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Girls Aloud are a British girl group created by ITV1 talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. The group, consisting of Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding, has become one of the most successful British pop groups of the decade, with a record-breaking 19 consecutive Top 10 singles (including four number ones) and six albums (including two number ones). They are Smash Hits poll winners, have won a TMF Award and have been nominated for two BRIT Awards. The were managed byLouis Walsh up until2006.
Girls Aloud hold the record for the shortest time between formation and reaching number one in the UK Charts (with their platinum-selling début single “Sound of the Underground”), and have since become one of the few reality television groups to achieve continued success. Guinness World Records lists them as “Most Successful Reality TV Group” in the 2007 edition, and they also hold the record for “Most Consecutive Top Ten Entries in the UK by a Female Group” in the 2008 edition, with 15 consecutive top tens from “Sound of the Underground” in 2002 through to “Walk This Way” in 2007. Girls Aloud have since extended this record to 19 consecutive Top 10s from debut — the most recent being “The Promise” which reached #1 in October 2008.
Girls Aloud have a number of diverse fans including the Jonas Brothers, Matt Helders, Chris Martin, Duff McKagan, and Neil Tennant. They have had their music covered by artists as varied as Arctic Monkeys, Billy Corgan, Coldplay, and Mark Morriss.
Formation
Girls Aloud were formed on 30 November 2002, in front of millions of viewers on the ITV1 programme Popstars: The Rivals. The concept of the programme, hosted by Big Brother presenter Davina McCall, was to produce a boyband and a girlband who would be ‘rivals’ and compete for the 2002 Christmas number one single. Following the initial success of Hear’Say (winners of the original Popstars show), several thousand applicants attended auditions across the UK in hope of being selected. Ten men and ten women were chosen as finalists by judges Pete Waterman, Louis Walsh and Geri Halliwell. However, two of these were disqualified before the live shows began: Hazel Kaneswaren was found to be too old to participate whilst Nicola Ward refused to sign the contract, claiming the pay the group would receive was too poor. Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts, who had made it into the final fifteen but not the final ten, were chosen as their replacements.
During October and November, the finalists took to the stage participating in weekly Saturday night live performances (alternating week-by-week between the girls and boys). Each week the contestant polling the fewest phone votes was eliminated, until the final line-ups of the groups emerged. The five girls who made it into the group were (in order) Cheryl Tweedy, Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh and Sarah Harding; Javine Hylton missed out on a place in the group, despite previous expectations that she would be placed in the line-up. The group were named Girls Aloud and were originally managed by Walsh until 2005 when Hilary Shaw replaced him. The runners-up, a boy band called One True Voice, were managed by Pete Waterman.
The two groups competed for the number one position in the Christmas week UK singles chart. Girls Aloud won the battle with their single “Sound of the Underground” (produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania) which stayed at number one for four weeks. Disney Channel viewers later voted this as best single of 2002–2003 at the Disney Channel Kids Awards. Originally tipped to be more successful than the girls, One True Voice released just two singles before disbanding in the summer of 2003.
Subsequent career
2002–2003: Sound of the Underground
After the success of their first single “Sound of the Underground”, the newly formed group took several months to record their début album. Also entitled Sound of the Underground, this was released on 26 May 2003. It entered the charts at number two, behind Justin Timberlake’s album Justified. One of the tracks, “Girls Allowed”, was written for the girls by ex-Westlife star Bryan McFadden while “Some Kind of Miracle” was co-written by former B*Witched member Edele Lynch. The girls’ second single, the number two hit “No Good Advice“, was also released in May 2003, and the third single, “Life Got Cold“, charted at number three in August 2003.
In November 2003, the girls released “Jump”—a cover of the Pointer Sisters classic 80′s dance smash. The song featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Love Actually. It entered the chart at number two, behind Westlife’s single “Mandy”. The album went platinum after a re-issue was released on 1 December 2003. The new version of Sound of the Underground featured a new album cover and the replacement of three original songs with “Jump” (which wasn’t included on the original version), “You Freak Me Out” (which appeared on the soundtrack of Freaky Friday) and “Girls on Film” (a cover of a Duran Duran song originally a B-Side to “Life Got Cold”). “You Freak Me Out” found its way onto release schedules and was performed on CD:UK in early 2004, with presenter Cat Deeley stating that it would be their next single. However the plans for this release were scrapped as work began on a second album. Due to a sharp cut in price, and the group’s increased popularity after the release of their Greatest Hits collection, Sound of The Underground re-entered the Top 75 in December 2006. The album stayed on the Top 75 chart for 20 non-consecutive weeks, over a period of more than three years.
2004–2005: What Will the Neighbours Say?
After a brief break, the girls returned in June 2004 to promote their new single “The Show” – the first release from their second album. It had an unusual structure for a pop song, consisting of a number of interchanged sections rather than the more typical verse-chorus form. This single showed off a new look for the girls and was backed by a pre-release promotional campaign featuring five empty chairs bearing the girls’ names. This built up excitement over the new look, and the image later featured on the single cover with the girls in their seats. When released, the single entered the charts at number two. The follow-up release “Love Machine” also peaked at number two in September 2004. “Love Machine” was nominated for ITV’s The Record of the Year and finished in sixth place. Their seventh single, a cover of The Pretenders’ hit “I’ll Stand by You”, reached the number one position on the UK singles chart in November 2004, and stayed there for two weeks. This was 2004′s single for the Children in Need appeal with its proceeds going towards the charity.
“What Will the Neighbours Say?” was released on 29 November 2004 and entered the album charts at number six. The album featured the production and song writing skills of Xenomania. The album’s immediate success led to the girls announcing their first What Will the Neighbours Say? Live tour, which took place in May 2005. What Will the Neighbours Say? received excellent reviews; most critics deemed it an improvement on their début release. The final single to be taken from this album was “Wake Me Up“, released in February 2005. It charted at number four – their first to miss the top three, but their eighth top-five single. In early 2005, the girls won Glamour Magazine‘s “Band of the Year” award, and were also nominated for a BRIT Award for best pop act.
2005–2006: Chemistry
After a short break following their first tour, the girls began work on their third studio album, Chemistry. The first single from the album, “Long Hot Summer”, was released in August 2005 and charted at number seven, ending their consecutive top five run but continuing their unbroken run of top ten singles. The single that launched their third album was “Biology”. Chemistry was released on 5 December 2005. The album peaked on the charts at number eleven, their lowest so far, despite overwhelming critical acclaim; it has also gone platinum.
Their cover of Dee C. Lee’s “See the Day”, released in the Christmas week, charted at number nine. “See the Day” became Girls Aloud’s biggest hit in terms of radio airplay since “Sound of the Underground”, peaking at number six due to its success on stations such as BBC Radio 2. Girls Aloud released their début DVD Girls on Film in June 2005, featuring their first eight music videos and television performances. It peaked at number five on the DVD Music chart. This was followed by the What Will the Neighbours Say? Live DVD in November 2005, which reached number six. The group travelled to Australia and New Zealand in February 2006 to release the single “Biology” and the album Chemistry. Arriving on 23 February, the girls undertook a one-week promotional tour, during which they appeared on many TV shows. “Biology” peaked at number twenty-six in the Australian singles chart failing to break the Australian market.
“Whole Lotta History” was the fourth and final single to be taken from Chemistry. Released on 13 March 2006, it became the fourth highest download-only entry at number eighty (this was the first time singles had been able to chart on downloads alone). The week after its download release the song reached number six, and as the number-eighty position was outside the top seventy-five, this became the week’s highest new entry. The single was accompanied by a video filmed in Paris, their first outside the UK. In May 2006 the girls embarked on their second UK tour (and first arena tour), Chemistry Tour. During the tour, the girls performed at ten large arenas in the UK, playing to over 100,000 people in total. The tour received rave reviews, with the majority of tabloids awarding 4/5 marks. In the same month, Girls Aloud were moved to Fascination Records, a sub-label of Polydor Records; all future Girls Aloud releases will be published by Fascination Records. Girls Aloud also won the Heart Award for the single “See the Day” at the O2 Silver Clef Lunch, with Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh attending the awards presentation ceremony.
2006–2007: The Sound of Girls Aloud
In September 2006, the official Girls Aloud web site confirmed the release of The Sound of Girls Aloud – a compilation that contains Girls Aloud’s singles and some new and previously unreleased material. The album was released on 30 October 2006, and on 5 November 2006 it débuted at number one on the UK album chart. The album was also released on a limited edition double CD format containing live tracks such as “I Predict a Riot” and previously unavailable tracks such as “Singapore” and “Hanging On The Telephone”, a cover of the Blondie single; this has now become a highly priced collectors’ item. In the week beginning 11 August 2007, the album re-entered the top 100 at number 100; the following week it climbed one place to 99, still showing strong sales. As of the week of 24 September 2007, the album is still in the top 200.
The lead single from the album, “Something Kinda Ooooh”, was released on 16 October 2006, on downloads, and 23 October 2006, on physical formats. Girls Aloud became the first British act to reach the top five purely on download sales, with the song entering at number five. On its second week of release the single climbed two places to number three on the chart, later bettering the sales and chart run of that week’s number one from McFly. The next single, “I Think We’re Alone Now”, a US number 4 hit in 1967 for Tommy James and The Shondells as well as a 1987 number 1 for Tiffany, was the third time the group have entered the Christmas chart battle. The single charted at number fifty on downloads alone, based on downloads of the album version only. It then climbed to number four, making it Girls Aloud’s fourteenth consecutive Top 10 and eleventh top five. The song is the official theme of the film It’s a Boy Girl Thing.
Girls Aloud collaborated with the Sugababes on their fifteenth single, a cover of the song “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith. The track was released on 12 March 2007 as the official single for Comic Relief, as “Sugababes vs. Girls Aloud”. It became the group’s third British number one, and their fifteenth consecutive top-ten single. Despite a strong start the single dropped quickly down the chart and failed to match the success of other charity records. In May 2007, Girls Aloud went on their third tour, The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour. During the tour, the girls appeared at 15 arenas across the UK and Ireland. The supporting acts for this tour were Misha Williams, Natalia and Rogue Traders.
2007–2008: Tangled Up
In 13 July 2007, it was announced that the song “Sexy! No No No…” would become the first single from Girls Aloud’s fourth studio album. The track was played exclusively on The Chris Moyles Show on 20 July at 8:10am. It was performed for the first time at a special gig at Oakwood Theme Park, Wales on 21 July followed by a televised performance as part of T4 on the Beach in Weston-super-Mare on 22 July. It was released to download on 31 August 2007, reaching a position of #64 on the official chart as a result of only two days of downloads before the physical release on 3 September. The following week, it reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed in the chart for eight further weeks. The Girls’ fourth studio album, Tangled Up, was released on 19 November 2007, debuting in the UK Album Charts at #4. Their 17th single “Call the Shots” was released in the UK one week later on 26 November, and having reached #9 on the UK Singles Chart on downloads alone the week before, rose to #3 to give the band their 10th Top 3 single. The single has now spent nineteen weeks in the top fifty.
Girls Aloud received their second BRIT Award nomination in 2008, nominated for the Best British Group award. Tangled Up was also certified Platinum in January. The third and final single from Tangled Up was “Can’t Speak French”. The single was released on 17 March, with a French version and “Hoxton Heroes”, a satirical track aimed towards indie bands, as B-sides. On 23 March, the single entered the official UK charts at #9, continuing their consecutive run of top ten singles. In May and June 2008, Girls Aloud embarked on the Tangled Up Tour – their third arena tour, and fourth overall. They played a total of 34 concerts around the UK, including 24 arenas and 11 open air venues, making this tour their longest yet. They were scheduled to play 13 open air venues, but due to the bad weather, two of the concerts were cancelled.
2008: Out of Control
In May 2008, the group confirmed that they had begun working on their fifth studio album. In August 2008, The Sun newspaper revealed that the first single from the album will be released in October 2008, and Fascination Records confirmed it would be released on 3 November. On 11 September, the title of the new single was announced on the Girls Aloud website – “The Promise”. The song first aired on 14 September on BBC Radio One‘s Switch with Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw. “The Promise” debuted number one on the UK music charts on October 26th, the group’s first time since 2007′s “Walk This Way” with the Sugababes and 2004′s I’ll Stand by You”. It is their fourth #1 single overall. “The Promise” sold over 77,000 singles in its first week on the charts and became the fastest selling single of 2008 until “Hero” – a charity by the finalists on the X Factor – sold in excess of 100,000 copies two days after release. The single also returned the group to the top two in Ireland, for the first time in just under four years.[citation needed]
On 29 September 2008, it was confirmed by the Girls’ official website that their fifth studio album, and sixth overall, will be named Out of Control. Girls Aloud claim this will be their “most exciting and thrilling album yet”; it was released two weeks after lead single “The Promise”. On 9 November 2008, the album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling over 85,000 copies.
“The Loving Kind” has been confirmed as the second single from Out of Control. “The Loving Kind” will be the girl’s twentieth single and will be released on January 12th, 2009.
Girls Aloud are set to release Out of Control in continental Europe in the near future, with a television advertisement tie-in in Germany.
Girls Aloud will support Coldplay at Wembley Stadium on September 18th 2009.
Discography
Studio albums
Other albums
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DVDs |
Tours
- 2005 – Theatre/Arena Tour – What Will the Neighbours Say? Live
- 2006 – Arena Tour – Chemistry Tour
- 2007 – Arena Tour – The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour
- 2008 – Arena Tour – Tangled Up Tour
- 2009 – Arena Tour – Out of Control Tour
Other Information
- Origin: London, England
- Instrument: Vocals
- Years active: 2002–present
- Labels: Polydor, Fascination
- Members: Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding
- Website: www.girlsaloud.co.uk
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