C. C. Catch Dutch Singer From Oss

C. C. Catch is the stage name of Caroline Catherine Müller, a Dutch-born singer and singer-songwriter who has worked mainly in Germany. She was born on 31 July 1964 in Oss in the Netherlands. She became known in the second half of the 1980s for a run of dance-pop singles written and produced by Dieter Bohlen, who was also one half of the duo Modern Talking.

Early life

Müller was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and a German father. The family moved to West Germany in the late 1970s. Her father, Peter Müller, was himself a musician, and he later acted as her manager and tour manager. While still a teenager she entered talent contests, and she then joined Optimal, a West German group of four women. Optimal's first single, "Er war magnetisch", appeared in 1983, and she remained with the group until 1985.

Career

Bohlen noticed Müller while Optimal was performing in Hamburg and signed her to BMG, which started her career as a solo artist. He also gave her the name C. C. Catch. The two initials stand for her first and middle names, and she liked the word "Catch" alongside them. Her debut single, "I Can Lose My Heart Tonight", came out in the summer of 1985 and reached the top twenty in several European countries, among them West Germany and Switzerland.

She worked with Bohlen until 1989. In that time the pair released twelve singles and four albums; eight of the singles reached the top twenty in at least one country, and one album reached the top ten. Singles from this period include "Good Guys Only Win in Movies" (1987), and "House of Mystic Lights" and "Backseat of Your Cadillac" (both 1988). Her albums included Big Fun and Diamonds – Her Greatest Hits, both from 1988. In 1988 she received the RSH-Gold award.

Müller wanted more say in the songs she recorded, and Bohlen would not agree. In 1989 she left both him and BMG, and she then had to go to court to secure the rights to her stage name. Around the end of that year she met Simon Napier-Bell, a manager who had worked with George Michael of Wham!, and he took over her management and signed her to Metronome, a PolyGram subsidiary. Her only album for that label, Hear What I Say, was released at the end of 1989. Andy Taylor, formerly of Duran Duran, Dave Clayton and Jo Dworniak produced it, and she co-wrote seven of its tracks. The album outsold her two previous releases. Its single "Big Time" reached number 26 in West Germany, and "Midnight Hour" followed in early 1990. BMG meanwhile issued the single "Baby I Need Your Love" and the compilation Classics.

After this she left Metronome on friendly terms and stepped back from the music business. During the break she took up yoga and meditation, concentrated on her spiritual development and began to write songs of her own. In the early 1990s she contributed to a project led by Peter Gabriel, from which came the song "Harmonix", included on the 1993 Jam Nation album Way Down Below Buffalo Hell.

She came back to German audiences in 1998 with the single "Megamix '98", and she appeared on the BBC programme Top of the Pops with the rapper Krayzee. Further releases that year included "Soul Survivor '98" and "I Can Lose My Heart Tonight '99", along with the compilation Best of '98. Her single "Shake Your Head" reached the top twelve of the Spanish sales chart in 2003 and became a summer hit in southern Europe. In 2004 she took part in the ProSieben show Comeback – Die Big Chance. The programme produced the single "Survivor" and the album Comeback United, which brought together several other artists, including Limahl, Chris Norman, Coolio, Haddaway and the Weather Girls. She also appeared that year on the American tour of Modern Talking, and released the single "Silence". Later releases include the albums Catch the Hits and The 80's Album (2005), a DJ-mix collection titled Maxi Hit–Sensation (2006) and Ultimate C.C. Catch (2007), followed in September 2010 by "Unborn Love", a collaboration with the Spanish producer Juan Martinez.

She has since toured outside Europe. In 2015 she performed in the United States, including Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago. Her first large concert in Toronto, Canada, followed in 2016, and in 2017 she toured in Argentina and Bolivia. On 31 July 2024 she released the single "Heal Me", produced by Luis Rodriguez, as a tribute to her father, who died that April.

Recognition

Her listed honours include the RSH-Gold award from 1988. Her YouTube channel had about 444,000 subscribers as of June 2025.