Black Coffee

Album: Saints & Sinners (2000)
Charted: 1
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Songfacts®:

  • This Tom Nichols and Kirsty Roper penned song was originally intended to be sung by Roper, who was a solo performer signed to Nichols' manager Gary Davis' label. However, when it was played to Tracy Bennett, an executive at London Records, he decided that he wanted the song for All Saints. Co-songwriter Tom Nichols said in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh: "William Orbit produced it and it came out sounding fantastic. It was completely different from the demo."
  • The song was commercially successful becoming The All Saints fourth UK #1 single and also reaching the top ten in several other countries, including Ireland, Italy, Sweden and New Zealand.
  • Former Miss UK Kirsty Roper married Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, the same year that she wrote this song. After putting her career on hold for ten years to raise their three children, Roper launched her first album Elusive in Switzerland, where it went straight into the top 20 of the album charts. Not that she needs the money, she shares an estimated £7.4 billion fortune with Bertarelli and is said to be Britain's richest woman.
  • The song's music video was shot by Johan Renck, and contained scenes of a couple arguing with each other with each All Saint appearing beside them at various points. None of the girls appeared together as they weren't speaking to each other at the time. It also featured special effects very similar to the Bullet Time effect used in the movie The Matrix, which was state of the art at the time.

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