Colleen Fitzpatrick
Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick (born July 20, 1969, although other sources list July 20, 1970) is an American pop music singer, dancer and actress, better known by her stage name, Vitamin C. Her singles include “Smile,” “As Long As You’re Loving Me,” “Graduation (Friends Forever)” and “The Itch.” She was ranked #76 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2001. Mattel released a Vitamin C Doll in 2000. She has her own lipstick color developed after her signature red-orange and blonde hair.
Biography
Personal life
Fitzpatrick was born in Old Bridge, New Jersey, the daughter of Vita, a legal secretary, and Gerard Goldstein, a communications executive, on the day of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. She married guitarist Michael Kotch in 2004, who was her former band mate from Eve’s Plum and worked on her solo debut.
Music
Fitzpatrick made her first musical outing as the lead singer of pop punk band Eve’s Plum, who got a record deal with Epic Records in 1992. The band released 2 albums and 7 singles between 1993 and 1995 before being dropped by their label for failing to achieve any mainstream success. The band continued to play together until 1998. Immediately following, Fitzpatrick took interest in a dance/pop musical project she dubbed “Vitamin C.”
Her version of the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons song “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” was used as a brand image theme by the American television network The WB in image spots, promos, and interstitials during the 1999-2000 television season. She also recorded a song called Vacation, which became the opening theme to Pokémon: The First Movie.
She shopped demos she recorded for a while and found herself with an album deal from Elektra Records. Her first album, Vitamin C, peaked on the Billboard 200 at number 29. The album’s first single, Smile, climbed to number 18 on the Hot 100. Second Single Me, Myself & I failed to chart. However, the third single Graduation (Friends Forever) made a huge impact on the radio, though only peaking at #12 on the Top 40 Mainstream Chart and #38 on the Hot 100. The song is considered a landmark in graduation themed songs and is still hugely popular amongst graduation parties and ceremonies. It has appeared on the iTunes Music Chart at the end of every school year since the chart’s inception. In the summer of 2000, a DJ from the Republic of Ireland picked up a copy of the single while on holidays in New York. The song was subsequently one of the biggest hits in 2000 in the Republic of Ireland peaking at number 2 in the charts and still receives massive airplay each summer.
Late 2000, Fitzpatrick released The Itch, the first single from her second album. Though the song got some popular dance/club airplay, it stalled on the Hot 100 at number 45. It was a minor hit in 2001 in Ireland. After the album debuted at a disappointing #122 on the Billboard 200, Elektra Records released the second single As Long As You’re Loving Me with almost no promotion. The song failed to chart in the US, thus the planned third single (I Know What Boys Like) was scrapped and Fitzpatrick was dropped from Elektra Records.
Fitzpatrick then signed with V2 Records and began recording her third album over the course of 2002. The first single, Last Nite, was released in January 2003 and failed to chart in the US, as well as flopping by peaking at #70 on the UK Top 75. Fitzpatrick’s third album under the Vitamin C name was subsequently shelved and has yet to see the light of day, though fans hope it will leak. Promotional copies were never made available.
In 2005, Fitzpatrick’s cover of the 1980s hit “Voices Carry” by ‘Til Tuesday was included on the soundtrack for the Disney superhero comedy movie Sky High (2005 film).
In 2006, she assembled a Radio Disney-aimed group of four young teenagers named The Truth Squad. She allowed the group to cover Graduation (Friends Forever) and wrote a number of songs for their debut album as well as producing it. The album was released on April 3, 2007 and failed to spark much interest besides a brief appearance on the Top Kid Audio Chart where it peaked at #23 for two weeks, dropped to #25 the next week and by the third week had fallen off the chart completely. Despite this, the group’s video for their single Flip has been heavily promoted on the Disney Channel. She also recently assembled and produced the new girl ground The Stunners.
Over the last three years, Fitzpatrick has been steadily recording two new albums for herself and trying to land herself an album deal with another record label. She hopes to have both albums out before the end of the year, but no official release dates or labels have been cited. Most recently, Fitzpatrick contributed vocals on Information Society’s latest album, “Synthesizer” (2007).
Discography
- Untitled Children’s Album - 2008
Untitled Fourth Album - 2008
Unreleased Third Album1- 2003
More - 2001
Vitamin C - 1999
Filmography (selected)
Films
- Happy Is Not Hard to Be (2005)
- Rock Star (2001)
- Dracula 2000 (2000)
- The Haven (2000)
- My X-Girlfriend’s Wedding Reception (1999)
- Liar Liar (1997)
- St. Patrick’s Day (1997)
- High School High (1996)
- Passion (1996)
- Just Cause (1995)
- Higher Learning (1995)
- Crinoline Head (1995)
- The Mambo Kings (1992)
- The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)
Television
- The WB’s Superstar USA (2004)
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (2002)
The Equalizer (21988)
Hairspray (1988)