ARTIST

S Club

It takes a phenomenon to bring the entire national MCI 800 phone system to its knees. But then S Club 7 is a phenomenon, all over the world. The talented group, who are both singers and actors, achieved platinum and gold sales worldwide with its debut album S Club, while the hugely popular TV series S Club 7 In Miami and S Club 7 In L.A. has been syndicated to over 100 countries. And that's why, when Fox Family Channel ran an all-day S Club 7 marathon and offered a CD giveaway last year, it was swamped by a staggering 7 million callers, crashing the phones. It was quite a welcome to America for the seven young performers from the U.K.. Winners of the 2000 BRIT Award (the U.K. equivalent of a Grammy) for Best British Newcomer, their second album 7 was released November 14, 2000.

7 was remarkably more mature, soulful, and even funkier than its multimillion-selling predecessor. While remaining true to their pop roots with songs like "Reach" (Number Two in the U.K.) and "Two In A Million," this album also included the R&B-tinged "Natural" and "Best Friend," the hip-hop pop "I'll Keep Waiting" and the soulful "All In Love Is Fair" and "Cross My Heart". You can even hear echoes of the Jackson 5 in "Bring The House Down" and ABBA in "The Colour Of Blue."

Brought together and developed by former Spice Girls manager and pop guru Simon Fuller, the lucky seven--Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O'Meara, Hannah Spearritt, and Rachel Stevens--were plucked from auditions involving more than 10,000 young performers throughout Europe. Each member comes to S Club with their own background in music and performing.

Bradley's parents were in a band called the Cool Notes and beat him to an appearance on Top Of The Pops by 15 years. His dad is now a record producer and his mom a backup singer, recently for Ace Of Base and George Michael. Bradley recently turned up at one of her gigs, but not as part of the audience. Instead he was on the same bill, with S Club 7.

Trained in modern dance, Tina often appeared as a dancer on the famed U.K. music show "Top Of The Pops," accompanying, among others, Toni Braxton. She has since co-choreographed several S Club 7 routines. As a teenager, Paul (whose great-grandfather was managing director of the renowned Abbey Road recording studio) he was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre and later fronted a rock band. Hannah was also a member of that theatre company before scoring a long run of roles on television, stage and in commercials.

After playing the title role in Oliver! at the London Palladium as a 12-year-old, Jon went on to regularly crop up on British television, including the hugely successful Eastenders soap opera and the BBC drama Mill On The Floss. Jo has performed in clubs throughout England and scored a Top 40 hit with a band in Germany. Rachel is a former model who acted and sang, then studied fashion at the London School of Fashion, before becoming a member of S Club 7.

In April 1999, S Club 7 In Miami about the adventures of seven British friends working in a Miami hotel, debuted on the BBC and soon became the most-watched program in kids' television. A couple of months later, the group released its debut single "Bring It All Back," which entered the U.K. charts at Number One. "Bring It All Back" was also Top 10 from Japan to Germany to Hong Kong, and gold and platinum from Australia and New Zealand (where it was Number One) to Ireland and Denmark. "S Club Party" reached Number Two in the U.K. and Number One in New Zealand. "Two In A Million" duplicated both rankings and S Club went double platinum in the U.K. as well as gold or platinum in a number of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Music Week called the swift success of S Club 7 "the fastest rise to international stardom for a U.K. pop act since the Spice Girls."

Following the half-hour show's initial broadcast on Fox Family Channel in November 1999, S Club was released in the U.S. in April 2000. "Bring It All Back" promptly went Top 30 and "Two In A Million" Top 20. To date, S Club's records have soundscanned over half a million copies. The reviews for S Club have been equally strong. T.V. Guide wrote "Take a dash of the Spice Girls, a splash of the Backstreet Boys and a pinch of the Monkees and you've got S Club 7, Britain's hottest export."

The L.A. sequel to the series started its first run on the BBC in April 2000 and on Fox Family Channel in the summer of 2000. S Club 7 In L.A. follows the gang's weekly zany adventures in pursuit of their big break in show business after leaving the sun-kissed beaches of Miami for the glitz and glamour of Tinseltown. Through constant determination, teamwork, and friendship, they overcome obstacles to keep their dream alive.

Mixing comedy, drama, action and music, the series finds the S Clubbers portraying playfully exaggerated versions of themselves. Using their real names for the show, there's the fiery and emotional Rachel(who sings lead on "Natural" on 7), brash and raucous Jo(lead on "All In Love Is Fair"), hyper and flirty Hannah, sensible and chatty Tina(who makes her lead debut on "I'll Be There"), cheeky ladies' man Bradley(lead on "I'll Keep Waiting," "Bring The House Down," and "Best Friend," which marks his songwriting debut), sensitive but fun-loving Jon, and enthusiastic, reliable Paul(lead on "Love Train").

S Club 7 has completed a series of half-hour specials, which found them teaming up with the World Wildlife Fund, travelling around the world to investigate the plight of seven endangered species. These programs along with two highly entertaining feature-length specials(Artistic Differences and The Christmas Special) aired on the Fox Family network throughout November and December 2000.(Two earlier S Club 7 specials, Boyfriends And Birthdays and Back To The '50s, were the numbers one and two most-watched kids' prime-time shows of 1999 in the U.K.). Plans for 2001 included the filming of 26 new episodes of the television show and a worldwide concert tour starting in late spring.

Written by Record Label