58: Sonique - It Feels So Good

When news broke in June of this year that Sonique (a.k.a Sonia Clarke) was suffering from breast cancer, I found myself questioning "why?" Not in the sense of "why her?" - cancer can strike any of us at any time. No, rather, I was surprised that the story about a one-hit wonder, who had been out of the public eye since the early part of the decade, was considered newsworthy. After all, one-hit wonders, by their nature, do not retain much celebrity status. It's even more surprising in the dance genre, where the singers/DJs are largely faceless. Hands up if you'd recognise Rui Da Silva or Mr Oizo if you bumped into them in the street?

The fact that the BBC and most of the national newspapers chose to publish this story probably indicates what high regard the population hold for Sonique's one hit. 'It Feels So Good' was the third biggest selling single of 2000, spending three weeks at #1 and an amazing fourteen weeks hanging about the Top 40. Indeed, it has been named as the biggest selling dance song of the 21st century, having sold over 650,000 copies in the UK alone.*



As dance tunes go, it's a rather uplifting song, bursting into the joyous chorus ("your love, it feels so good, and that's what takes me high, higher than I've been before, and your love it keeps me alive") as North Londoner, Sonique flexed her vocal muscles. I don't know anyone who doesn't love this song. Given that I'd already chosen this song to appear at #58 in my countdown before news of her cancer broke, it seems apt to use this opportunity to wish Sonique a speedy recovery, and thank her for one of the greatest dance tunes of the decade.

* Bizarrely, the only other major market where it topped the charts was Norway. But it did reach #2 in Switzerland and Austria, #3 in Sweden, and went Top 10 virtually everywhere else, including the USA.