List of Pop Idol finalists (series 1)

Last updated

Pop Idol was a British interactive reality talent show. The first series was broadcast on ITV between 6 October 2001 and 9 February 2002. The series saw a series of auditions for aspiring singers, with a final 50 performing in a series of five pre-recorded shows. Two contestants from each show went through to make up a final 10, who performed live in front of a studio audience.

Contents

One contestant who received the fewest votes from television viewers left the show each week. Will Young won the competition, beating Gareth Gates in the final on 9 February 2002.

Finalists

Aaron Bayley

Aaron Bayley was originally a train driver who came from Newcastle. At 26 years old, he was the oldest of the series finalists. He was eliminated in the third week of the finals, despite never previously appearing in the bottom two or three. Bayley is now a member of reality group G*Mania. [1]

Zoe Birkett

Zoe Birkett from County Durham was the youngest finalist, aged 16. She was the highest placed female in the series, finishing in fourth place. After the show, she scored a top 20 single, and has appeared in many stage musicals.

Darius Danesh

Darius Danesh, (aged 21) from Glasgow was already known to the public after an embarrassing audition on Popstars . He was originally eliminated from the competition in the top 50 stage, after failing to appear in the top 2 from his group, but he was given a reprieve when Rik Waller dropped out of the competition. He then went on to finish third in the competition, and scored a platinum selling album, and a number one single.

Laura Doherty

Laura Doherty, (aged 19) came from Derry in Northern Ireland. She was in the bottom two or three every week until her elimination in the fourth week of the finals.

Hayley Evetts

Hayley Evetts, (aged 25) from Birmingham was also known to the public after appearing on Popstars where she made the later stages. She went on to host several television presenting jobs, but failed to gain a record deal and has not released any material post show.

Jessica Garlick

Jessica Garlick Jessica Garlick.jpg
Jessica Garlick

Originating from Kidwelly in South Wales, 20-year-old Jessica Garlick placed 9th in the show. She went on to represent the United Kingdom in the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest, where she placed joint 3rd, a result which remains the UK's best performance in the competition since 1998.

Gareth Gates

Gareth Gates, (aged 17) from Bradford was the runner-up of the series. The widely accepted frontrunner, Gates spoke with a stammer, but it didn't affect him when he sang. He went on to release 4 number one singles, and three top 20 albums once the show was over.

Korben

Twenty-one-year-old Korben, (born Chris Niblett) was the first finalist to be eliminated from the show. In the week leading up to his elimination, he was outed by tabloid newspapers, which led to speculation that this had hurt his chances in the competition.

Rosie Ribbons

Rosie Ribbons (aged 18) is from Alltwen in South Wales. She was a favourite of judge Pete Waterman, and made him cry at her initial audition. She signed to Telstar Records after the show, but her debut album was scrapped due to financial difficulties at the company. Ribbons did however release two top 20 singles in the UK. In 2007 she was a semi-finalist in Australian Idol after moving abroad, but failed to make the finals.

Rik Waller

Rik Waller from Gillingham in Kent was forced to resign from the competition after losing his voice. An early tip to win the show, he was given a bye to the second live show, but with his voice failing to improve he was unable to participate and had to leave. He was replaced by Darius Danesh. After the show ended, he appeared on reality shows Back to Reality and Celebrity Fit Club and released two singles.

Will Young

Will Young Will Young 2011.jpg
Will Young

Will Young, (aged 22) from Wokingham, Berkshire won the competition. He was widely seen as the dark horse to win the title, but after the show was over, he was revealed to have led the voting several times. Post show, Young has gone on to have a lengthy music career, and as of 2009 has released four albums, all of which have reached the top 2, as well as achieving four number one singles.

Related Research Articles

<i>Pop Idol</i> television series

Pop Idol was a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer in the UK based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast, one in 2001–2002 and a second in 2003. Pop Idol was subsequently put on an indefinite hiatus after series judge Simon Cowell announced the launch of The X Factor in the UK in April 2004.

Darius Campbell Scottish singer

Darius Campbell-Danesh is a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and film producer. He is currently an ambassador for The Prince's Trust.

<i>Nashville Star</i> television series

Nashville Star is an American reality television singing competition program that aired for six seasons, from 2003 to 2008. Its first five seasons aired on USA Network, while the last season aired on NBC. Its five seasons on USA made it the longest-running competition series on cable television at the time. In Canada, the show aired on CMT through season 5, but moved to E! beginning with season 6. CMT in the United States reaired each episode in season 6.

Popstars Live was an Australian music talent show television program similar to Australian Idol that aired on the Seven Network in early 2004. It was an evolution of the original Popstars TV show which aired between 2000 and 2002 on Seven. The show spawned a single and album that made the ARIA charts in April that year.

Sarah Harding English singer, model, and actress

Sarah Nicole Harding is an English singer, model and actress. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the ITV reality series Popstars: The Rivals. The programme announced that Harding had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls Aloud. The group achieved twenty consecutive top ten singles in the UK, six studio albums that were certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), two of which went to number one in the UK, and accumulated a total of five BRIT Award nominations. In 2009, Girls Aloud won "Best Single" with their song "The Promise".

Lucy Diakovska Bulgarian singer

Ludmilla "Lucy" Diakovska is a Bulgarian-born German singer-songwriter, music producer, dancer, stage actress and television personality, who rose to fame as one of the founding members of the successful all-female pop band No Angels, the "biggest-selling German girlband to date," according to the German media.

<i>American Idol</i> (season 1) season of television series

The first season of American Idol premiered on June 11, 2002 and continued until September 4, 2002. It was won by Kelly Clarkson. The first season was co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman, the latter of whom left the show after the season ended.

Belinda Chapple Australian singer

Belinda Barbara Chapple is an Australian singer and former member of all-female pop group Bardot (2000–02), from the reality TV talent competition, Popstars series 1. In late 1999, at the age of 24, Chapple auditioned for the first Australian series of Popstars, a reality television show which aimed to produce a new girl group. Belinda was selected out of over 2000 girls that auditioned across Australia.

Richard "Rik" Waller is an English pop singer. After appearing as a contestant on the TV series Pop Idol, he had two UK Top 40 hits with cover versions of "I Will Always Love You" and "(Something Inside) So Strong".

Hayley Evetts is an English singer, TV presenter and stage actor who rose to fame on the ITV talent show Pop Idol.

<i>Popstars: The Rivals</i> British television talent show

Popstars: The Rivals is a British television talent show series that was broadcast on ITV in late 2002. It was the second UK series of the international Popstars franchise. Unlike Popstars, which resulted in the formation of one winning group, Hear'Say, Popstars: The Rivals created two rival groups, Girls Aloud and One True Voice, who competed against each other for the Christmas number one spot on the UK Singles Chart. Girls Aloud won and would go on to achieve twenty consecutive top ten hits, four number ones and six top ten albums, two of which reached number one and from that, former member Cheryl Cole would achieve five number-ones and two number one albums.

<i>Pop Idol</i> (series 1) season of television series

The first series of British reality television show Pop Idol was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom during the winter months of 2001 and 2002. The show was a singing competition open to people aged between 16 and 26 years old, with the winner receiving a £1 million recording contract to release their debut album. Pop Idol received ratings of as high as 10 million viewers for shows before the live final.

Pop Idol discography

Pop Idol was a British television talent show that ran for two series, in 2001 and 2003. The show was produced for ITV in a reality television format and aimed to unearth a previously undiscovered singer who could become an international success. Will Young was the winner of the first series and was awarded with a £1 million music recording contract. Young became the most successful contestant with a series of top-five hits, including his debut single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen", which peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart in 2002 and broke chart sales figure records. During the next seven years he recorded two further number-one singles, while two of his four albums were number-one in the UK Albums Chart. In the second series, Michelle McManus emerged victorious. Her debut single "All This Time" charted at number one in January 2003. Her second single, "The Meaning of Love", charted at a peak of number 16 and an album of the same name reached number three in the UK Albums Chart.

<i>Popstars</i> (British TV series) discography

Popstars (UK) is a British reality television show produced for ITV that aired for two series. The first series, Popstars, aimed to find five singers to form a new pop group. During the second series, Popstars: The Rivals, two music groups were formed to compete for the Christmas number-one single in the United Kingdom.

Daniel Pearce is an English singer, songwriter and actor who was a finalist on the ITV reality TV show Popstars: The Rivals. He won a place in the British boy band One True Voice, who subsequently released two top ten singles, "Sacred Trust"/"After You're Gone" and "Shakespeare's Words". Pearce, an arranger and co-writer of some of their songs, left the group in summer 2003, shortly before the band split up. In September 2009, he auditioned for the 2009 series of The X Factor, but failed to progress as far as the live finals.

Keith Semple Northern Irish musician

Keith Semple is a Northern Irish singer and musician. He originally had his own band Keith Semple Band. In 2002, he took part and was a winner in Popstars: The Rivals, consequently becoming a member of the boyband One True Voice (OTV). After the split-up of the band, he had a solo career before joining the American Chicago-based rock band 7th Heaven in 2006 as their lead singer. In 2010, he took a shot at the ninth season of American Idol, but lost his "golden ticket" place due to his legal status and residency considerations. In October 2012, Keith announced he would be leaving 7th Heaven to pursue his original music and announced the formation of his new band, SEMPLE. In September 2015, Keith auditioned for Season 9 of The Voice as part of Team Adam. He was eliminated from competition after the Top 24 round.

<i>Popstars</i> (British TV series)

Popstars was a short-lived reality music talent show that was broadcast on ITV in early 2001. It was the first UK series of the international Popstars franchise, and was billed as a documentary on the formation of a modern pop group. The programme began with audition rounds of aspiring singers performing covers of classic songs before a panel of judges. The best performers were selected to come to London for further rounds of auditions. Over the weeks, the judges eliminated various singers from the auditions until just a few singers were left in contention. In the final weeks, five contestants were chosen by the judges to form the new pop group Hear'Say. The programme then showed the group recording and promoting their first single, documenting their first ventures into the music industry.

References