Ce Ce Peniston – Finally (12” Choice Mix) (1991)
Ce Ce Peniston (born Cecilia Veronica Peniston) is an American recording artist and former beauty queen. At the beginning of the 1990s, she was considered to be one of the most successful dance club artists in the history of the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play, scoring five major number one hits in the chart within three years. Her signature song “Finally” (#5 in the Hot 100 and #2 in UK Top 75) became one of the biggest dance singles, selling three million copies worldwide.
Peniston was 21 years old when her debut single “Finally” was released. The song burst on to the US club scene in the fall of 1991, where it became an instant dance anthem peaking, in October, at the top of the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play for two weeks, while achieving a respectful starting position (at No. 29) overseas. After her first song climbed the international charts, Peniston was headed into the studio to record a full-length album. However, she “had two months to pull the whole album together” and “didn’t realize the impact the record was having until it reached the top five”. She also described how difficult it was to begin her career at such an extreme pace, but the result was a solidly produced ten track collection titled Finally, issued in January of the following year.
Both the single and album entered the US Hot 100, as well as the UK Top 75 chart (at No. 5 and No. 2 for single, respectively at No. 70 and at No. 10 for album release), and ultimately earned Peniston a gold or silver certification in both countries. By the end of 1992 her debut (in Europe re-released in 1997 with a bonus remix “Finally ’97”) sold over 540,000 in United States.
