The Story of Pop: 2000 (Chapter 40)

Continuing our weekly look back at all the big UK chart hits from twenty years ago every Thursday at midday, this is The Story of Pop: 2000. And here comes another massive hit from the year they called Y2K…

Now whilst it’s true to say the teen queens – Britney, Christina etc – ruled the charts of the early 00s on both sides of the Atlantic, they were by no means the only female talent having huge success, as this week’s artist proved.

Born to a German descending club singer father, and an Irish descending Broadway actress mother in Chicago, Illinois in 1968, Anastacia Lyn Newkirk – just known by her stage mononym of Anastacia – was an alumni of the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan, where her classmates included Christian Slater.

She had first come to attention after years on the circuit as a backup singer and dancer in 1998, when she was one of the finalists in The Cut, an MTV talent show. Such was the attention she drew, that she was quickly scouted and snapped up by Epic Records in the spring of 1999.

Her debut album Not That Kind had already been a huge international success, reaching the top 10 and going multi platinum in eight different countries across Europe and Asia by the time she made her UK debut in the autumn of 2000.

Quite unlike anything else in the charts at that time, ‘I’m Outta Love’, her first single, was a brassy, bold and sassy funk/soul kiss off to a no-hope ex that immediately caught the attention of radio programmers and punters alike.

It went hurtling straight into the UK top 10, where it entered at #7, before climbing to its peak position of #6 on this very week 20 years ago, staying inside the top 40 for 12 weeks and selling over 200,000 copies, thus establishing Anastacia as one of the big new female solo stars of the new millennium.

Don’t forget to follow our brand new playlist on Spotify – updated weekly so you never miss a song from the story of pop in 2000. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments or Tweet us, using the hashtag #StoryofPop2000.