Comin' Atcha! (Cleopatra album)

Comin' Atcha!
Studio album by Cleopatra
Released	June 30, 1998
Recorded	1996
Genre	Pop/R&B
Length	47.08
Label	WEA, Maverick Records
Cleopatra chronology
- Comin' Atcha! (1998) Steppin' Out (2000)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	(B+)[2]

Comin' Atcha! is the debut album from British pop and R&B girl group Cleopatra, Released June 30, 1998 by WEA. The album was written by singer-songwriter Cleo who is also the lead singer of Cleopatra. Four singles were released from the album 3 top 5 hits "Cleopatra's Theme", "Life Ain't Easy" and "I Want You Back" and 1 top 30 A Touch of Love. It featured a cover of the Jackson 5 hit "I Want You Back" . The album was released worldwide and went Platinum. Comin' Atcha! was released digitally Dec 28 2004. The Comin' Atcha! album had a huge impact for Cleopatra's career leading to them being signed to Madonna's Maverick record label and selling over 300,000 copies of their debut in the U.S alone. In Canada the girls are known as Cleopatra ZYC as the name Cleopatra was already taken by an artist.

Writing

The album was written by lead singer Cleo who had written some of the songs as young as 9 years old. The album was recorded when Cleo was only 14 years old. When the original demos were recorded they were R&B, Soul records which were later remixed to pop songs. Cleo often wrote about personal experiences or issues she felt she needed to address. On the track "A Touch Of Love" Cleo goes into her whistle register hitting F#6.

Impact

Their debut single was "Cleopatra's Theme" entered the UK chart at #3 giving them their first Top 5 hit single.

The next two singles - "Life Ain't Easy", the Jackson 5 classic hit "I Want You Back" followed the same success heading into the Top 5, gaining the girls BRIT Awards and MOBO Awards nominations. They performed at the 1999 BRIT Awards alongside Steps, Tina Cousins, B*Witched and Billie Piper and were also nominated for 'Best British Newcomer'. Madonna signed Cleopatra in 1998 to her Maverick label and introduced them to the United States on Nickelodeon's 11th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, where they performed their U.S. debut single, "Cleopatra's Theme". This record was released shortly afterwards gaining them a #26 position on the Billboard chart, and #16 in the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. The video was a popular choice as it was #4 on the TRL Top 10 countdown. Their U.S debut album Comin' Atcha sold over 300,000 copies^[3] and entered the US top 30 in July 1998. The group filmed a live show for a 60 minute Disney Channel special, "Cleopatra in Concert," where they performed their biggest hits aboard the Disney cruise ship the "Disney Magic."^[4] The show also contained a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of the three sisters over a four-day Bahamas cruise.

Cleopatra were invited to support the Spice Girls on the UK leg of their sell out Spiceworld Tour playing to 150,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.^[5] They were also invited to perform at the Vatican by request of Pope John Paul II,^[6] backed by a 100-piece orchestra.^[7] They sang "O Come All Ye Faithful".^[8] The performance was later released on DVD as 'All-Star Christmas - From the Vatican (2004)'. They covered the Bee Gees song "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", renaming it "Gotta Get A Message To You", for the tribute album of the same name. They were also asked to record a cover of the disco song "Right Back Where We Started From" for An Extremely Goofy Movie by Disney.

Track listing

#	Title	Time
1	"Cleopatra's Theme"	4:09
2	"Life Ain't Easy"	3:20
3	"Don't Suffer In Silence"	3:56
4	"A Touch of Love"	5:08
5	"The Bird Song"	4:51
6	"Thinking About You"	4:08
7	"What You Gonna Do Boy"	5:01
8	"The World We Live In"	5:36
9	"Dying Rose"	3:42
10	"Two Timer"	4:35
11	"I Want You Back"	4:02

Bonus tracks

Title	Time
"We Haven't Finished Yet (Japanese Bonus Track)"	4:16
"Bird Song (Live Version) (Japanese Bonus Track)"	4:59

Singles

1. Cleopatra's Theme June 16, 1998
2. Life Ain't Easy October 13, 1998
3. I Want You Back
4. Touch of Love February 8, 1999

Charts

Album – Billboard

Year	Chart	Position
1998	The Billboard 200	109
1998	Heatseekers	2

^[9]

Year	Chart	Position[10]
1998	UK	20

Year	Single	Chart Positions[9][10]
		US Hot 100	US R&B	UK Singles
1998	Cleopatra's Theme	26	51	3
1998	Life Ain't Easy	81	-	4
1998	I Want You Back	-	-	4
1999	A Touch Of Love	-	-	24

Credits

Cleo Higgins Lead Vocals, Arranger Yonah Higgins Backing Vocals Zainam Higgins Backing Vocals Christine Higgins Backing Vocals Shaun LaBelle Synthesizer, Bass, Drum Programming, Producer, Keyboards, Strings Steve Menzies Arranger Harry Morgan Percussion, Piano Dik Shopteau, Engineer Roger Troutman Talk Box Allee Willis Arranger Clem Clemson Guitar Brad Haehnel Engineer Ronnie Wilson Producer, Mixing Kenneth Hayes Arranger Niven Garland Engineer Reggie C. Young Horn Marcellus Fernandes Mixing, Mixing Engineer Errol Walters Executive Producer Milton Macdonald Guitar Paul Eastman Arranger Cziz Hall Arranger Sinclair Palmer Arranger Tim Scrafton Arranger

Damien Mendis Multi Instruments, Mixing, Producer Sam Noel Programming, Remixing, Engineer Yvonne Sheldon Vocals Graeme Stewart Engineer Steve Christian Arranger Michael "Mickey D" Davis Executive Producer Amichi Agoua Bass Big Ears Strings, Synclavier Technician Stuart Bradbury Multi Instruments Kadria Thomas Vocals Tyndale Thomas Vocals Dennis Charles Producer, Mixing Barney Chase Remixing Brad Heshnel Engineer Dave Phillips Piano, Keyboards, Programming Kevin Armstrong Guitar David Barry Guitar Gary Bias Horn Ray Brown Horn Stephen Chase Mixing Renny Hill Engineer Andy Williams Vocals Maurice White Arranger

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Entertainment Weekly review
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ Inbaseline.com
5. ^ News.bbc.co.uk
6. ^ UK.music.yahoo.com
7. ^ News.bbc.co.uk
8. ^ Christiancinema.com
9. ^ ^{a b} "Comin' Atcha! - Overview". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r352977. Retrieved 21st June, 2009. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Chart Stats Cleopatra". chartstats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=8364. Retrieved 21st June, 2009.