Cathy Dennis

... was born in Norwich in 1970. She first entered the UK charts as a performer, along with D Mob, on C'mon and Get My Love – for which she received a joint songwriting credit. She had a dozen hits as a solo artist in the 1990s, the biggest of which was Touch Me (All Night Long) – No. 5 in 1991.

An early breakthrough in writing for other artists came when the Spice Girls recorded Bumper to Bumper as the B–side of their debut single, Wannabe – which went to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic and became the best–selling single ever recorded by a girl group. She collaborated with Julian Gingell and Barry Stone (together known as Jewels and Stone) in writing the theme tune to the global television phenomenon that was Pop Idol, and this led to her writing songs for several alumni of the show, including Kelly Clarkson, Will Young and Gareth Gates.

Her first No. 1 hit as a songwriter was Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Head – which hit the top spot in dozens of countries worldwide, including the UK, although in the USA it peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her first US No. 1 hit was Kelly Clarkson's Before Your Love (a double A–side with A Moment Like This), released in 2002.

According to Wikipedia, "her biggest success" came in 2008 with Toxic – which was turned down by Kylie, but went on to become a massive worldwide hit for Britney Spears. Dennis was credited for "additional writing" (the main credit going to the Swedish songwriting and production duo Bloodshy & Avant).

Wikipedia lists over 140 songs on which Cathy Dennis has received at least a partial writing credit, more than 30 of which have been singles hits. As well as those already mentioned, the hits include recordings by S Club 7, Sophie Ellis–Bextor, Sugababes, David Guetta and Mark Ronson. Eight of them have reached No. 1 in the UK.

To date, Cathy Dennis has won six Ivor Novello awards. In 2004 she was placed 66th in Q Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in music, and two years later she won the UK music industry's Woman of the Year Award.