Long before her single "It Feels So Good" began making its mark on the pop charts, Sonique was an acclaimed DJ in international dance music.

Now that she's in the limelight, the British performer says her new pop star title doesn't mean she's pushing her turntables aside.

"People assume that this is stepping up from DJing, and I'm like, 'Wait a minute!' " Sonique (born Sonia Clarke) said recently. "I have two jobs, so they both have to sit right with each other."

And Sonique makes sure they do: During her live shows, she stays close to her club roots by alternating from the spotlight to behind the booth. "When you see her at a club spinning records and then step out to sing it live and just nail it, it's a really cool dynamic," said Avery Lipman, senior vice president at Republic/Universal Records.

Sonique started out as a singer, recording her first song when she was still a teenager and teaming with DJ Mark Moore in S'Express a few years later. The dance-pop duo charted in the UK with such singles as "Nothing to Lose" — which Sonique co-wrote and sang on — but never broke wide in the U.S. She then turned her attention toward DJing, training for three years before making her live debut. Not long after she did, she developed followings in Europe, Hong Kong and the U.S.

Still, Sonique kept one foot in singing, contributing vocals to tracks by veteran techno producer/DJ Josh Wink and obscure acts such as Gusto.

Sonique was the first artist signed to Jimmy and Doug's Farmclub, the Universal Music online imprint started by industry veterans Jimmy Iovine and Doug Morris. On Valentine's Day, she released her album Hear My Cry, featuring "It Feels So Good" (RealAudio excerpt). The song now is at #10 after 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

Sonique admits to being a bit shocked by its success. "I'm quite surprised, to be honest, that it's happened here [in the U.S.] for me," she said. "I'm in the whirlwind of it all."

Breaking Expectations

The singer wrote the tune four years ago and released it as a single in the UK two years later. Though it charted, Sonique hadn't bothered to save the DAT of the backing track, so when the time came to play the song live, she had to go back into the studio to re-record it. "That's how much I didn't expect anything to happen with this record," she said. "As far as I was concerned, that was it."

But that was far from it. After a DJ in Tampa, Fla., gave "It Feels So Good" heavy play in a club, radio stations in Florida began following suit late last year. Among them was KPOW-FM in Miami, which claims to be the first station to have added the tune into regular rotation. Programming director Kid Curry said he decided to "beat the hell out of 'It Feels So Good' because he thought it would ease listeners into trance music, which he said he believed was about to burst from the underground.

"The particular sound of this song meant something different," he said. "It was the one sort of mass-appeal trance song I could play that wouldn't offend anybody. It was a big enough hit that no one was going to label it as a trance song — it was just a big damn hit record."

The album's second single, "Sky" already is receiving about 60 spins a week at KPOW, Curry said. The song won't be released officially to radio until June 20, but Sonique is planning to shoot a video for it early next month.

'One Of Those Brilliant Accidents'

Sonique, whose earliest musical influences were classic soul artists, such as Roberta Flack and Otis Redding, and disco, said that Hear My Cry reflects her eclectic musical tastes. "It's quite a diverse album," she said. "It's got ballads and really up tunes, it's got stuff that sounds a bit like Portishead, it's got stuff that's quite R&B. But it's very dance-orientated."

The LP also features the song "Drama" (RealAudio excerpt) and a cover of the late Screamin' Jay Hawkins' staple "I Put a Spell on You" (RealAudio excerpt).

Lipman said Sonique had built a career out of talent, passion and years of hard work but attributed her sudden pop success to "one of those brilliant accidents."

"It's been a long road — it's funny these overnight successes that usually take 10 years," he said. "This is a woman who is passionate about music and lives and breathes music. She worked up to the point where she was ready for the next level, and she made the transition beautifully."

Sonique is now catching fire as a pop star in the UK, Holland, Sweden and Canada, Lipman said, adding that she's "going in reverse," as British artists usually break overseas before being noticed in the U.S.

Sonique will launch a tour next month that will include radio appearances, opening gigs for Eiffel 65 and select club dates.