion beyond the one-off performance with Katona saying "It's been so much fun so far, why wouldn't we continue it?". We came into this knowing we'd have a bit of a laugh, but not that it would be this much fun, so why would we stop when it's been so good? Watch this space...". They also confirmed that Frost had been involved in early meetings to reform the group but decided to focus on her pregnancy. The group later confirmed that the setlist would consist of "Right Now", "See Ya", "I Want Your Love", "Whole Again", "It's OK", "Be with You" and "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)". On 1 February 2013, the group were interviewed on This Morning discussing the reformation.

The bands were originally only supposed to perform a one-off concert at London's Hammersmith Apollo on 26 February 2013, but when the entire show sold out in under five minutes shortly after the premiere of the first episode on 31 January 2013, rumours circulated that the show may become a full arena tour around the UK. On 11 February, it was confirmed that, due to high ticket demands and the popularity of The Big Reunion, a UK arena tour would be taking place from 3–14 May 2013.Two more dates were later added for 16 and 17 May, taking the tour total to 14 shows. Due to the massive success of The Big Reunion, it was announced that the bands would also be going on a "Christmas party tour" in December 2013. In December 2013, Atomic Kitten recorded their first new material in ten years when, along with the other groups from the show, they recorded a Christmas charity single for Text Santa.

2013–present: Current Projects and uncertain future

On 17 February 2013, Atomic Kitten made an appearance on The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Katona announced that the group have signed a deal to release their own perfume fragrance. Hamilton later added that they would be releasing new material, saying: "We've already been in the studio, we want to write some more music, so it's all very exciting." On 14 March, Hamilton confirmed yet again that the group would release new material, saying "There is definitely going to be a single and there will be an album, hopefully". Also speaking about their fragrance deal, she added: "We have got a perfume deal - we are going to be releasing our own Atomic Kitten fragrance. "Right Now", "The Tide Is High" and "Whole Again are taken from The Big Reunion Album. It's going to be three different smells to represent the three of us. Fans will get the three in one packet. We went to the company's offices and created our fragrances."

 Hamilton has stated that Frost will be welcome back if she wants to rejoin the group in the future. On 27 March, Hamilton tweeted "I'm off the studio to vocal @AtomicKOfficial potential come-back single!! Could today get anymore freakin' exciting!" At the Health Lottery champagne tea at Claridge's in London, she said: "We actually recorded our new single last night. We've literally just done it. I got out of the studio at 11pm and I couldn't stop singing the song. I couldn't get to sleep - I was in bed, singing! It's modern so we've progressed. That's all I can say right now. If there's a single, there's definitely going to be an album."

The group featured on The Big Reunion charity Christmas single "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" peaking at number 13.