THE Nineties might have been ruled by boybands and girl-bands, but life at the top of pop could be tough.
And it was probably worse for the girls, as putting on extra pounds, dating the wrong guy or, heaven forbid, having a baby were hugely frowned upon by management teams.
New BBC documentary Girlbands Forever, the follow-up to last year’s three-parter about boybands, delves into an era where record companies had less regard for duty of care, days off or mental health.
It features members of Atomic Kitten, Eternal, Sugababes, Mis-teeq and Little Mix, providing insight into what it was like being in an all-female group in the Nineties and early Noughties.
The dream was to replicate the success of the Spice Girls, the all-conquering icons who sparked the girlband explosion.
And record labels invested millions in a bid to find the next big thing.
But as the Spice Girls’ rivals All Saints found out, the pressure became unbearable.
So much so that when founding member Melanie Blatt informed managers that she and bandmate Nicole Appleton were pregnant, both were told to abort their babies.
The reason? They had just cracked America with No1 hit Never Ever and momentum could be lost.
Melanie, 50, explains: “I hadn’t been with my partner for very long, it was definitely a bit of a surprise It wasn’t people congratulating us. It was more like this look of dread and worry and the realisation that things are going to change.
“We flew to LA and at [airport] LAX our manager, he was behind us, was telling us to abort our babies.”
She added that her bosses told them they were “going to ruin everything” and “it was the end of the band”.
Melanie ended up having her baby with her partner, Stuart Zender, the bassist for band Jamiroquai.
‘Vomiting in toilets’
But Nicole, who fell pregnant with then boyfriend Robbie Williams, did not, which Melanie admits caused issues with their relationship.
She explains: “Nic and I had been best friends since we were 11. We took pregnancy tests in a hotel in Canada and spent that whole night discussing bringing our kids up together. It was one of the best nights ever.
“And it’s not really my place to talk about it, but unfortunately . . . it was a very uncomfortable situation because I kept mine, she didn’t. That was a really tricky part of my and our existence.”
All Saints, which consisted of Melanie, sisters Nicole and Natalie and main songwriter Shaznay Lewis, were always deemed a “cool version” of the Spice Girls and were far more rock ‘n’ roll.
Whereas Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton and Mel B found love with a footballer, an R&B singer and a dancer respectively, the All Saints girls dated rock stars, with Nicole marrying and having a son with Liam Gallagher.
Melanie says: “We were turning up to kids’ TV shows on a Saturday morning without having one wink of sleep. We looked fine, just a bit of vomiting in the toilets prior to CD:UK.”
After two albums, All Saints split in 2001, a disparity in earnings between Shaznay and the rest of the band being a major factor.
By the end of their existence as a group, Melanie says they “hated each other”.
She adds: “We’d fallen out, it was hell, it was ‘separate’ everything.
“It was just ridiculous but literally one of the proudest moments of being in that band was calling it quits because we didn’t stay for the money. We wanted to be done, we didn’t want to be with each other any more and we made that decision.
“We were in control. We were supposed to go on tour and we gave the money back and I’m so proud of that. That’s one of the only decisions we were all happy to make together, telling each other to f*** off.”
- Girlbands Forever begins on Saturday at 9.20pm on BBC Two.
Little Mix
AS girlbands moved into the 2010s, life did not get any easier, with social media now to contend with.
With Little Mix, Perrie Edwards, 32, bore the brunt of the online abuse due to her relationship with One Direction heart-throb Zayn Malik.
She explains: “Social media was dark, especially back in the day.
“Me and the girls used to get a lot of stick. Things we would wear or how we would look, people would pick us apart.
“You’re hurting enough as it is, never mind everybody having an opinion on it. Everyone wants to know your business and everyone feels like they have ownership in that.
“You can’t escape it. So you may as well sing about it.”
Life in girlbands was relentless, so Little Mix lasting ten years was a monumental achievement.
But Perrie, below, admits she almost quit when she was at her lowest ebb ahead of a gig in Las Vegas.
She says: “I didn’t want to go, I was so exhausted. I tried getting out of the trip and when I got there, I started experiencing panic attacks.
“I didn’t know what was happening at the time, I’d never experienced a panic attack.
“I ended up in a hospital. I didn’t want to let the girls down. They had to do it without me and I hated it and I really resented myself for it.”
She adds: “When you’re in a group dynamic, even though you’re going through stuff individually, you can’t just be selfish so I kind of put a brave face on a lot of time.
“I didn’t want to let the team down.”
Eternal
ETERNAL had a No1 smash hit with I Wanna Be The Only One in 1997, but their looks soon became a concern.
Founding member Kelle Bryan, 50, reveals: “People were always voicing concerns about my weight and about our weight as a band. Stylists would come along and say, ‘This doesn’t fit you, this doesn’t fit you’.
“We’re talking about an era where being a size zero was popular, so they sent us away to this place in the countryside where they were able to control what we ate.”
Atomic Kitten
WHILE on the 1999 Smash Hits Tour, Atomic Kitten’s Kerry Katona fell for Westlife singer Brian McFadden, but was ordered not to date him by management.
Kerry, 45, says: “They all went absolutely f*ing apes**t. I remember [Westlife manager] Louis Walsh saying, ‘I don’t like you, you’re trouble’.
Bandmate and best pal Natasha Hamilton, 43, adds: “It was definitely bad for the brand. Not from my point of view but from the label and management. They said girls can’t be seen with one of the boys in the biggest boyband in the UK because fan jealousy is a thing.”
Mis-Teeq
BEING an all-black group who rose up from the “underground scene” in 1999, Mis-Teeq felt they were discriminated against and given fewer opportunities.
Su-Elise Nash, 44, says: “We weren’t invited to the same premieres. Some magazines wouldn’t consider us for the cover because they didn’t think three black girls would sell.
“Our struggle to get there was definitely not as easy as it would have been if we had one white member or we’d all-white.”
Sugababes
WHEN Sugababes founding member Mutya Buena gave birth to her first child aged 19 – while the band were working on their fourth album – there was no let-up.
Mutya, now 40, quit the group that same year in 2005 and was later diagnosed with post-natal depression.
Record label exec Darcus Beese says: “I remember standing in my kitchen trying to talk her down. I had no concept of post-natal depression. I would ask questions now like, ‘How’s your mental health?’.”