All Saints were a British/Canadian pop music girl group that enjoyed considerable critical and commercial success. The group comprised founding members Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis, and sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton.
Biography
Both Melanie and Shaznay started their career by doing backing vocals at the ZTT Recording Studios on All Saints Road, London. In 1993, Mel, Shaznay, and the original third member Simone Rainford decided to record together. According to Simone, they thought of Spice as a name of their group, but they decided that it wasn't good enough [1] and decided to call themselves All Saints 1.9.7.5. after the street where they have met and their year of birth. They were signed to ZZT Records.
In 1994, All Saints 1.9.7.5. performed for the first time at the Touch magazine stage at the Notting Hill Carnival [2]. They recorded three singles together, but the singles were not successful. Additionally, the musical views of Simone on the one hand and Melanie and Shaznay on the other hand were an increasing source of tension in the band. The high point of the band was during the Smash Hits tour in 1995, when they first got a glimpse of stardom and performed with Boyzone, Peter Andre, and the Backstreet Boys.
In the summer of 1995, Simone decided to leave the band and ZTT Records decided to drop the remaining duo from their label. Regardless, Melanie and Shaznay set out to find a replacement for Simone. After conducting some auditions, Melanie's father met Nicole Appleton whom Melanie knew from her days at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Shaznay encouraged Nicole to join the band. Her sister Natalie was reluctant at first to join the group, since she had given birth to her daughter Rachel two years prior and did not want to abandon. However Nicole and Natalie's parents decided to help raise the baby and allow Natalie to pursue a career in music.
After being united as a group in May 1996, the four women met with Karl Gordon, a former bandmember of Outlaw Posse, who recorded a demo for "I Know Where It's At". The next task was finding a record label, but most record labels wanted to turn them into a Spice Girls duplicate. Luckily the demo ended up at London Records where John Benson finalised the recording deal in November 1996 [3].
In 1997, "I Know Where It's At", their debut single as a four-piece, stormed to #4 on the UK charts and was highly successful. The next single, "Never Ever", launched All Saints as pop stars, selling over a million copies in the United Kingdom also. The song won them two BRIT Awards in 1998, for Best Single and Best Video. Other career highlights include: their Breakthrough Artist award at the MTV Europe Music Awards and "Pure Shores", their chart-topping collaboration with William Orbit from the Leonardo DiCaprio feature film The Beach, becoming the second best-selling single of 2000 (after "Bob the Builder"). Lowlights include their universally panned film, Honest, directed by ex-Eurythmics member Dave Stewart.
In their five year career, the band scored a total of five #1 singles. They split acrimoniously in 2001 after much speculation and rumour. Nicole and Natalie are now in their newly reformed duo Appleton, whilst Melanie and Shaznay have also gone on to enjoy (moderate) solo success.
On September 30, 2005 the group members were seen leaving the London Ivy smiling [4], so they have reconciled. The rumours about All Saints reforming which subsequently appeared in the tabloids are false, according to Melanie Blatt. [5] In November 2005 all four girls were photographed leaving Universal Records in London, fuelling rumours they are back together with a secured record deal.
Discography
Albums
| November 24, 1997 | All Saints | #2 |
| December 29, 1998 | The Remix Album | #104 |
| October 14, 2000 | Saints & Sinners | #1 |
| November 5, 2001 | All Hits | #18 |
Singles
| February 1995 | Silver Shadow | - | with All Saints 1.9.7.5. |
| April 1995 | Let's Get Started | - | with All Saints 1.9.7.5. |
| September 25, 1995 | If You Wanna Party | - | with All Saints 1.9.7.5. |
| August 18, 1997 | I Know Where It's At | #4 | |
| November 10, 1997 | Never Ever | #1 (2 weeks) | |
| April 27, 1998 | Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade | #1 (2 weeks) | |
| August 31, 1998 | Bootie Call | #1 | |
| November 23, 1998 | War Of Nerves | #7 | |
| February 26, 2000 | Pure Shores | #1 (2 weeks) | |
| October 14, 2000 | Black Coffee | #1 | |
| January 27, 2001 | All Hooked Up | #7 | |
| September 17, 2001 | TwentyFourSeven | #6 | from All Hits - as The Artful Dodger feat. Melanie Blatt |
Other releases
- All Saints - The Video
- Honest soundtrack
- Maximum All Saints (2001) - Unauthorised biography consisting of interviews