The Saturdays


The Saturdays were an English-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and separated in 2014. The lineup consisted of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa White. They were formed through Fascination Records, a sub-division of Polydor Records, which gave them an instant record deal with the label. As soon as the contract was finalized, the Saturdays went on tour with Girls Aloud during their Tangled Up Tour. The group's music style is pop, but throughout their career, their management has experimented with dance-pop and electropop. Songwriters and producers Ina Wroldsen, Steve Mac, Camille Purcell, and Quiz & Larossi have helped create their music.
In July 2008, The Saturdays released their debut single and first Top Ten hit, "If This Is Love". Their debut album, Chasing Lights, released the same year, charted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart; it was certified platinum by the BPI and produced three more top ten singles: "Up", "Issues", and "Just Can't Get Enough". "Work" was also released from the album. The group's first concert tour, The Work Tour, took place in 2009. The group's second album, Wordshaker, produced the Top Ten hits "Forever Is Over" and "Ego". In 2010, the Saturdays released a mini album, Headlines!, which contained the top 10 hits "Missing You" and "Higher", the latter of which featured guest vocals from Flo Rida. The mini-album was supported by the group's second concert tour, The Headlines Tour. Their third album, On Your Radar, was released in 2011 and resulted in two top 10 singles: "Notorious" and "All Fired Up".
In 2011, the group tackled its first arena tour, All Fired Up! Live, in support of their third album, "On Your Radar". Their fourth album, "Living for the Weekend", was released in 2013. The album's first single, "30 Days", charted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The follow-up single, "What About Us", became the Saturdays' first UK number-one single, selling 114,000 copies in the first week of release. Although "Gentleman" followed as the next single, it was "Disco Love" that entered the UK charts at number five, becoming their thirteenth Top Ten hit. The album debuted at number ten on 20 October 2013 becoming their fourth top 10 album. The Saturdays released their first greatest hits album, Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits, on 11 August 2014. It was preceded by a single, "What Are You Waiting For?", which was available to download on 9 August 2014. The Saturdays embarked on their Greatest Hits Live! tour in September 2014. The Saturdays have sold over five million records in the UK and Ireland.

History

2007–2009: Formation, ''Chasing Lights'' and The Work Tour

The Saturdays were formed in June 2007, after auditions were held to find members for the group. The group was put together through the record label Polydor Records which meant they would have an instant record deal and were signed to Fascination Records, a sub-label of Polydor. The group began recording their debut album while touring with Girls Aloud on their Tangled Up Tour. They were also offered songs that were rejected by Girls Aloud. They said "We all thought it was a bit of a cheek. Why would we want their rejects? It's bad enough with all the comparisons being made." Whilst on tour with Girls Aloud, the group released their first single "If This Is Love". The song features additional backing vocals from Danish singer Nabiha. The song charted at number eight on the UK Singles Chart after it sold 14,990 copies in its first week of release. The single was also the second-highest new entry of the week behind Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" which debuted at number four. As well as supporting Girls Aloud, the Saturdays also supported the Jonas Brothers at their Hammersmith Apollo show.
Their debut album, Chasing Lights was released in October 2008 and peaked at number 9 on the UK Albums Chart. Later the album was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. The last track of Chasing Lights, "Why Me, Why Now" was originally a demo by Alex Cartañá, but was later picked up by the girls. The Saturdays were often compared to other British female acts such as the Sugababes and Girls Aloud, however, they have been praised for their debut album. "Up" was confirmed to be the second single from the album and the first studio version of "Up" premiered on Popjustice on 17 July 2008 in the form of a short clip, after the group previously performed the song, when it was being recorded, live at various gigs in the United Kingdom. The song then officially premiered in full on 31 August 2008 on BBC Radio 1. On 19 October 2008 "Up" debuted at number five on the UK Singles Chart with first-week sales of 26,593. In turn outspeaking and outselling the previous single "If This Is Love" which debuted at number eight with first-week sales of 14,990. The third single was released "Issues" which became a commercial success after charting at number four. Both "Up" and "Issues" found themselves gaining a certification of Silver by the British phonographic industry. In March 2009 the Saturdays released a cover of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" for Comic Relief, the single was a success and charted at number two on the UK Singles Chart and was also certificated Silver by the BPI. "Work" was released as the fifth and final single from the album and was their first single to miss the top ten on the Singles Chart.
Their first headlining tour, The Work Tour, had 27 dates. McFly's Dougie Poynter, Sandford's boyfriend played bass guitar during "Just Can't Get Enough". White tripped on some wires backstage and had a foot injury, she remained seated on stage for some shows. In 2008 and 2009, the Saturdays appeared in adverts for several products including a brand of deodorant, tampons, mobile phones, an operating system, and hair removal products. The band was named as a model for the hair removal product, Veet. The band later became the new face of a major campaign of Impulse women's deodorant. The Saturdays said that fashion is a huge part of the group, saying people look up to them as their icons.

2009–2010: ''Wordshaker'' and ''Headlines!''

Whilst performing on their first headlining tour, The Work Tour, the group started to go back into the studio to record their second studio album in early March 2009, which would be due for release in late 2009. The group performed two songs from the recording sessions at The Work Tour : "One Shot" and "Wordshaker" which later would appear on the album. The official cover was revealed in a special mailer to fans on the group's official form/website on 23 September 2009. The band began working with a number of writers and producers, including Louis Biancaniello, Chris Braide, Jörgen Elofsson, Quiz & Larossi, Steve Mac, Per Magnusson and Norwegian songwriter Ina Wroldsen who has previously written for the group, as well as working with the Pussycat Dolls, Pixie Lott and Leona Lewis. "Forever Is Over" was released as the lead single from the group's second studio album and was originally written for former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson by former Busted member James Bourne and production group the Runaways. The single was also wanted by American pop rock artist, Pink. "Forever Is Over" charted at number-two on the UK Singles Chart. Wordshaker was released in October 2009. The album had almost identical peaks to their first studio album with the album peaking at number nine on the UK Albums Chart and thirty-six on the Irish Albums Chart. The album also gained a certification of Silver by the BPI. "Ego" was released as the second and final single from the album, which was written by Steve Mac and Ina Wroldsen. Mac also acknowledged the influence of producer RedOne's work with Lady Gaga. "Ego" charted at number nine and number ten on the UK and Irish Singles Charts and later gained a Gold certification by the BPI.
The Saturdays originally intended not to release any material in 2010, but Rochelle Humes explained in an interview with Digital Spy that "'d come across some songs that were really excited about. wanted to just get everything out ." "We finished and we'd come across some songs that we were really excited about. The songs that we had found were so current, and we'd written a couple of songs ourselves, we wanted to just get everything out now." The band confirmed that the album would not be a studio album and would in fact be an Extended play. The group confirmed to be working with Steve Mac and Ina Wroldsen on the album as well as some new producers. "Missing You" was confirmed to be the first single released from the EP. "Missing You" is an electropop song incorporating elements of trance and synthpop. It was written by Lukas Hilbert and Alexander Kronlund. The music video was shot at the end of May 2010, in Málaga, Spain and later premiered on 26 June on the group's official website. "Missing You" entered the UK Singles Chart at number three. After Headlines! was released it charted at number three on the UK Albums Chart and number ten on the Irish Singles Chart, marking the group's third UK top-ten album and their first in Ireland. "Higher" was confirmed to be the second single from the EP. After the group's previous single "Missing You" was beaten to number one for a second time by Flo Rida, Wiseman joked that the group would have to record a song with the rapper before they could top the UK Singles Chart. Then several days later it was confirmed that a collaboration had gone ahead with Flo Rida recording vocals for one of the group's songs. The single charted at number-ten on the UK Singles Chart and number-eleven on the Irish Singles Chart.

2011–2012: ''On Your Radar'' and All Fired Up! Live

The group announced that they were working on their third full-length studio album in late 2010. While recording the album they worked with a variety of collaborators for the album, including producers Lucas Secon, Labrinth Danish pop band, Alphabeat, Taio Cruz, Space Cowboy, Carl Falk, Rami Yacoub, and Steve Mac. Wiseman confirmed that the record was "different" and "fierce". The Saturdays promised that their third studio album would be different and they would be taking risks in their music. They announced that their new sound is "dance floor" music. The group confessed that the album would be a lot "sexier" and a lot more R&B than their previous albums. The band confirmed that they have written the majority of the album themselves which makes the album a lot more personal to them. They said that the new album is; "it's a very cool". The band said their new music was "current", "fun", "naughty", "girly" and "dancy". Emeli Sandé said that she wrote a track for the group which was very dark and a strong ballad. She said that the lyrics are dark and very honest. The first single released from the album was "Notorious". The single was released digitally on 22 May 2011 in the UK. The single peaked at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart and 19 on the Irish Singles Chart. After the release of "Notorious" the band released a clothing line with high street store, Miss Selfridge. The group-designed T-shirts will feature lyrics from the group's songs "Notorious" and "Higher". "All Fired Up" was released on 4 September 2011, which charted at number-three on the UK Singles Charts and six on the Irish Singles Charts. It was confirmed that the album would be titled On Your Radar, and the third single released would be "My Heart Takes Over".
After the conclusion of The Headlines Tour, the Saturdays confirmed that they would go on tour again in December 2011, although this time it would be an arena tour, instead of a theatre tour like their two previous headlining tours. They also revealed that they are going to "fly" during the tour as it is a dream for the band. It was confirmed that the tickets would be released on Monday 13 June 2011 and tour would be titled All Fired Up! Live. There has been 11 dates confirmed . They said "It's an arena tour so we're forced to go all out for a big production." Mollie King said that fans should expect a lot of bright colours and brightly coloured blocks for the production. The Saturdays later revealed in late June Irish tour dates. The girls confirmed during an interview with Capital FM that their new single, "30 Days" would be "very pop", "amazing" and "crazy". The single was premiered on 30 March 2012 on BBC Radio 1's breakfast show with Chris Moyles. The video premiered on 5 April 2012. It was further confirmed that the group were working on their fifth album.