What is fascinating is you can hear how distinctly their sound changed. Cruel Summer is harder-hitting than any of their other singles, and arguably the last three sound exactly alike. Oh, SAW. Never change.
What is fascinating is you can hear how distinctly their sound changed. Cruel Summer is harder-hitting than any of their other singles, and arguably the last three sound exactly alike. Oh, SAW. Never change.
Or really, the early 90s. British producers got the idea to make a UK equivalent to En Vogue: a vocal harmony group, making R&B music that was stylish, but not too hard or hip-hop. In 1992, the Bennett sisters - Vernie and Easther (not making these names up people!) were scouted dancing in a local club. Vernie was eager to start a career in the business, while Easther was reluctant; Easther, the younger sister, however, was the one with the voice. Being Britain, management quickly went looking for a lighter ingredient, and soon found Louise; she, in turn, recruited childhood friend (see?) Kelle, and Eternal was born. Their first single, a cover of a 1990 Glenn Jones single, was titled ...
Stay. Just hip-hop enough to fit into what was going on in R&B at the time, but with an underlying gentility, and powered by the powerhouse vocals of Easther, it was an immediate top ten hit in the UK (#4) and Australia (#3). Six months later, it crossed over into the US, and went top twenty - the first time a British vocal group, male or female, had done so since Bananarama.
Their debut album, Always & Forever, became the first girl group album to not only go platinum (300,000 sold), but quadruple platinum (1.2 million and counting). (Only two groups have outsold this album, in terms of studio releases. You'll see them tomorrow!)
Sixteen months of an album campaign can do a lot to the inner workings of a group. Easther and Louise became fast friends, with Kelle on the outs. When they went over to the States, they received pushback from "urban" stations for (1) being British, and (2), having a white member. (Funnily enough, that's exactly what made them successful at home!) Also, 4real4real, their music wasn't hip-hop enough to really be embraced in 1993-1994. Subsequently, they never had a hit in the US again.
Maybe because of internal tension, or external tension, or because she had a solo deal already lined up, Louise left at the end of 1994. Crazy was their last release together as a four-piece, and it was also the only single in which all four members had parts to sing.
Undeterred, Eternal kept on as a three-piece - although Kelle told the sisters she was only staying for the money. They 'spiced up' their image, and came back with top five hit Power of a Woman.
Around this time, Easther married Shane Lynch of Boyzone, and started wearing colored contact lenses.
Now, I'd be remiss, when talking about Eternal, not to mention the Bennett sisters' strong religious convictions. Although not a big hit, this is evidenced by I Am Blessed.
If that's not proof enough, let's take a look at the lead single off of their third album, Before the Storm. Kelle thought this song was too R&B/Gospel to fit Eternal's sound, but she was obviously overruled. She was also wrong, as I Wanna Be the Only One (featuring BeBe Winans) became their first number one, and the biggest hit of their career.
The unintended last single of their career turned out to be such a smash that it was STOLEN by Monica's A&R team. You may have heard of it. It's called ...
Angel of Mine.
Throughout the recording of the third album, Kelle wouldn't even show up to record at the same studio - they went to LA, she stayed in London. She expressed interest in leaving, and the third album was cut short/a Greatest Hits was rush released. The Bennett sisters then fired Kelle from the group by fax.
Stay
Crazy
Power of a Woman
I Am Blessed
I Wanna Be the Only One
Angel of Mine
These are the songs you'll be rating.
But as a bonus, let's take a look at the Bennett sisters first release as a duo, the Bible thumping anthem What'cha Gonna Do.
It struggled to make the top twenty, and they were soon dropped. DROPPED.
Was a little skeptical of this rate format, but I'm enjoying the fun facts.
Edit: Do we wait until the end to send rates, or do it as we go along?
Wait until the end!
I think the eternal tension between the Bennetts and Kelle is fascinating, as Kelle was known to be quite the party girl! I just think their temperaments never meshed, which makes this newest reunion quite awkward.
Fun Fact: Eternal were the first 'mixed-race' group to really hit in the UK. Three of the next five groups (and the two last ones) owe the WORLD to Eternal for opening that door.
And one minor group owes Eternal for maintaining success as an all-black trio. #spoiler alert
I don't feel like I have to say much about this next group.
Around 1994, a father and son production team started looking for a girl band that could be the generation's answer to Bananarama, a female version of Take That, and a counterreaction to the Britpop that was exploding. He put ads in local papers, and ... wouldn't you know it?The Spice Girls were born.
In short time, realizing that each girl needed a 'hook' to make them identifiable to the public at large (and to take them to heights of international success that Bananarama and Eternal could only dream of), Victoria Adams became Posh, Melanie Brown became Scary [what kinda subtle racism? ], Melanie Chisolm became Sporty, Emma Bunton became Baby, and a bolshy lass of undetermined age named Geraldine Halliwell became Ginger (first known as Sexy). The group quickly got on like a house on fire, and spent two years in development.
The first session with professional songwriters Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard (aka BiffCo for all pop lovers out there) produced Wannabe. If you don't know, Wannabe stands as the most successful girl group single of the 90s, and one of the most successful of all time.
Fun Fact #1: Wannabe went to number one in over thirty countries, and topped the Hot 100 for a whole month.
Fun Fact #2: Emma and Mel B came up with the end rap on the spot.
By this time, Spice Mania was in full force - and only continued by their second worldwide HIT, Say You'll Be There. It's probably the only single that carries the R&B tinge that the rest of the album, Spice, does.
Fun Fact #1: This is the first Spice single with all five members getting vocal parts.
Fun Fact #2: It debuted on the Hot 100 at number five, then the highest debut for a British act.
Obviously, any fan of pop knows that the 3rd single is ballad time. The Spice Girls dutifully fulfilled the requirements with a more adult sound in 2 Become 1.
It's kind of crazy that teenage girls all over the world knew the lyrics to this song by heart, as they are definitely for GROWN UPS.
Fun Fact: Geri co-wrote the first verse with Matt Rowe, as they were falling for each other at the time.
The Spices were meant to be a commercial behemoth, and with comes tons of things - dolls, stickers, posters, lollypops. (They were delicious!) I don't know about y'all, but the quickest way to break a young gaylings heart in 1997 was to tell him he had to be Sporty when you played Spice together.
With that also comes a movie - Spiceworld to be exact. The first single from the album of the same name became perhaps the second most important single of their career; when they reunited in 2007, Spice Up Your Life opened and closed their tour. Surprisingly, though, it only went top twenty in the U.S.:
The previous four were the easy ones. Choosing the next two signature songs - song associated with them - proved difficult, and I'm sure I'll hear arguments either way. I encourage you all to discuss! In the end, I went with the last single to prominently feature all five, and their first single after Geri left.
Wannabe
Say You'll Be There
2 Become 1
Spice Up Your Life
Stop
Goodbye
These are the six songs you'll be rating.
But I'd like to give a shoutout to the greatest single that never was, Never Give Up on the Good Times.