| Better the Devil You Know | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 17 May 1993 | |||
| Recorded | 1992 - 1993 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 44:08 | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Producer | Nigel Wright and others | |||
| Sonia chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Better the Devil You Know | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Music Week |   [1] |
Better the Devil You Know is the third album by British pop star Sonia. [2] It was released on the back of her entry into the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest with the title track.
Released in May 1993, the album followed Sonia's appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest. The previous year, Sonia had been selected to be the UK representative and she performed all eight songs in the Song for Europe. The 1992 participant Michael Ball had enjoyed great success with his album based on the contest when it reached No.1 in the charts, and Sonia's management were keen to see similar results. [3] "Better the Devil You Know" featured four songs from the contest (the top four placed songs: "A Little Love", "Our World", "So Much of Your Love" and the winner "Better the Devil You Know"). [4] However, the album failed to replicate Ball's success and peaked at No.32 in the charts. The title track however finished a close second in the Contest and reached No.15 on the UK charts. [5]
An earlier single, a cover of the disco hit "Boogie Nights" was also included on the album, while a planned follow-up to the Eurovision song, "Rescue Me" (also a cover) went unreleased. [6] This album marked the end of Sonia's hit-making period, which had lasted since 1989. From this point, Sonia concentrated on TV and stage work, while two more singles and a final album failed to find success.
Michael Stock is an English songwriter, record producer, musician, and member of the songwriting and production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. He has written and/or produced 18 No. 1 records in America and the UK, over a hundred top-40 hits and is recognised as one of the most successful songwriters of all time by the Guinness Book of Records. As part of Stock Aitken Waterman in the 1980s and 90s, he holds the UK record of 11 number one records with different acts. In the UK Singles Chart he has written 54 top-ten hits including 7 number ones.
Sonia Evans, known mononymously as Sonia, is an English pop singer from Skelmersdale, near Liverpool. She had a 1989 UK number one hit with "You'll Never Stop Me Loving You" and became the first female UK artist to achieve five top 20 hit singles from one album. She represented the United Kingdom in the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest, where she finished second with the song "Better the Devil You Know". Between 1989 and 1993, she had 11 UK top 30 hits, including "Listen to Your Heart" (1989), "Counting Every Minute" (1990) and "Only Fools " (1991). In 1994, she starred as Sandy in a West End revival of the musical Grease, while on television she appeared as Bunty in the 1998 BBC comedy series The Lily Savage Show.
Stock Aitken Waterman are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time, scoring more than 100 UK top 40 hits, selling 40 million records and earning an estimated £60 million.
Sonia represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993, singing "Better the Devil You Know". The song, chosen from a selection broadcast on A Song for Europe, was placed second in the contest.
Blue are an English boy band consisting of members Simon Webbe, Duncan James, Antony Costa and Lee Ryan. The group formed in 2000 and released three studio albums before announcing a hiatus In late 2004. In January 2011 the group reformed and represented the United Kingdom at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf with the song "I Can", coming in 11th place with 100 points. In 2013 it was confirmed that the group would be joining The Big Reunion, in which six groups from the past reform for a one-off gig. On 27 March 2013, the group announced they would embark on their first headlining tour later on in the year, their first tour in nearly ten years.
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Stock Aitken Waterman Gold is a compilation album released in 2005 by Sony BMG, PWL Records and EBUL.
Hits 93 Volume 2 is a compilation album released by Telstar Records and BMG in Spring 1993. It was the second in a series of four albums collecting the biggest hits of the year, much like the original series called The Hits Album which ran from 1984 to 1991, although Hits 93 was formatted as a single-CD/MC collection.
"Boogie Nights" is a 1977 single by international funk-disco group Heatwave. It was written by keyboardist Rod Temperton and was included on Heatwave's debut album, Too Hot to Handle. Harpist Carla Skanger played harp and American actor and singer Clarke Peters performed backing vocals on the recording.
If I Have to Stand Alone is the debut album by Hi-NRG and house singer Lonnie Gordon, released in 1990 on Supreme Records. It includes Gordon's breakthrough hit "Happenin' All Over Again", which was a top 10 hit in the UK and Ireland. However, the two follow-up singles, "Beyond Your Wildest Dreams" and "If I Have to Stand Alone" did not fare as well. The album was released in parts of continental Europe in late 1990, and Japan and Australia in early 1991, albeit in limited quantity, and wasn't released in the UK until a Cherry Pop reissue in 2009.
"I Love the Way You Love Me" is a song recorded by American country music singer John Michael Montgomery from his debut album, Life's a Dance (1992). It was written by Victoria Shaw and Chuck Cannon, and released in March 1993 as the album's second single. The song reached the top of the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. It became Montgomery's first number-one single and was named Song of the Year by the Academy of Country Music.
"Better the Devil You Know" is a song written by Brian Teasdale and Dean Collinson for English singer Sonia. The single was released in April 1993 as the second and final single from Sonia's third album, Better the Devil You Know. The song was the United Kingdom's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993, finishing in second place.
Everybody Knows is the debut album by English dance-pop singer Sonia, released in April 1990. The album was predominantly written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman and includes the UK and Irish number one single "You'll Never Stop Me Loving You" and the UK top 20 hits "Can't Forget You", "Listen to Your Heart", "Counting Every Minute", and "End of the World". At the time of release, Sonia became the first female UK artist to achieve five top 20 hit singles from one album. Everybody Knows was re-issued by Cherry Red Records in October 2010 in remastered and expanded form.
Sonia is the second album by British pop star Sonia, released in October 1991 on IQ Records, after parting company with Chrysalis Records and Stock Aitken Waterman. Sonia's second album was produced by Nigel Wright and for the first time Sonia co-wrote some of the songs.
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