Girls Aloud

Girls Aloud was a popular British musical group born from the British version of the show Popstars called PopStars The Rivals in 2002. The group was consisting of Cheryl, Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh and Sarah Harding. Signing with Fascination Records, a label of the Polydor record label. Girls Aloud were one of the most successful pop groups of the 2000s with twenty consecutive top 10 singles (including four number ones), five platinum albums and sales totaling over 8 million units in the UK.. They were nominated for the BRIT Awards, winning five times, in 2009 the award for "Best Single of the Year" for "The Promise" At the end of 2008, the group announced that they would separate temporarily so as not to erode the group's image and to give way to their respective solo careers. This separation began after their successful Out of Control Tour in mid-2009. 2010 Cheryl Tweedy declared that Aloud would get back together to record a new album, and a possible tour, and in mid-2012 these statements were supported by Nicola Roberts and Nadine Coyle.

Girls Aloud collaborated with Brian Higgins and their songwriting and production team Xenomania gained recognition from the critical group, due to an innovative approach to pop music. The group became a predecessor of UK reality show winners who achieved continued success, followed by pop band One Direction, the band amassed a fortune of £25 million in May 2010. The Guinness World Records, classifies them as "Most successful reality group" in the 2007 edition. They also hold the record for "most consecutive Top Ten UK charts by a female group" in the 2008 edition, and they are again attributed "Group from a most successful reality show" in the 2011 edition.

The band, before going on hiatus in 2009, turned to supporting artists, including Edei (she used her birth name, Emma Deigman, as her artist name). During their break, the five members have participated in a variety of projects, both as soloists, television and acting. In October 2012, they returned to celebrate 10 years as a group and released a single for charity. On March 21, 2013, after their last concert on the Ten Tour, the band confirmed their final separation. According to The Official UK Charts Company, until then, the quintet had sold 4 million albums and 4.3 million singles in the United Kingdom, where they became the female group with the most singles sold during the century XXI. Her best-selling album was her first greatest hits album, The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits (2006), which sold 1.2 million copies in the United Kingdom, while her song The most successful was their debut single, "Sound of the Underground" (2002), which sold 653,000 copies in that country.

History

Popstars the rivals and Training

Girls Aloud was formed at the end of 2002, on the English network ITV1's reality show Popstars the Rivals. This program, being the second British version of the Popstars franchise, would see the creation of two rival groups, a boy band and another female, each made up of 5 members, who would compete among themselves to occupy the first place on the UK Christmas singles chart. Thousands of contestants attended auditions in various parts of the British countries in the hope of being selected. 10 women and 10 men were chosen as finalists by jurors Louis Walsh, Pete Waterman, and former Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell. These finalists took the stage on Saturday nights (alternating weekly between women and men). Each week the contestant with the fewest telephone votes was eliminated, until eventually the finalist groups were complete. Girls Aloud formed on November 30, 2002, in front of millions of viewers on the show, announced in order by Davina McCall. Starting with Cheryl Cole Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh and Sarah Harding who would leave out the favorite of many Javine Hylton. despite the little support that the girls had at the beginning, since the media was on their side The boys, Girls Aloud's first debut single “Sound of the Underground” reached number one on the British singles chart and remained in that position for four consecutive weeks, thus taking the title of winner of the reality show. the band received a record for the shortest time between the band's formation and reaching the number 1 spot.

Musical career

2003 - 2004 Sound Of The Underground and What Will the Neighbors Say?

Their first single as a group was "Sound of the Underground", which stayed at #1 for several weeks in the United Kingdom. It took the girls 5 months to release what would be their second single, "No Good Advice", a pop-rock song that, although it did not achieve the same success as the first, reached a worthy second position. After the first two singles were among the best sellers, they released the album called: "Sound Of The Underground" as their debut album. Released in 2003, it directly reached number #2 on the album charts, only surpassed by "Justified" by Justin Timberlake. That same year they decided to go for a third single to help the sales of the album. The chosen song was "Life Got Cold", with which they managed to once again sneak into the best sellers by reaching #3 on the British charts. Even so, it was his least-selling single to date. After seeing that the single did not achieve decent sales and the album had not sold as expected, the girls were asked to sing the main theme of the Christmas movie in the United Kingdom, "Love Actually&# 34;. The song was a version called "Jump!". The single unexpectedly manages to position itself at #2 and be one of the best sellers of the year in England. Seeing this success, the record company decided to reissue the album with unreleased songs including the single "Jump!" and thanks to this, the album managed to become platinum (300,000 copies). in the United Kingdom.

After a break, Girls Aloud returned to the scene in 2004 with a renewed image and sound. They left the pop-rock of the first album and approached English pop-dance. The presentation single from this second album was the song "The Show", which went straight to number #2 on the music charts. Seeing that the single began to plummet on the charts, a hasty second single called "Love Machine" arrived. This single reaches number #2 again but with better sales than the first and for the first time they receive recognition from the media proposing "Love Machine" as single of the year in the United Kingdom. At the end of the promotion of the single, the BBC proposes to the girls that the next single be part of the Christmas campaign "Children In Need"(A campaign in favor of disadvantaged children from United Kingdom). Girls Aloud says yes to the proposal and the song chosen is the version of the group Pretenders, "I'll Stand by You". The single manages to put the girls back on top of the charts with a #1 for two consecutive weeks. After these three singles they published the album called: "What Will the Neighbors Say?" and reached position #6 on the sales charts. With this album, Girls Aloud doubled the sales of their first album, achieving double platinum status. After the success of the album, they released what would be the fourth and final single from the album "Wake Me Up" which reached #4 on the UK music charts. After this stage of well-deserved success with award nominations and musical recognition, the girls do their first tour of the United Kingdom called What Will the Neighbors Say? Live.

2005 - 2006 Chemistry and The Sound Of... Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits

After a break after this enormously successful tour, the girls began recording what would be their third studio album. Experimental Pop style.

The presentation single of this new musical stage was "Long Hot Summer", a song that was accompanied by one of his sexiest videos. The single managed to reach #7 on the charts, moving the girls away from their usual top positions. After this single the second of the album & # 34; Biology & # 34; comes to the rescue and becomes, even today, one of her biggest hits, reaching a position # 4 in the United Kingdom. In December 2005 the album was released and to everyone's surprise it reached a discreet #11 position on the charts, taking the girls out of their usual Top 10. Even so, "Chemistry" manages to go platinum and outsell "Sound Of The Underground". After this, what would be the third single is released, "See The Day" which reaches a discreet position on the charts, making the single one of the least sold. From the beginning the members of Girls Aloud were dissatisfied with the choice of single and in the documentary about the band "Off the record" they show signs of it. They feel dissatisfied with the record company's decision to choose that ballad. After all, they decide to release another ballad as a single, "Whole Lotta History" which reaches a position of #6.

The girls return to the stage with "Chemistry Tour", with which they once again explode in sales and marketing.

That same year, the girls' record label "Polydor Records" decides to create a new company called "Fascination Records", part of the previous one, and which focused on the record label's most important pop artists, among whom were Girls Aloud.

Before the fourth album, comes a compilation of all their hits until then. The album also contains three unreleased songs, of which 2 are the singles chosen to promote the album: "Something Kinda Oooh" and "I Think We&# 39;re Alone Now". The first single arrives strongly and reaches #3 in sales, becoming one of the girls' best-selling singles. After this the album arrives and in its first week on sale it directly reaches #1 on the charts, becoming the girls' first work to obtain first place. The success of the album is helped by the second single which reaches #4 on the British charts.

Following the enormous success of the greatest hits, the Comic Relief charity foundation proposes that the two most successful female bands in the United Kingdom come together to release a single that same Christmas. Sugababes and Girls Aloud thus sing the Aerosmith song "Walk This Way" that reaches #1 on the charts, after releasing this version the girls announced that they would not return to release a version as a single.

2007 - 2008 Tangled Up and Out Of Control

After another successful tour, this time at the Wembley Arena, the girls recorded the next studio album where they once again changed their image and musical style, this time moving away from the pop-experimental of "Chemistry& #34; and approaching electronic pop. The presentation single is "Sexy! No, No, No"which reaches #5 on the charts and a nomination for video of the year at the BRIT Awards. The second single is the song "Call The Shots", which becomes one of their biggest hits, reaching position #2 on the music charts and spending several weeks in the Top 10.. The week before the release of "Call The Shots", the album went on sale, reaching a remarkable number 4 on the sales charts. It thus managed to reach platinum, surpassing "Chemistry" and "Sound Of The Underground" in sales. The third and last single from the album was the song "Can't Speak French" which reached a discreet number 9 position but achieved enough sales to also become one of their best-selling singles. The song had its version in French titled "Je Ne Parle Pas Français".

At the end of 2008 the girls released a new single to the market, this time they moved away from the electronic pop of "Tangled Up" and focused on pure pop, a 60s pop. "The Promise" reaches number 1 on the music charts and becomes Girls Aloud's second most successful single, only surpassed by "Sound Of The Underground". After several performances and reaching the "top" In terms of fame and publicity, they published the album, "Out Of Control". This also reaches number 1 on the sales charts and thus becomes the girls' second best-selling studio album, only surpassed by Greatest Hits. After these enormous surprises, the second single from the album is released, "The Loving Kind", which does not receive any promotion but obtains position number 10 on the British chart. Although the single left the Top 10 the following week, it still became the girls' 20th single in the top 10, which was celebrated with a megamix as "B-Side" from "The Loving Kind".

The third single from "Out Of Control" was "Untouchable", the song reached number 11 on the charts British, selling 54,000 copies.

2009 - 2012 indefinite break and Solo Careers

Cheryl Cole

On October 26, 2009 Cheryl Cole releases her first debut album titled: 3 Words; from which comes the debut single Fight for This Love which was released on October 18 of that same year. Other singles such as "3 Words" with the collaboration of the singer Will.I.Am and "Parachute", all with great success and great reception by the public, but the first being the most successful, followed in order of success by the single: Parachute. On October 16, 2010, Cole announced that his second album would be titled Messy Little Raindrops in addition to the cover and the track list that would compose it. The first single from this new album was titled: Promise This, which Cheryl managed to position as the fastest-selling single, which would later become number one on all the UK charts. The first live performance of this single was on the X factor program. UK. Subsequently, he released the second single from Messy Little Raindrops titled The Flood.

In 2011 Cole joined the American version of the show X Factor, in which he did not stay long. Once she left, she concentrated on working on her third album 'A Million Lights'. The first single from said album was Call My Name, which quickly became one of the best-selling British singles of 2012. Her second single from this campaign was Under The Sun, although it had moderate success in Europe.

Nadine Coyle

In September 2010, Coyle announced the release of his debut album, titled "Insatiable". The first and only single from this album was the song also titled Insatiable. Co-written by Guy Chambers and produced by Ricci Riccardi, the song has an 80s pop-rock feel. On October 29, Coyle gave the first live performance of "Insatiable" on the Paul O'Grady Live show. Insatiable generated mixed reviews and was not well received commercially.

In 2011 Nadine and her team announced a new single called “Sweetest High” in addition to a campaign called Nadine 2.0 but said single was not widely promoted. Nadine is currently working on music for her second studio album.

Nicola Roberts

During part of 2009 and 2010 Nicola decided on a makeup line for white women like her. called "Dainty Doll" in addition to a documentary with the BBC in London about Tanorexia titled "Nicola Roberts: The Truth About Tanning·". In addition, at the end of 2010 there were rumors about a possible contract with Sony Records, which is confirmed with the announcement of a solo album that would be released in mid-2011. Said album was titled Cinderella's Eyes which had 3 singles. The first was Beat Of My Drum produced by Dimitri Tikovoi and Diplo, the single was released on June 2, 2011 followed by the video on June 5, 2011. The second single Lucky Day was confirmed on July 10, 2011 and was released on September 18, 2011. The third and final single from Cinderella's Eyes was Yo-Yo which was released on January 6, 2012. Cinderella Eyes was critically acclaimed, being called " The best album by a member of Girls Aloud", was a very personal album where Nicola talked about her personal experiences of being labeled the "ugly duckling" of the group. The album was not well received commercially. Nicola worked in a Reality Show with Rihanna, stylist Lysa Cooper and designer Henry Holland

Kimberley Walsh

Walsh's solo career focused more on television than music, beginning as a judge on a charity show called Let's Dance for Sport Relief, as well as being a correspondent for MTV UK and E ! of the BAFTAs with Steve Jones being a host on The 5 O'Clock Show, a British morning show, and Suck My Pop broadcast on the English network Viva. Walsh also filmed a documentary titled Blue Jean girl for Sky. In addition to writing a weekly column in the British version of OK! magazine. Walsh was also the image and model for the brands New Look and Henkel.

At the beginning of 2012 he joined rapper Aggro Santos and released a song called " Like U Like" which was in the top 10 in sales in the United Kingdom and the top 20 in Ireland, Walsh was also part of the cast of the family comedy Horrid Henry: The Movie, where she played Prissy Polly, the film was released on 29 July 2011, in October of that same year it was announced that Walsh would join the cast of Shrek The Musical in the West End, where she would play Princess Fiona, she continued with the role until March 2012, Also in 2012 Walsh would join Alfie Boe to create a version of One Vision, a song by the band Queen, which will be the single for the Great Britain team for the XXX edition of the Olympic Games.

In 2013 Kimberley released her first studio album titled "Centre Stage" which compiles songs from famous musicals, from which only one single was released called "One Day I'll Fly Away, from the musical Moulin Rouge. "Center Stage" It had a cold commercial reception, lasting only 3 weeks in the Top 100.

Sarah Harding

Harding opted for acting, participating in various films such as Bad Day where she played Jade Jennings, Freefall where she played Sam, and also participated in St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's;s Gold where she played the role of Roxy, she also recorded songs for the soundtrack of this film, in 2011 it was said that perhaps she would release a solo album but this never materialized that same year she hosted a show British called Dating in the Dark. In 2012, Sarah, along with other celebrities, is the image for the Pentax brand that would launch its K-30 DSLR model. Also this year she announced that in 2013 she would release a solo album.

2012 - 2013: TEN and Separation

Since 2011, the members of the band separately announced that they would return at the end of 2012 to celebrate their tenth anniversary since the band was created. Once 2012 began, rumors began to emerge such as that of a special presentation at the "Royal Variety Performance" and a documentary called "10 Years Of Girls Aloud". In August 2012 in an interview, member Cheryl confirmed a sentence from the girls' new song 'I Just Wanna Dance'. On October 9 of the same year, on the official website they announced that they would return in 10 days, placing a countdown clock, which culminated with the launch of the video for "Something New" and a press conference was announced. the band's plans. Among them a charity single for the organization Children in Need" which belongs to a second compilation album called "TEN" which was released on November 26, 2012 and a tour of the UK and Ireland in 2013 called 'Ten - The Hits Tour 2013'. A possible second single 'Beautiful' was announced in December. 'Cause You Love Me" which was cancelled, they still managed to record a video of it. On March 21, 2013, one day after his last performance at 'Ten - The Hits Tour 2013' Through their official pages they announced their separation as a group.

Discography