If ‘Levi’s #1s’ is a niche chart-topping genre – see Mr. Oizo last time out – then this next chart-topper falls into an even rarer category…
Perfect Moment, by Martine McCutcheon (her 1st and only #1)
2 weeks, from 11th – 25th April 1999
Not just ‘TV stars’ (alongside the likes of Telly Savalas and David Soul) or ‘Soap Stars’ (alongside Kylie and Jason), both of which would be niche enough. No, after Nick Berry, this is just the second ever Eastenders number one.
And if this were a competition, then Martine McCutcheon wins the Battle of the Eastenders Pop Stars hands down. That is more to do with how crap Nick Berry’s effort was than any particular strengths that this record has, but still. A win’s a win. And ‘Perfect Moment’ starts off interestingly enough, with a grandiosely old-fashioned intro, and some early-eighties, Ultravoxy synths.
Yes, it’s a gloopy ballad. But it sounds quite out of place against the late-nineties pop landscape. This sounds like it could have replaced Nick Berry at the top back in 1986. I don’t want to use the word ‘experimental’ on a record as average as this, but at the same time McCutcheon’s producers were clearly trying a couple of things out.
By the second verse, though, order has been restored. That pre-set late-nineties drumbeat has kicked in, while the middle-eight (And if tomorrow brings a lonely day…) sets a template to be followed by every X-Factor winner’s single from here to eternity. Blandness wins, but for a minute or so something a little more interesting was threatened.
And what of Martine McCutcheon, AKA Tiffany Mitchell, who a few months earlier had been mown down in Albert Square by Frank Butcher’s car? She has a pretty decent voice here, on her solo debut, and by the end is trying her best to compete with the big ‘90s divas. She is ultimately, though, no Whitney Houston. She had made earlier attempts at a pop career, as part of failed girl-group Milan in at the start of the decade, and on a minor dance hit not long after she had joined ‘EastEnders.
‘Perfect Moment’ had originally been recorded by Polish singer Edyta Górniak in 1997, and this cover set McCutcheon up for a couple of years of chart success. Colour me surprised to discover that she managed four more Top 10 hits! None of which I have any memory of… She has gone on to acting success on stage and screen – perhaps most famous to an international audience as Natalie in ‘Love Actually’ – while the fact that she was killed off and unable to return to EastEnders has apparently always rankled with her.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I actually kinda dig it, not gonna lie. It sounds like we’re right back in 1985.
I looked at the ’99 chart-toppers and seems we’re right on the precipe of the Westlife era with their first UK No. 1 and their sole US Top 40 hit. Oh boy am I just so excited and thrilled to be serenaded 14 different times by these fine five Irish boys.
Yeah not looking forward to finding 14 different ways of writing the same thing….
No, to be fair, there are two Westlife songs I think are ok
I actually liked this. Not in a #1 way. but in a certainly don’t mind it being high in the charts way. She does sound good.
I really liked this record, it might be retro but it’s a good song and she does a good job. As I avoided Eastenders like the plague, I can’t be accused of being biased either way (and I still havent seen THAT movie) so I just took it for what it was – she was personable, could sing and could act and the record was amongst the better records in the chart at that time.
I was big into Eastenders at the time, and can still picture Tiffany splayed out across the Albert Square cobbles, after coming a cropper under Frank Butcher’s car. Iconic.
It’s not bad at all…I can live with this easy…her voice sounds really good… it’s a bit overdone but I like it…plus she is quite easy on the eyes.