#RSFlashback: 35 Years Ago, Kim Cattrall Helped Diane Warren Earn Her First Number One Hit

Confession. As a child growing up in Philadelphia, the film Mannequin meant a great deal to me. The majority of the Andrew McCarthy-led film was shot at the iconic John Wanamaker’s store in the heart of the city. I grew up visiting the landmark department store, and attended the annual Christmas Light Show with such glee. So when this romantic comedy released on the Valentine’s weekend of 1987, with the power ballad “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” as its love theme, I knew I was in for a treat.

Of course, little did I know that 35 years later, the film would be remembered more so for its leading lady Kim Cattrall and that the song would be the first of many written by songwriter extraordinaire Diane Warren, and would also be the one that would get her the first of 12 Academy Award nominations (she’s yet to win an Oscar!)

Co-written with another legendary singer-songwriter Albert Hammond, the single quickly climbed the charts. Starship was already hot off the success of their “Knee Deep In The Hoopla” era, having scored back-to-back #1 hits with “We Built This City” and “Sara”.  Performing “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” was a genius move that all but guaranteed another success for the band.

While it was important for Starship to continue that momentum, for co-lead vocalist Grace Slick (Mickey Thomas was the other co-lead), she was the only member remaining from Jefferson Starship and its predecessor—the iconic psychedelic Jefferson Airplane of the 1960s. The sonic shift from Jefferson Airplane to Starship felt absurd for many but Slick managed to deliver an authenticity to her vocals, shining even on the corniest of power ballads. It should be noted that at the time, Slick became the oldest female singer to score a #1 hit and she’d hold that record all the way until 1999 when Cher hit #1 with “Believe” at the age of 52.

Of course, for the time frame, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” was far from corny; it fit the “the sound” of the times. Produced by Narada Michael Walden (Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey), the single managed to hit #1 in the US, Canada, the UK, and become a Top 5 hit nearly everywhere around the globe. It also hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts, while cracking the Top 10 even on the Rock chart!

For us as listeners, it gave us the first glimpse of what a #1 record penned by Diane Warren would sound like. It’s clear the songwriter took note of the formula she and Hammond created, and her signature movie power ballad formula was created. Warren has since become synonymous with love themes in films including Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me”, Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” and Trisha Yearwood’s/LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live” (all #1 hits and Oscar nominated songs).

As for the film, while it was critically panned, it became a runaway hit at the box office, helping the song became one of the most requested ones of the winter of 1987. Kim Cattrall, long before her Sex And The City days, struck gold as a leading lady after being a constant presence on celluloid all through the 1980s. The film earned the status of a cult-comedy classic and even spawned a sequel in 1991 (though without McCarthy or Cattrall).

The music video for “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” featured McCarthy and Cattrall prominently and even had Grace Slick staying frozen like a mannequin. This made it one of the first videos for a film song that didn’t just feature clips from the movie but actually served as a genuine cross-promotion.

Often #1 songs are tossed aside as simply of an era, but “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” actually means quite a bit for many of the artists/talents involved with the project. While perhaps not the most iconic Diane Warren ballad from a film, it was her first. For Cattrall, the song and the film took her career to new heights, and for Slick, who would soon retire from the music business just a couple of years later, it became a swan song of a talent who managed to survive three decades, three sounds and still come out on top. Of course for me, while Wanamaker’s may no longer exist, the film and its theme are forever etched in my childhood—a reminder of where I came from and nothing’s gonna stop me from smiling about that now.