Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Welcome To Ireland!

This week we begin your Pop Music tour around the world! First stop: Ireland

Six - There's A Whole Lot Of Lovin'

In 2002 'Six' were formed via the Irish Popstars Tv show. Their debut single immediately became one of the best selling singles of all time in Ireland, selling over 160'000 copies in its first week alone!

After a successful tour, 3 singles, a top 5 album and a sell out tour across Ireland the band decided to call it a day.




The Corrs have sold over 60 Million albums around the world, and while the band are currently on hiatus to focus on personal projects and families they hold a spot in Pop history as one of Irelands biggest musical exports. Say Goodbye (2006 Version) can be found on their new Greatest Hits collection this holiday season.







Occasionally record labels make a huge mistake and end up pulling the plug on an artists career long before their time. Samantha Mumba is a perfect example of this. Samantha rose to fame in 2000 when her debut single "Gotta Tell You" stormed the charts around the world reaching number 1in the Uk and number 2 in the USA. She scored 5 top ten singles in the Uk alone and earned a Grammy Nomination in 2002! Why then has this artist never released a 2nd album?! Well in 2002 Samantha released her eagerly anticipated new single "I'm Right Here" and while the song reached number 5 in the Uk, it bombed in the USA, peaking at number 80 on the Billboard chart. This prompted her label to cancel the release of her 2nd album 'Woman' and left Samantha Mumba without a record deal. It stuns me that such a successful Uk artist is dropped because she couldnt make it in the USA? There are hundreds of successful British Aritsts that never release in the US and they still have sucess in the Uk Ie. Robbie Williams, Girls Aloud, McFly?! I've never been a HUGE Samantha Mumba fan, but surely she deserved a 2nd album?


The good news is that Samantha Mumba is currently working on a 3rd album and it is said to be released in February 2007!



Bellefire were the band that never quite did as well as they should have. After 2 mediocre hits in the Uk Virgin suddenly dropped them before the release of their debut album. In 2003 the girls were re-signed to WEA records and released "Say Something Anyway," by far their greatest single to date.


Unfortunately the single peaked at Number 23 in the Uk before falling out of the chart after 3 weeks. From this point forward their record label continued to push back the release of their next single and album. While the band toured extensively across the Uk and Asia to boost their profile the damage was done. By the time the record label finally released "Spin The Wheel" as the next single, the record buying public had alerady forgotten the band and the single flopped. Their 2nd album never saw a Uk release and the band have since split up. Bellefire are another example of what happens when a good band are not supported by their record label.




Finally, Boyzone. When Boyzone split up in 2000 they were the biggest boyband in the world with 17 hit singles and over 10 Million albums sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Their split gave way to a successful solo career for Ronan Keating and short lived success for Stephen Gately. The band only ever had one US hit with "No Matter What" after appearing on a US Soap Opera. Rumours have been rampant that the band will reform although only time will tell.

1 comment:

Aaryn said...

eMail me at sparkpop@gmail.com and remind me to add your URL to the list