Girls Aloud

Girls Aloud

Girls Aloud are a Smash Hits Poll Winners, TMF Award winning and BRIT Award nominated British girl group who found fame after winning the ITV1 talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 on which they were created. The group, consisting of Cheryl Cole (née Tweedy), Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh, has gone on to become one of the most successful British pop groups of the decade with a record breaking fifteen consecutive Top 10 singles (including three number ones), four platinum albums (including a number one) and record sales in excess of 4.2 million.

Their British production team Xenomania are well-known for embracing various influences, from Electronica, House, Power Pop and Dance among others. Indeed, the music of Girls Aloud ranges from the distinctly 1980s sound of "No Good Advice" and "Jump" to the sixties sound of "Love Machine" to the more futuristic sound of " The Show" and "Sexy! No No No..."

Girls Aloud hold the record for the shortest time between forming and reaching number one in the UK Charts (with their platinum-selling debut single "Sound of the Underground"), and have since become one of the few reality television groups to have had continued success with Guinness World Records listing them as the Most Successful Reality TV Group in the 2007 edition. Their record of fifteen consecutive top ten singles is also unmatched by any other girl group, beating the Spice Girls' previous record of ten, but not their string of number one's.

For a contemporary pop group manufactured on reality television they have received unprecedented praise from broadsheet newspapers and the rock music press, with publications including the Observer Music Monthly, and the NME giving their music rave reviews, with The Observer calling "Biology" the "single of the decade".

Formation

Girls Aloud were formed on November 30 2002 in front of millions of viewers on the ITV1 programme Popstars: The Rivals. The concept of the programme was to produce a boyband and a girlband who would be 'rivals' and compete for the Christmas number one single in 2002. 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 for the show. Ten men and ten women were chosen as finalists by judges Pete Waterman, Louis Walsh and Geri Halliwell with Big Brother presenter Davina McCall taking the contestants through the auditions and the shows each week. However, two finalists 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 band would go on to receive was too poor. Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts were chosen as their replacements, who had made it into the final fifteen, but were not originally chosen for the final ten.

During October and November, the finalists took to the stage participating in week-by-week live performances every Saturday night (alternating between the girls and boys each week). One contestant was eliminated each week (due to polling the least amount of phone votes) until the final line-ups of the boy band and girl band emerged. The five girls who polled enough votes to make it into the band were (in order) Cheryl Tweedy, Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh, and Sarah Harding, with Javine Hylton missing out on a place in the band, despite previous expectations that she would be placed in the line-up. They called themselves Girls Aloud and were managed by Louis 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 bands 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 Summer 2003.

Subsequent career

2002–2004: Sound of the Underground

Main article: Sound of the Underground

2003.After the huge success of "Sound of the Underground" the newly formed group took several months to record their début album.

They followed their début single with the number two hit "No Good Advice" in May 2003. The song received critical acclaim and the video, whilst known to have been the girls' least favourite video due to problems in production, was deemed one of the sexiest videos of the year.

The début album, Sound of the Underground, was released on 26 May 2003. It went straight in 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 star Edele Lynch.

Third single "Life Got Cold" charted at number three in August 2003, making them the first act to go 1-2-3 with their first three releases. The single also helped their album back into the UK top twenty, which had up to this point only sold around 100,000 copies.

In November 2003 the girls released "Jump" — a cover of a Pointer Sisters song. The song featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Love Actually. It entered the chart at number two behind Westlife's single "Mandy". "Jump" helped increase sales of the album, which 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, deleted three of the songs from the original track listing and replaced them 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 it would be their next single. However the plans for this release were scrapped as work began on their second release.

Due to a sharp cut in price, and the increased popularity after the release of their Greatest Hits collection, in December 2006, 'Sound of The Underground' re-entered the Top 75, helping the album sell a further 10,000 copies to increase its overall sales total to roughly 330,000 copies. It still however remains their least well selling album behind 'Chemistry's' 360,000 and 'What Will the Neighbours Say's 570,000.

The album stayed on the Top 75 chart for 20 non-consecutive weeks, over a period of over three years.

2004–2005: What Will the Neighbours Say?

Main article: What Will the Neighbours Say?

After a brief break, the girls returned to promote brand new single "The Show", in June 2004, 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 with a promotional campaign prior to its première featuring five empty chairs with each of the girls' names on. This built up excitement over the new look and later featured on the single cover with the girls in their seats. When released, it entered the singles chart at number two.

Follow-up release "Love Machine" also peaked at number two in September 2004. They became the first girl group since the Spice Girls to achieve six consecutive top three singles in the UK. "Love Machine" was nominated for ITV's The Record of the Year and finished in sixth place. "Love Machine" went on to be used in a television advert for Homebase.

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. The single sold almost 60,000 in its first week of release.

"What Will the Neighbours Say?" was released on November 29 2004 and entered the album charts at number six. The album featured the production and song writing skills from Xenomania. The immediate success of this album 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. It was also a bigger seller than their début; the album sold just under 400,000 within its first month of sale, thus going platinum.

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 a Glamour Magazine Award for Band of the Year, and were also nominated for a BRIT Award for Best Pop.

2005–2006: Chemistry

Main article: Chemistry (album)

After a short break following their first tour, the girls began work on their third album. The first single to be released from "Chemistry" was "Long Hot Summer" 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". It entered the UK charts at number four in November 2005 and equalled the Spice Girls record of ten consecutive top ten singles in the UK.

Their third studio album Chemistry was released on December 5 2005. It features "Models", a song first heard being recorded on their ITV2 documentary Girls Aloud: Home Truths and also used as the theme music to their E4 documentary Girls Aloud: Off the Record. It also boasts writing credits from JC Chasez of 'N Sync fame, who penned the track Watch Me Go. The album peaked on the charts at number eleven, their lowest ever, despite overwhelming critical acclaim; it eventually went platinum and has currently sold over 350,000 copies in total.

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 on Radio Airplay since "Sound of the Underground," peaking at number six due to its success on stations such as BBC Radio Two.

Girls Aloud released their début DVD Girls on Film in June 2005, featuring the first eight music videos and television performances. It peaked at number five on the DVD Music chart. This was followed by 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, their promotional tour lasted one week, appearing on many TV shows. "Biology" peaked at number twenty-six in the Australian singles chart. The trip also started press speculation about a relationship between Coyle and American actor Jesse Metcalfe.

"Whole Lotta History" was the fourth and final single to be taken from Chemistry. Released on March 13 2006, it became the fourth highest download-only entry at eighty - this was the first time singles had ever 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 is accompanied by a video filmed in Paris, their first outside the UK.

The girls embarked on their second UK tour Chemistry (their first Arena Tour) in May 2006. During the tour, the girls performed at ten large arenas in the UK, playing to over 100,000 people in total. The tour got 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 Roberts and Walsh attending the awards presentation ceremony.

2006–2007: The Sound of Girls Aloud

Main article: 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 unreleased material. The album was released on October 30 2006 and on November 5 2006 débuted at number one on the UK album chart. After a mere eight weeks it became the group's biggest selling album to date. The album was also released on a limited edition double CD format containing live tracks 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. On the week beginning 11 August 2007 the album had re-entered the top 100 at 100 the week after it had climbed one place to 99 still showing strong sales of the album. As of August 2007 the album has gone 2x Platinum and has sold almost three quarters of a million copies.

The lead single from the album was "Something Kinda Ooooh", which was released on October 16, 2006 on downloads, and October 23 2006 on physical formats. Girls Aloud became the first British act to enter the top ten purely based 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 weeks number one from McFly.

The next single, "I Think We're Alone Now", a number-one hit in 1988 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 — more than any other girl group in UK chart history. The song is the official theme of the film It's a Boy Girl Thing.

Girls Aloud then collaborated with the Sugababes on their fifteenth single, a cover of the song "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith. The track was released on March 12 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 selling 52,000 copies in its first week.. Despite a strong start the single dropped quickly down the chart, though it still managed to sell better than many of their previous releases.

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 16 sold-out arenas across the UK and Ireland, performing to over 150,000 people in total. Girls Aloud won an award for being the highest selling girl group in terms of ticket sales to appear at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, where they played to over 22,000 people over a period of two nights.

On June 26 2007, Girls Aloud's albums have been made available in the U.S. version of iTunes, marking the Girls' first step into the American market, sparking rumors of a possible attempt at breaking into the U.S. mainstream. Sponsorship deals with Sunsilk and Samsung were finalised that summer also. Television adverts and magazine advertisements for Sunsilk have already been released.

2007–Present: Bring Your Pumps

On July 13 2007 Girls Aloud's latest single "Sexy! No No No..." is the first single off their fourth studio album and is to be released on September 3. The track was played exclusively on The Chris Moyles Show on the 19th of July at 8:10am. It has been described by Popjustice as Girls Aloud's "noisiest single yet". It was performed for the first time on T4 On The Beach in Weston-Super-Mare on [[July 22]. The song has since been performed live on primetime television programmes such as Dance X and The National Lottery.

The group's 17th single "Call the Shots" will be released in November 2007. According to Play.com, Girls Aloud's fourth studio album Bring Your Pumps is to be released on November 19 2007.

"Bring Your Pumps" will be Girls Aloud's first North American release. The album will be released on Cd and Digital format in February 2008. The American and UK versions will have completely different track listings, to allow the American version to feature many of Girls Aloud's previous hits. Unlike the UK version the North American release will be led by Girls Aloud's 2006 hit single "Something Kinda Ooooh" which will impact radio in late 2007.

Popjustice

The Popjustice £20 Music Prize is awarded every year by a panel of judges (or sometimes a public vote) to the best British pop single of the previous twelve months. The competition has been running since 2003. Girls Aloud have been nominated every year, and have won it three times. The girls are currently nominated for the 2007 Popjustice Music Prize for their hit single "Something Kinda Ooooh".

• 2003 "No Good Advice" - won
• 2004 "The Show" - short-listed
• 2005 "Wake Me Up" - won
• 2006 "Biology" - won
• 2007 "Something Kinda Ooooh" - nominated

Non-musical issues

Girls Aloud: Off the Record

Main article: Girls Aloud: Off the Record

Girls Aloud recorded a six-part fly on the wall documentary series for E4 entitled Girls Aloud: Off the Record, which started its run on April 11 2006. The series was filmed during the "Chemistry" era, and focused on the band doing promotion for it, including shooting the video for "Biology" as well as the lead up and aftermath for the release of "Whole Lotta History". It also showed the band travelling abroad, to places such as Greece, Paris and Shanghai. A DVD of the series was released on September 4 2006 (after several release date changes) that included an unaired episode, subsequently reaching number four on the Music DVD Chart.

Tabloids

The group also remain constant tabloid fodder.

June 2006 saw the group facing a great deal of press attention: first rumours that Harding was tired of the band and quitting to go solo, which prompted the singer to post a message on the group's official website stating she "would be insane to even consider leaving". Tweedy's relationship with footballer Ashley Cole has kept her in the papers. During the 2006 World Cup in June and July 2006, she was in the paper along with other WAGs. Coyle and Harding have recently been in the tabloids because of their Hollywood relationships. Coyle was dating Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives before she dumped him for cheating on her. Harding was rumoured to be seeing Stephen Dorff, and she dated Daily Star writer Joe Mott, although the couple have since split up. In August 2007 saw the girls defend Amy Winehouse in a TV interview.

St. Trinian's

In April 2007, Girls Aloud filmed a cameo appearance on the new St. Trinian's movie, playing the St. Trinian's School Band. The film is scheduled to be released in the UK on December 21 2007, with Girls Aloud rumoured to be performing the official single for the movie.

Sponsorship deals

Girls Aloud signed a one-year deal to endorse hair care brand Sunsilk. The endorsement is reportedly worth £1.25m. The girls filmed a television advertisement and magazine advertisements were also ran. Each of the five members have their own magazine ad as well. They are each the face of a different shampoo and conditioner:

• Cheryl Cole - Deeply Brunette, Fresh & Flowing
• Nadine Coyle - Silky & Straight, Fresh for Longer
• Sarah Harding - Lively Blonde, Colour & Shine
• Nicola Roberts - Curls & Waves, Flaming Red
• Kimberley Walsh - Care & Repair, Respect & Balance

In June 2007, Girls Aloud also sealed a deal with the UK division of Samsung. They will endorse mobile phones and MP3 players, make personal appearances and sing at Samsung events, and contribute to competition prizes, among other activities.

Discography

Main article: Girls Aloud discography

Albums

Year	Album	U.K.	UK sales	UK certificate
2003	Sound of the Underground	2	340,000	Platinum
2004	What Will the Neighbours Say?	6	580,000	2x platinum
2005	Chemistry	11	360,000	Platinum
2006	The Sound of Girls Aloud	1	730,000	2x platinum
2007	Bring Your Pumps	1	TBA	TBA

Singles

Year	Title	Album	Chart positions										UK SALES	UK
			UK	UK DL	IRL	POL	GR	AUS	NL	BEL	MEX	AUDIO		Certification
2002	"Sound of the Underground"	Sound of the Underground	1	-	1	27	8	31	9	13	74		560,000	Platinum
2003	"No Good Advice"		2	-	2	43	4	88	23	45	-		118,000	-
	"Life Got Cold"		3	-	2	32	3	-	11	-	-		82,000	-
	"Jump"	Sound of the Underground (re-issue)/ What Will the Neighbours Say?	2	-	2	16	2	23	8	6	98		189,000	Silver
2004	"The Show"	What Will the Neighbours Say?	2	-	5	97	1	67	-	-	-		76,000	-
	"Love Machine"		2	6	9	88	42	-	-	-	-		100,000	-
	"I'll Stand by You"		1	5	3	51	5	-	-	-	-		182,000	Silver
2005	"Wake Me Up"		4	17	6	12	15	-	-	-	-		62,000	-
	"Long Hot Summer"	Chemistry	7	16	16	90	30	-	-	-	-		52,000	-
	"Biology"		4	2	5	66	12	26	-	-	-		110,000	-
	"See the Day"		9	7	14	17	42	-	-	-	-		60,000	-
2006	"Whole Lotta History"		6	23	18	76	32	-	-	-	-		38,000	-
	"Something Kinda Ooooh"	The Sound of Girls Aloud	3	3	7	37	2	-	-	-	93		165,000	Silver
	"I Think We're Alone Now"		4	19	11	9	-	-	-	-	-		52,000	-
2007	"Walk This Way" with Sugababes	Comic Relief	1	2	14	7	-	-	-	-	-		103,000	-
	"Sexy! No No No..."	Bring Your Pumps	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-
	"Call the Shots"		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-

Tours

• What Will the Neighbours Say? Live 2005
• Chemistry Tour 2006
• The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour 2007

External links

• Official Girls Aloud Website
• Official Girls Aloud Myspace

they also have dvds of their tours