Ready to Fly (Melanie Thornton album)

Ready to Fly is the only studio album by American singer Melanie Thornton. It was released by X-Cell Records on May 7, 2001, in German-speaking Europe after Thornton's departure as the lead vocalist of the Eurodance electronic music duo La Bouche. Taking her solo work further into the soul pop and dance pop genres, Thornton worked with chief producers Mitchell Lennox and Julien Nairolf on the album, on which she co-wrote six tracks. Other collaborators include Todd Chisolm, Jay Tee Rogers, Martin Mayer, Rob Tyger, Raúl de Chile, and Bobby Stalker.

Ready to Fly
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 7, 2001 (2001-05-07)
GenrePop, gospel, R&B, alternative pop, Europop
Length51:40
LabelX-Cell
Producer
  • Mitchell Lennox
  • Julien Nairolf
Singles from Ready To Fly
  1. "Love How You Love Me"
    Released: November 6, 2000
  2. "Heartbeat"
    Released: April 9, 2001
  3. "Makin' Oooh Oooh"
    Released: September 3, 2001
  4. "Wonderful Dream"
    Released: November 26, 2001

Upon its original release, Ready to Fly was a lukewarm commercial success, debuting at number 18 on the German Albums Chart. Following Thornton's death in the crash of Swiss airline's Crossair Flight 3597 in Bassersdorf on November 24, 2001, the album re-entered charts, eventually reaching the top five in Germany and Switzerland, where it was certified gold in 2002, pushed by a 2002 re-issue of Ready to Fly which included her posthumously released hit single "Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming)", a Coca-Cola Christmas promotional song.

Critical reception

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Ready to Fly received generally positive reviews from music critics. Laut.de rated the album four out of five stars and wrote: "Truly tragic that such a promising solo career was brought to an abrupt end. Ready to Fly could have become a cult pop album in no time at all. At least it has what it takes."[1] Allmusic gave the album two and a half stars out of five.[2]

Track listing

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All tracks are produced by Mitchell Lennox and Julien Nairolf; except "Back On My Feet Again," co-produced by Rob Tyger.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Love How You Love Me"
  • Melanie Thornton
  • Mitchell Lennox
  • Julien Nairolf
3:29
2."No Tears"
  • Thornton
  • Todd Chisolm
3:31
3."Heartbeat"
  • Jay Tee Rogers
  • Martin Mayer
3:54
4."Oooh Oooh (Talking About Love)"
  • Thornton
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
3:20
5."Back on My Feet Again"
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
  • Rob Tyger
3:58
6."I Wish It Was Love"
  • Thornton
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
4:16
7."Intoxicated"
  • Rogers
  • Bobby Stalker
3:16
8."Walk On By"4:22
9."Memories"
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
4:22
10."It's Alright"
  • Thornton
  • Chisolm
3:51
11."Too Late"
  • Rogers
  • Raúl de Chile
3:16
12."I Apologize"
  • Thornton
  • Rogers
  • Stalker
3:53
13."Forever"
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
3:39
14."Love How You Love Me" (Chicago Radio Remix)
  • Thornton
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
3:29
Ready to Fly – New edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Love How You Love Me"
  • Thornton
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
3:29
2."Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming)"
  • Thornton
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
  • Ben Naftali
  • Terry Coffey
  • Jon Nettlesbey
  • Rich Airis
  • Scott Temper
3:50
3."No Tears"
  • Thornton
  • Chisolm
3:31
4."Heartbeat"
  • Rogers
  • Mayer
3:54
5."Oooh Oooh (Talking About Love)"
  • Thornton
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
3:20
6."Back on My Feet Again"
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
  • Tyger
3:58
7."I Wish It Was Love"
  • Thornton
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
4:16
8."Intoxicated"
  • Rogers
  • Stalker
3:16
9."Walk On By"
  • Bacharach
  • David
4:22
10."Memories"
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
4:22
11."It's Alright"
  • Thornton
  • Chisolm
3:51
12."Too Late"
  • Rogers
  • de Chile
3:16
13."I Apologize"
  • Thornton
  • Rogers
  • Stalker
3:53
14."Forever"
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
3:39
15."Love How You Love Me" (Chicago Radio Remix)
  • Thornton
  • Lennox
  • Nairolf
3:29
16."Heartbeat" (Chicago Radio Remix)
  • Rogers
  • Mayer
3:52

Charts

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Germany (BVMI)[8] Gold 150,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[9] Gold 20,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

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List of release dates, showing region, edition(s), format(s), record label(s), and reference(s).
Region Date Edition(s) Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
Austria May 7, 2001 Standard edition Digital download, CD X-Cell [5]
Germany
Switzerland
Austria November 26, 2001 New edition Digital download, CD X-Cell [5]
Germany
Switzerland

References

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  1. ^ "Die Scheibe hat das Zeug zum Kult-Popalbum". laut.de (in German). Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  2. ^ "Ready to Fly". Allmusic. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  3. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Melanie Thornton – Ready to Fly" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  4. ^ "Officialcharts.de – Melanie Thornton – Ready to Fly". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "Swisscharts.com – Melanie Thornton – Ready to Fly". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  6. ^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts (2002)". Offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  7. ^ "Jahreshitparade 2002" (in German). swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  8. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Melanie Thornton; 'Ready to Fly')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  9. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Ready to Fly')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.