"GTO" is a hit song by American-born pop singer

Sinitta Sinitta Malone (born 19 October 1963), known mononymously as Sinitta, is an American-born British singer, actress and television personality. She initially found commercial success in the mid-1980s with the single "So Macho" and had several ot ...

. It was released in 1987 as the fifth single from her self-titled debut album. The song is about a girl whose boyfriend cares more about his car, in the music video a

Ferrari 250 GTO The Ferrari 250 GTO is a GT car produced by Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for homologation into the FIA's Group 3 Grand Touring Car category. It was powered by Ferrari's ''Tipo 168/62'' Colombo V12 engine. The "250" in its name denotes the disp ...

, than her. The singer expressed her extreme dissatisfaction with the subject matter of the song when first presented with the idea by record label boss,

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...

. Fearing that the title would mean nothing to her core audience of

gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including ' ...

and younger record buyers, Sinitta unsuccessfully begged producers

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered ...

to retitle the track before recording. Sinitta expressed greater satisfaction with the song's video, which had a substantially bigger budget than her prior efforts, boasting that the clip's solo ballet sequence was one of her most enjoyable pop star memories. Her opinion of the song greatly improved due to its positive reception by fans. As

is American born, the car is more likely meant to be a

Pontiac GTO The Pontiac GTO is an automobile that was manufactured by American automaker Pontiac from 1963 to 1974 for the 1964 to 1974 model years, and by GM's subsidiary Holden in Australia for the 2004 to 2006 model years. The first generation of the G ...

, however (“Big, red GTO”) - while the Ferrari is a small, rare sports car, the GTO is a well known muscle car. The song was a top-20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 15.

Formats and track listings

* 7" single #"GTO" - 3:30 #"GTO" (Instrumental) - 3:30 * 12" singlediscogs.com
/ref> #"GTO" (Modina's Red Roaring Mix) - 7:30 #"GTO" - 3:30 #"GTO" (Instrumental) - 3:30

Charts

References

{{authority control 1987 singles 1987 songs Fanfare Records singles Sinitta songs Song recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman Songs written by Matt Aitken Songs written by Mike Stock (musician) Songs written by Pete Waterman Songs about cars