S Club 8, previously known as
S Club
Juniors, was a spin-off of the UK
pop group
S Club 7. The
group's members, Jay Asforis,
Daisy
Evans,
Calvin Goldspink,
Stacey McClean,
Aaron Renfree,
Hannah Richings,
Frankie Sandford and
Rochelle Wiseman were all in their early
teens or younger when they were chosen from thousands of hopefuls
on the
S Club Search (2001) television series.
The group
was originally intended only as a support act at Wembley Arena
on S Club 7's S Club Carnival Tour.
The group also had its own documentary series,
S Club Juniors:
The Story.
History
2001–2002: Formation/Tour
S Club Juniors were formed in 2001 through a reality television
show. The auditions were aired on
CBBC.
The
original concept was that the group would all be children and would
perform at Wembley
Arena as a support act to S Club 7 on their Carnival
tour. S Club Juniors' appearances was considered a success
and consequently 19 Entertainment, the management company that had
created S Club 7 and auditioned S Club Juniors, decided they should
perform as a support act at all of the venues on the tour.
2002–2003: Together
By the end of the tour, S Club Juniors had created a following and,
with the encouragement of 19,
Polydor
Records signed the group. Their first single was called
"
One Step
Closer". The single was promoted by the TV series
S Club
Junior: The Story and was released in the UK on 22 April 2002
in a chart battle with the Sugababes who released their comeback
single the same day. Although the Juniors remained number one in
the midweek charts, the single dipped over the weekend and managed
to sell 73,000 copies, compared to the Sugababes' 85,000. The
Juniors stayed at number two for a second week selling a further
60,000 copies, compared to
Holly
Valance's 143,000. In excess of 250,000 copies were sold in the
UK in total and they stayed in the UK top 75 for 11 weeks. The
group began working on their studio album in June 2002. A second
single was named "Automatic High", filmed in Spain, while S Club 7
began their fourth TV series. Released on 22 July 2002, the single
reached number two in the UK charts selling 52,000 copies, and
spent eight weeks inside the UK top 75 and sold in excess of
110,000 copies in the UK.
Their third single "
New Direction"
released on 7 October reached number two in the UK charts selling
55,000 copies in the first week. It became their third consecutive
top ten hit, selling 130,000 copies in six weeks. The Juniors
released their debut album
Together on 21 October
reaching number five in its first week of sale and selling 40,000
copies.
Their fourth single, "
Puppy
Love/Sleigh Ride", was released on 9 December 2002. The single
debuted at number five in the UK charts, and sold 85,000 copies in
the UK, spending eight weeks inside the UK Top 40.
2003: Sundown
The Juniors began work on their second album in January 2003 but
Polydor wanted a complete change after high
expectations for their debut album, a format with
Simon Fuller wanted a massive improvement and
there were even plans to axe members after negative reviews.
The band joined S Club on their
S Club
United tour in April 2003 where the announcement came of a name
changed to S Club 8 and an upbeat fifth single, "
Fool No More", which was praised by Radio 1 DJ
Chris Moyles quoting "I hate the
Juniors, but this song is good". The single released on 30 June
reached number four in the UK chart, selling 26,000 copies in its
first week and overall 75,000 copies in the UK. A second single,
"Sundown", was released in the UK on 29 September 2003 reaching
number four in the UK and became their sixth and final top ten hit
and selling 37,000 copies in its first week and 80,000
altogether.
The album,
Sundown, was released on 13
October 2003 to dismal reviews. It reached number 13 in the UK
charts falling to 40 in the second week. It sold 60,000 copies in
the UK and 315,859 worldwide. A sixth single, "Don't Tell Me You're
Sorry", was released in the UK on 29 December 2003 and reached
number 11 in the UK, becoming their first single to chart outside
the top ten.
I Dream
2004: I Dream
After
Sundown, 19 Management chose to send the group in a
radical new direction. Consequently in 2004, S Club 8 returned as
cast members in the BBC children's television show
I Dream. Unlike the
S Club 7 shows which
focused upon the band's fictional exploits,
I Dream saw S
Club 8 as members of a larger ensemble cast.
I Dream
revolved around the summer school Avalon Heights, run by Professor
Toone (played by
Christopher
Lloyd), where the characters tried to improve on their talents
in the
performing arts. The show
featured many
songs and
dances: normally two songs per episode.
In the run-up to the show's airing it was marketed as an S Club 8
TV show. However it emerged through a forumer Easty that the show
would actually mainly feature five additional actors, to whom S
Club 8 would play second fiddle. It was in this manner that S Club
8 were rebranded "I Dream."
On 15 November 2004, the show's theme tune "Dreaming" was released
as a single, sung by members Frankie and Calvin. The single
flopped, charting at number 19, falling to 36 the following week,
then out of the UK top 40.
On 29 November 2004 an album titled
Welcome to Avalon Heights was
released, containing songs from the show performed by S Club 8
members and the rest of the cast. The album debuted at number 133,
having sold around 700 copies. The following week, it left the
chart entirely. The group disbanded in 2005 .
Members
Calvin
Calvin Goldspink
(born 24 January 1989). At the age of 12, Goldspink
auditioned for
S Club
Juniors. He later went on to appear in one season of Life is
Wild for the CW network in 2007. As of 2009 he is in Los Angeles
working on an album. Some of his performances can be seen on
Youtube on his Youtube account.
Jay
Jay Perry Asforis (born 30 October 1989) did not appear at the
S Club Juniors auditions, instead sending a video tape of
himself to S Club 7 who allowed him through to the final auditions.
He trained
at The Susi
Earnshaw Theatre School and attended Roding Valley
High School
.In 1999-2000 Asforis made his West End debut
in the
Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical,
Whistle Down the
Wind at the Aldwych Theatre alongside
Hollyoaks actress
Hannah Tointon and
Brittania High actor
Matthew James Thomas.
Jay currently works as a supervisor in All Saints, Market
Place.
Daisy
Daisy Rebecca Evans
(born 30 November 1989) attended Warren Junior School and starred
in the UK tour of
Annie.
In 2007, Evans joined the "Score Angels"; a group of
football cheerleaders, sponsored and
organised by the
News of the
World.
Since early 2007, Daisy has been a member of new five piece band,
From Above. They have toured the UK,
performing in more than 60 clubs. Since the start of October 2007,
From Above has been the subject of several line-up changes. The
group has scrapped previous material and has opted for a different
musical direction. In late 2007 it was confirmed Evans was to
remain an official member and the group have since recorded their
debut UK single "Hummer."
From Above confirmed on their
MySpace in September 2008 that they are signed by Matthew Knowles
and Music World Records.
Stacey
Stacey McClean (born 17 February 1989) is
from Blackpool
, Lancashire
. Stacey still sings.Stacey has been
confirmed to have auditioned for the
Sixth series of the
X Factor and has made it through to the
judge's homes round. She got to Dannii Minogue's house but did not
make the live shows. Her audition appeared on the X Factor on its
100th episode. She sang a rendition of
Christina Aguilera's Ain't No Other Man. She is an office
worker at a local radio station in Preston called 106.5 Central
Radio.
Aaron
Aaron Paul Renfree
(born 19 December 1987) was the oldest member of S Club 8. He
starred in
I Dream but did not appear in every episode due
to studying for his GCSEs at the time of filming. After S Club 8
split in 2004, he joined dancing company
TK
Spin, who work at
Pineapple
Dance Studios in London. He left the company a year
later.
Since 2007, Renfree has been a member of dance group Jongleurs,
created by Aaron and Courtney McGrath.
All members of the
group have had professional training at Surrey-based dance college
Laine Theatre
Arts
, where Renfree studied. He recently played
the part of Dandini in Cinderella, Assembly Halls Theatre,
Tunbridge Wells. Renfree appeared in Flashdance the musical from
July 2008. The cast will be touring the UK and some parts of the US
during 2008 and 2009. He has also landed a role in the long going
musical We Will Rock You.
Hannah
Hannah Lorraine
Richings (born 30 November 1990) was the youngest
member of S Club 8, and also a cast member on
I Dream. She was never given a distinct solo
during her time in the group, but had solo parts in two unperformed
songs which were recorded as b-sides for the singles
Sundown and
Automatic High (Richings performed on
"Wherever Your Heart Beats" and "We Got You" respectively). She
also had a solo in the song, "Here We Go", which was not released
commercially but appeared on a free CD with a summer S Club Juniors
magazine special. Richings participated in Miss Teen Queen UK in
early 2007.
Since the group split, Richings is believed to have returned to
school to complete her
GCSEs.
Richings worked in
Gibraltar over the summer of 2008, and currently lives with her
sister and boyfriend in London
, England
.
Frankie
Frankie Sandford
(born 14 January 1989) was the second oldest member of S Club 8 and
was one of the group's more prominent singers.
In 2007 Sandford added two tracks to a MySpace music page, called
Bored and
Swallow. Later on that year she
auditioned for and was accepted into
The
Saturdays, along with
S Club Juniors bandmate
Rochelle, and they toured with
Girls
Aloud in May 2008 as the support act for the
Tangled Up Tour. The group's first
single, "
If This Is Love", was
released on 28 July 2008 and reached number eight in the UK. They
also released "
Up",
"
Issues", "
Just Can't Get
Enough" for
Comic Relief and
"
Work" They are currently
working on their second studio album Wordshaker which was released
in October 2009.
Rochelle
Rochelle
Wiseman (born 21 March 1989) was a member of S Club 8
and a cast member on
I Dream.
She is part Sierra Leonean
. She attended Coopers Company and Coborn
School in Upminster. During her time in the group, she had a stint
as presenter on the
BBC children's programme
Smile. She is also part
of pop-group the Saturdays along with fellow band member, Frankie
Sandford.
In February 2007, Wiseman appeared briefly on the
BBC Two quiz show
Never Mind The Buzzcocks as
part of the show's regular Identity Parade feature, where
contestants guess which person out of a lineup of five was featured
in an old music video played only to the audience and viewers. The
team, consisting of
Bill Bailey,
Russell Howard and
Romeo Stodart (from the band
The Magic Numbers), correctly picked
Wiseman from the lineup.
Wiseman modeled for Love Me Love My Clothes (LMLC). Wiseman also
took part in the
Miss England contest,
finishing in third place. In late October 2006, it emerged Wiseman
was a member of a group called The TigerLilys, who had a MySpace
page displaying two tracks. The group disbanded without being
signed by a label or releasing any material commercially. Wiseman
is now a member of
girl group The Saturdays.
On 22 October 2009, Rochelle appeared as a guest on
Never Mind the Buzzcocks on
Phill Jupitus' team .
Discography
Filmography
| Year |
Title |
Role |
Notes |
| 2001 |
S Club Search |
themselves |
Reality series |
| 2002 |
S Club Juniors: The Story |
themselves |
Reality series |
| 2002 |
Viva S Club |
Crowd of fans |
one episode |
| 2004 |
I Dream |
themselves |
Filmed in Spain |
Tours
- S Club 7: Carnival Tour (2002)
- S Club United Tour (2003)
References
- [1]
- " From Above Myspace music"
- MySpace
- Never Mind the Buzzcocks Series 22
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
