#65: Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now by Samantha Fox

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: December 1987
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #80
YouTube: “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now”
Lyrics: “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now”

Samantha Fox was born in London, UK, in 1966. She formed her first pop band when she was 14 and signed her first record deal with Lamborghini Records at age 15. Fox began her glamour modelling career at age 16 in 1982. After she placed second in a Sunday People amateur modeling contest, The Sun recruited her to pose topless for Page 3, where she made her first appearance in February 1983. In the UK you had to be 16 years of age in order to legally be in a photo for public consumption. Named The Sun‘s “Page 3 Girl of the Year” for 1984, 1985 and 1986, she became one of the most photographed British women of the 1980s and a notable sex symbol of the era. in 1983, her recording debut was a non-album non-charting single titled “Rockin’ with My Radio”, credited as S.F.X.

In 1986 Fox was invited to an open audition for Jive Records, which was seeking a “British Madonna” to record the track “Touch Me (I Want Your Body)”. The song climbed to number-one in Australia, Canada, Finland, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland. It was also a Top Ten hit in Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the UK, USA, and West Germany. Her follow-up single, “Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me)” reached number-one in Finland and Sweden, and was a Top Ten hit in Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, the UK, and West Germany. However, it stalled on the Billboard Hot 100 at #87. Her third single release from her debut album, Touch Me, was “Hold On Tight”. The single only cracked the Top Ten in Finland.

In the spring of 1987, Fox released her second album, Samantha Fox. “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” was the title of her debut single from the album.

What this woman is not going to stop is walking out on her lover. She’s lost her self-respect and been made a fool by her lover. So she’s packed her bags and doesn’t want to discuss her decision to leave anymore.

The song was co-written by Matt Aitken, Mike Stock, and Pete Waterman.

Pete Waterman was born in Coventry, England, in 1947. In 1962 he took work with British Railway, having left school at 15 years of age. He subsequently worked as a coal miner, and for General Electric. He started to work as a DJ in clubs at Coventry. And from there worked as an A&R man, introducing the Three Degrees to the UK.

Matt Aitken was born in Coventry in 1956. Michael Stock was born in Kent in 1951. He was self-taught in playing the piano and guitar and began writing songs at the age of seven. Inspired by the Beatles, he soon became fixated with pop music and put together his first band at age 13, playing bass guitar and singing. Stock signed a publishing contract when he was nineteen after earning a reputation as a budding songwriter, although no one had suggested a full-time career in the music world was a possibility. Throughout 1979 to 1981, Stock was performing every night of the week in various bands embracing pop, dance, old standards, rock or funk. Stock’s band had gone through several guitar players before he was alerted to Matt Aitken, a guitarist who had been spotted by another member of his band working on a cruise ship. Stock contacted Aitken to offer him a role in the band. Playing on cruise ships and in various bands of his own, Aitken was an accomplished guitarist whose style could adapt to any type of music.

Stock, Aitken and Waterman met and went on to produce “Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)” by Hazell Dean, a #4 hit in the UK in 1984. They also produced Divine’s hit “You Think You’re A Man”, which made the Top Ten in Australia and Switzerland. Their big breakthrough internationally was with Dead Or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”, a Top Ten hit internationally in a dozen nations, and #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Then in 1986, Bananarama recorded a cover of the 1970 hit by Shocking Blue titled “Venus”. The single went Top Ten in 18 nations, including number-one in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the USA. Subsequently, they co-wrote and produced the Bananarama hit “I Heard A Rumour.”

Later, Stock, Aitken & Waterman wrote and produced a #1 hit for Mel & Tim in 1987 titled “Respectable”. Another recording artist they had a hit with was Sinitta’s “Toy Boy”. The trio had a number of hits for Kylie Minogue, including producing her cover of the 1962 Little Eva tune “The Loco-Motion”. Other hits for Kylie Minogue included “I Should Be So Lucky”, “Hand on Your Heart”, and “Got To Be Certain”. Another charting domino was Jason Donovan, who Stock, Aitken & Waterman wrote and produced for, including “Too Many Broken Hearts”, “Everyday (I Love You More)”, “When You Come Back to Me” and “Hang On to Your Love”. They wrote and produced hits for Rick Astley, including “Never Gonna Give You Up”, “Whenever You Need Somebody”, “Together Forever”, “It Would Take a Strong Strong Man”, “Take Me to Your Heart”, and “My Arms Keep Missing You”. They also wrote and produced hits for Donna Summer, “This Time I Know It’s For Real” and “I Don’t Want To Get Hurt”. As well, they wrote “That’s What Love Can Do” for Boy Krazy.

Stock, Aitken & Waterman split as a songwriting-production trio later in 1993 due to a dispute over finances.

“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” peaked at #2 in Montreal, and #11 in Miami. Internationally, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” reached number-one in Finland, #2 in Italy, Norway and Switzerland, and the Top Ten in Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and West Germany. However, it stalled at #80 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #28 on the RPM Canadian Top 100 Singles chart.

In 1988, Fox released another track from her second album as a single. “I Surrender (To the Spirit of the Night)” reached the Top Ten in Finland, Spain and Switzerland.  It peaked at #10 in Montreal.

Fox had a #3 hit in the USA in 1988 with “Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)”, and the Top Ten in New Zealand. The song made the Top Ten in Vancouver and Montreal. Late that year “I Wanna Have Some Fun” also cracked the Top Ten in the USA.  In 1989, Fox covered Dusty Springfield’s “I Only Want To Be With You”. It climbed to #1 in Belgium, #2 in Finland, #4 in Italy, and made the Top Ten in Ireland and France.

Though she released three more albums between 1991 and 2005, her sex appeal failed to continue to generate record sales. In 1996, Samantha Fox appeared at the age of 30 in a nude photo in Playboy magazine. In 2008, Fox donated her favourite bra to a charity auction.

In 2003, Fox came out as a lesbian and confirmed that she was in a relationship with her then-manager Myra Stratton. After Stratton died in 2015 of cancer, Samantha Fox began dating her Norwegian tour manager Linda Birgitte Olsen. The pair got married in 2022.

In December 2023, police officers arrested Fox at Heathrow Airport after her conduct prevented the departure of a British Airways flight. At Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in April 2024, she pleaded guilty to charges of drunk and disorderly conduct on a plane and to threatening and abusive behaviour towards a police officer. She denied assaulting her wife during the incident, and prosecutors dropped the assault charge after changes in evidence. In September 2024, she was sentenced to a 12-month community order, including a £1,000 fine and up to 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days. She was also ordered to pay £1,718.09 in compensation to British Airways,

August 22, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Cheer Up Pop Parties, “Stock Aitken Waterman Show featuring Josselyne, Kimberly & Ruth Ann of Boy Krazy,” Mixcloud, October 2020.
Tim Jonze, “I Crawled On My Knees to Kylie’ – the Inside Story of Stock, Aitken and Waterman,” Guardian, March 28, 2017.

CKOI 96.9 FM Montreal (PQ) | December 4, 1987