Liberty X are a British-Irish group originally consisting of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. The group was formed by the five finalists of the 2001 ITV talent show Popstars who failed to make it into the winning group Hear'Say. In 2013 Liberty X's full members returned for the ITV2 documentary series The Big Reunion and toured until 2014. Since 2017, Heaton, Taylor and Young have performed as a girls trio.
Dez Cadena is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1980 to 1983. Cadena played guitar with the Misfits from 2001 to 2015, initially joining the band alongside Doyle, Jerry Only and Robo for their 25th Anniversary Tour and has served as the band's longest tenured guitarist.
Pop Idol is 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. An immense success when it launched in 2001, Maggie Brown in The Guardian wrote, "the show became a seminal reality/entertainment format once on air that autumn". Series judge Simon Cowell became a major public figure in entertainment, and the show produced instant No. 1 chart hits, including for the first series winner Will Young, whose single "Evergreen" was the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history and the best-selling song of 2002. Pop Idol was subsequently put on an indefinite hiatus after Simon Cowell announced the launch of The X Factor in the UK in April 2004.
Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV reality TV show Popstars in February 2001, the first UK series of the international Popstars franchise. The group, who were signed to Polydor Records, originally consisted of Danny Foster, Myleene Klass, Kym Marsh, Suzanne Shaw, and Noel Sullivan.
The Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström. They were later joined by keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford. Hedford left in 1998 and was replaced by Taylor-Taylor's cousin Brent DeBoer. The band's name is a play on the name of American pop artist Andy Warhol.
Phixx were an English-Irish boy band formed in 2003 from the five runners up on British TV show Popstars: The Rivals. The original members were Andrew Kinlochan, Chris Park, Mikey Green, Peter Smith, and Nikk Mager. Between 2003 and 2005, they achieved four top 20 singles in the UK. They broke up in 2006.
Black Oak Arkansas is an American Southern rock band named after the band's hometown of Black Oak, Arkansas. The band reached the height of its fame in the 1970s with four charting albums released in that decade. Their style is punctuated by multiple guitar players and the raspy voice and on-stage antics of vocalist Jim "Dandy" Mangrum.
Lisa Scott-Lee is a Welsh singer and member of the pop group Steps, formed in 1997. Scott-Lee signed a record deal with Mercury Records and launched a solo career in 2003 although her success was limited after the release her debut single "Lately", and was dropped after her second single. She released her debut solo album Never or Now in 2007 through Concept Records.
Lee Sun-ho, mononymously credited as Andy (Korean: 앤디), is a South Korean singer, rapper and the youngest member of six-member boy band Shinhwa. Besides rapping for his band, Andy has ventured out into television acting, musicals, and solo singing. Andy is also the producer of duo Jumper and boy group Teen Top, 100% and UP10TION.
Michelle Christine Heaton is an English pop singer, actress and television personality. She was a member of the pop group Liberty X from 2001 until they announced their split in 2007; they reformed one year later for a small gig. In October 2012 it was confirmed the group would reform for a one-off appearance at the Hammersmith Apollo and feature in the ITV2 series The Big Reunion with other pop groups Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Five, 911 and Honeyz.
Falling Up was an American Christian rock band from Albany, Oregon. Falling Up formed in October 2001, and released their debut album Crashings in 2004. They were signed to BEC Recordings in 2003 after a recommendation from friends in the band Kutless. The band's name came from the first song they wrote, which talked about their belief in both human imperfection and in the grace of God which compensates for that imperfection; their lyrics were heavily grace-themed.
The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program Saturday Night Live (SNL).
Claire Richards is an English singer who is best known for being in the pop group Steps.
TrueBliss were a New Zealand pop girl group formed in April 1999. The band were formed on the popular television show Popstars, which aired on TVNZ's TV2 channel for nine weeks in the search for a new girl group. TrueBliss were the first ever group to be formed under the Popstars franchise, before the concept was sold to broadcasters in Australia, continental Europe, United Kingdom and the United States.
Chanelle Jade Hayes is an English television personality, model, singer and businesswoman. She was a student at NEW College, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, studying Spanish, music and English before becoming well known by appearing on the Channel 4 reality series Big Brother in 2007, when she was 19. She currently runs a cake making business in Wakefield, along with performing occasional media work.
Jojo Draven is an Indonesian-born American musician and film score composer. She is a cast member of the Blue Man Group. She has worked with illusionist Criss Angel as his sole musician in his touring show The Supernaturalists. She was also the guitarist for the Shrapnel Records/Geffen Records recording artist all-female heavy metal band Phantom Blue and was the co-founder and original member of the all-female tribute band The Iron Maidens.
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, group member Cheryl would achieve five number-ones and two number one albums.
7 Blue Skies was an alternative rock band formed in 2004. The group was well known for their high energy live performances, as well as for always performing barefoot. The band has since broken up.
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.
Raffi Farid Ahmad or better known as Raffi Ahmad is an Indonesian media personality, presenter, actor, singer, entrepreneur and producer of Sundanese and Pakistani descent. He is the eldest son of the late Munawar Ahmad and Amy Qanita.
