All Saints? - Nope!! (All Saints in general)

Member Name: WormThatTurned

Product:	All Saints in general
Date:	30/09/02 (83 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They were good once

Disadvantages: Seedy details of the book, Career damaged?

Nicole and Natalie Appleton have spent most of the last five years in the limelight.

As members of the all girl band All Saints, their big break came in 1997 when their major label debut, I Know Where It's At, reached number 4. They went on to enjoy five chart-topping singles within the next three years.

The sisters, along with Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis, were hailed as strong, independent, opinionated females who seemed to embody the late 1990's zeitgeist of girl power.

Their celebrity relationships made them the darlings of the tabloid gossip pages. Nicole was engaged to Robbie Williams before she settled down and had a baby with Liam Gallagher and Natalie dated Jamie Theakston and later married Prodigy star Liam Howlett.

But then the foursome fell out, All Saints split acrimoniously and Natalie and Nicole seemed to disappear.

It was 18 months before they re-emerged to embark on a career as a duo. Calling themselves, Appleton, they have released a single, Fantasy, and written their joint autobiography.

This autobiography has given us a little insight into those past five years, recalling some of the decisions and events that took place and to be honest not all of it is good.

Having read some of the things in the other halfs magazine, I started to look at the girls in a new light - I realise this autobiography has been released to raise their profile to go along with their new venture but I wonder how damaging it could be for them.

The book, Together, has brought them publicity of a kind which they aren't used to. Nicole's revelation that she aborted Williams's baby when they were together due to what she says were pressures from her record company has attracted criticism from tabloid columnists. Williams is said to be "gobsmacked" that the story has been made public - so am I, it seems a blatant, shameful tactic of shocking the public and at the same time bri

nging them hourdes of attention once again.

I think it also raises other moral issues such as; Can the record company have such an influence on it's clients to the point of influencing vital decisions like having a baby? I for one certainly do not !

Natalie has escaped moral censure but has raised eyebrows with her embarrassing story about her first, drunken encounter with Theakston.

Of course some people will say peoples reaction to the revelations are partly attributed to that old green-eyed monster - jealousy - cobblers. Sure they are female stars who've got celebrity boyfriends and great homes but this fact has nothing to do with it, I'm more concerned with their moral judgement and it's severely lacking here.

We never did find out why the band split up in the first place did we ?

Plenty of stories have been bandied about, like Mel and Shaz wanting equal pay but for legal reasons, journalists haven't been able to report in depth.

This has no doubt hindered and frustrated the press who are always so willing to tell us the next big juicy story! They no doubt have the story already but have had to sit on it. I think this fact does have some sort of root in the critical view of the press have on them but I also think people are quite able to make up their own minds and they will.

The sisters new backers don't believe the bickering over the autobiography will have much long term effect when it comes to what the sisters are really interested in - chart success. They have even gone as far as saying the scandal could be good for the Appletons.

Nowadays it seems that the more controversial they are, the better. What they are trying to come up with is the kind of headlines that young readers are going to be attracted to.

Although I agree that the media don't have as much influence as they would like to think and that the scandal won't damage their career
that
much, I do think it is unlikely the Appletons will equal the heights reached by the All Saints.

Times have changed since the group broke up 18 months ago and the sisters aren't up to speed with the brave new world of reality TV stars such as Gareth Gates and Kate Lawler.

Theres a whole new game now which is about pop idols. The way pop acts are promoted now is different. They should have been doing something to sell themselves to teenage girls, like making a documentary, not writing an autobiography.

It seems, then, that the scandal over Nicole Appleton's revelations could be something of a storm in a tea cup, maybe something to do with a media feud that has boiled over BUT after the furore has died down, the sisters will turn again to thinking about how to make the best of their talents. They are, after all, pop stars, and will ultimately be judged on their chart success. HA I hope so.

ALBUM RELEASES

All Saints ( Nov 2001 ) Charted 2...63 weeks in the charts!!

Saints And Sinners ( Oct 2000 ) Charted 1

All Hits ( Nov 2001 ) Charted 18

SINGLE RELEASES

I Know Where It's At ( Sep 1997 ) Charted 4

Never Ever ( Nov 1997 ) Charted 1

Under The Bridge/Lady Marmalade ( May 1998 ) Charted 1

Bootie Call ( Sep 1998 ) Charted 1

War Of Nerves ( Dec 1998 ) Charted 7

Pure Shores ( Feb 2000 ) Charted 1

Black Coffee ( Oct 2000 ) Charted 1

All Hooked Up (Jan 2001 ) Charted 7

WEBSITE

WWW.allsaints.uk.com

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Thanks for the read


WormVision2002

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