Songoftheday 7/31/20 - Every night makes me hate the days, can't get enough of your love...

"Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit" - Gina G

from the album Fresh! (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 25

Today's song of the day comes from Australian-born singer Gina G (for Gardiner), who was a DJ and singer in her native country before moving to the UK in 1995. From there she entered the country's Song For Europe TV show, which at the time determined the selection that would complete for Britain in the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Performing the song live to millions of viewers around the world from Oslo, Norway in 1996, Gina did quite respectably in the show, placing in eighth place and continuing a streak of top ten finishes that the following year would see the country win with Katrina and the Waves' "Love Shine A Light". With the exposure, "Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit", a frenetic dance-pop gem produced by Steve Rodway, aka remixer Motiv8, who wrote the track with Simon Tauber, became a worldwide success, and for the first time in decades, a song from the contest reached American shores where it became Gina's first pop success here...

"Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit" became Gina G's first and only top-40 pop hit in America in February of 1997, a full nine months after she competed in Eurovision. The song also climbed to #25 on Billboard magazine's Adult Top-40 radio chart, while the remixes of the track helped it rise to #4 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, where Eurovision has a much higher stature, the single was massive, especially for a non-winning song from the show, topping the charts in the UK right after its Eurovision performance while reaching the top ten in Hungary (#4), Australia (#5), Norway (#5), Denmark (#5), Ireland (#6), Sweden (#6), Finland (#6), Belgium (#6F), and the Czech Republic (#7). The song also made the top 40 in the Netherlands (#13), Iceland (#24), and New Zealand (#28). The Fresh! album, released in 1997, didn't make the official Billboard 200 sales chart in America, but it appeared on the new artist "Heatseekers" chart at #27. At the Grammy Awards in 1998, "Ooh Aah...Just a Little Bit" was nominated for the first Dance Music Recording category, losing out to Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder for "Carry On" (how can you beat that pairing in the dance category?).

Internationally, where her debut hit right around the contest, the second single from the set was the peppy love song "I Belong To You", which made the top ten in Belgium (#4), the UK (#6), and Iceland (#10), while reaching the top-40 in Denmark (#12), Ireland (#16), Finland (#18), Sweden (#24), and Australia (#34). Then came the album's title cut "Fresh!", which scored a hat trick top ten success in the UK at #6, while making the top-40 in Belgium (#11), Australia (#23), Ireland (#29), and Iceland (#38). The fourth worldwide release was "Ti Amo", which just missed the top ten in Britain at #11, and stopped not far behind in Belgium at #14. By then, the American success had caught up, so the next single in America and internationally was the uptempo jam "Gimme Some Love", which criminally missed the pop top-40 in the U.S. at #46, while getting to #18 on Billboard's dance chart, although it landed a fifth top-40 hit in the UK at #25. Lastly, the single "Every Time I Fall", an attempt at a downtempo track, was a minor hit in Britain at #52.

Legal scuffles with her management kept Gina from releasing any new material until the mid-2000s, when she attempted to compete for the chance to represent the UK again at Eurovision, losing out to Javine Hylton, who came in 22nd that year. A year later, Gina released a new single, "Tonight's The Night", which brought her back to the British singles chart at #57.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's Gina's Eurovision Song Contest performance of "Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit", where she wore a dress that was a toss-off from Cher her damn self...

Next up is the "Next Door Rip Em Up Remix" that helped the track make the top-5 on the American dance chart in 1997...

...and a clip of Gina performing at the Smash Hits awards show in the UK...

And doing it live for Top Of The Pops in 1997...

and lastly, Gina G appearing on the selection show for the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest entry...

Up tomorrow: Female rapper throws a shindig.