Overview
"Never Ever" is a song by English girl group All Saints. Written by All Saints member Shaznay Lewis along with co-writers Robert Jazayeri and Sean Mather and produced by Cameron McVey and Magnus Fiennes, it was released on 10 November 1997 as the second single from their debut album, All Saints (1997).
"Never Ever" is All Saints' highest-charting single, topping the charts in several countries, including Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It peaked within the top 10 in numerous other countries, including Ireland, Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Norway, Austria and the United States. As of June 2019, it is the third-best-selling single by a girl group of all time in the United Kingdom, behind "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls and "Shout Out to My Ex" by Little Mix.
Two music videos were shot for the single: the European and Australian version, and an American version, due to the mass success in those countries. The North American featured the group in a church, while the European/Australian version featured the group near a swimming pool and in their homes. At the 1998 Brit Awards, "Never Ever" won British Single of the Year and British Video of the Year.
Background
After the success of their debut single "I Know Where It's At", the group decided to record and produce their debut full-length studio album. "Never Ever" was released as the second single from their first album All Saints. The song was written by All Saints member Shaznay Lewis along with co-writers Robert Jazayeri and Sean Mather, and was produced by Cameron McVey and Magnus Fiennes. Lewis wrote the song after splitting up with a boyfriend, but the music conveyed the impression that all would be well. Soon after they signed their first major label deal with London Records, she discovered that the rest of the group—Melanie Blatt and Canadian sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton—had presented the label head with a tape of vocal recordings they had made without her. It was their version of Lewis's own song "Never Ever" that made him pay attention to the music. "He asked who had written it, so then they were forced to come back and get me," Lewis commented. "Looking back on it, that was pretty low. I think that's why the whole time I knew that if I didn't write I'd be out on my ear".
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).