I'm in a Girl Group! Pop Life

The late 20th century gave us many great life enhancing advances

and inventions, like the computer, foreign travel for the masses,

and the girl group.

This programme contains some strong language.

Synchronised sisters with a sweet crazy dream,

a dream of singing songs about love and sisterhood,

moving as one in perfect precision and touching

the hearts of girls just like themselves across the planet.

# Goddess on the mountain top... #

Girl groups have that special power, that force of nature,

when they come together.

There's just a mass of female energy.

There's something really empowering about that.

# ..She's got it... #

It is that group of people

up there, giving you a full-on dance routine,

a full-on sparkly extravaganza.

# ..I'm your fire... #

I love 'em.

I've loved them since I was eight, and I love them to this day,

because they can deliver songs in a tender and emotional way

that no boys can.

# So won't you please

# Be my, be my baby

# Be my little baby... #

So are girl group sisters doing it for themselves?

When you walk out on the stage and there is an eruption from girls

and guys, it's just, this is what it's all about.

Or is nothing ever that perfect?

I think if anybody tells you there was no rivalry,

there was no jealousy, bitchiness, it's a lie.

# Talk about pop musik

# Talk about pop musik

# Shoobie, doobie, do wop

# It's all around you

# Pop, pop, shoo wop

# Gonna surround you

# Shoobie, doobie do wop

# It's all around you

-# Pop, pop, shoo wop

-Hit it

# New York, London, Paris, Munich

# Everybody talk about pop musik

# Talk about pop musik... #

This is the story of girls who dare to dream.

Once upon a time, young girls whiled away the hours

daydreaming about the fantasy life of a fairytale princess.

Oh, to be whisked off their feet by Prince Charming,

to live in his castle, make beautiful babies,

and live happily ever after.

And then, along came rock 'n' roll, the invention of the teenager,

and the pop princess was born.

# All the women, independent

# Throw your hands up at me... #

This new dream was of singing songs about what it's like to be a girl,

to adoring audiences of girls just like them.

I think, it's like, you start off as, when you're really young,

you want to be a princess.

-Yeah.

-And then princess morphs into...

-Supermodel.

-Yeah, into pop star.

You get over supermodel, and then you realise, yeah, a pop star.

For some reason, I had it in my head from a really early age that

I really, really wanted to be famous,

and especially be

in a girl band and sing.

I was always in the mirror

with a hairbrush,

or always singing,

dancing, making up routines

with school friends, definitely it's a girl thing.

I would sing to every advert.

Anything on TV,

I'd be singing, riffing.

My mum would be like,

"Please, Jade, please,

"can we just watch something

"without you singing over it?"

I was like,

"One day, I'm going to be famous, wait, it'll be worth it."

# Remember my name

# Fame, I'm going to live forever

# Baby, remember my name... #

The dream is burning bright.

What's needed next is someone to share it with.

Maybe a sister or two.

We loved singing, and when we were really young,

we always pretended like

we were a girls group,

so we sang and we danced,

and we actually put on shows

for the family.

Back in the day,

the neighbourhood could be the place

to find fellow dreamers.

You really start in the group

without even knowing it.

And that's, and being in Brooklyn,

I come from Brooklyn, and that's

from walking around the streets

in Brooklyn singing,

sitting on the stoops,

and then we'd hear all the music on the radio,

and then we'd just sing all the doo-wop songs,

and all the harmonies, singing as a group.

And many a girl group is born in the playground.

# My boy lollipop Bum bum bum bum... #

When I was ten years old, I met Mutya,

and I remember we just

would sing with each other

all the time in school.

And we used to get girls to, kind of, do, like, backing dancing

while we took the leads on songs, and our voices just blended

so well together.

It was so weird.

It was like we had different tones, but sounded

almost like the same person.

And then, for a lucky few, something magical happens.

What started out as a bit of fun with friends has unlocked

something rare and precious.

When you have girls in the group, and everybody has beautiful harmony,

beautiful sounding voices,

you know, you hear those notes come out of these voices,

this voice box, but they are all different.

You know, it's amazing. It's beauty. It's so beautiful.

# So, raise your hand

# One fist in the air

# For freedom dom dom dom dom

# For being alive

# Not having a care

# For freedom dom dom dom dom... #

You know what's really scary?

We actually sometimes had a fifth tone.

There'd be four people singing four different notes

and we'll hear this fifth tone, like, that's a third above,

it's like some kind of harmonic that comes from our vibrations.

It's the angel.

It's the angel!

-She says it's an angel.

-It's God's gift.

Suddenly, that dream of a singing sisterhood

feels a little closer to reality.

The unique feminine force of the girl group has been unleashed,

revealing an ultimate truth,

that sometimes in pop, three or more girls are better than one.

# Baby love, my baby love

# I need you, oh, how I need you

# But all you do is treat me bad

# Break my heart and leave me sad... #

We immediately knew that we had hit upon something very special,

OK, it was just,

we were looking at each other as if, my God,

this is pure magic.

It just felt just so perfect.

# ..Instead of breaking up

# Let's do some kissing and making up... #

Now, that's when the idea came to us that maybe we could do something big.

# ..Need to hold you

# Once again, my love... #

The Supremes' dreams of making it big seemed to be hanging by a thread

when they failed their audition at Berry Gordy's Motown Records.

But these young wannabes from the Projects

weren't taking no for an answer.

We, The Supremes

actually made our point to come down to Motown

every day after high school.

We would see The Miracles come in and we'd say, "Hey, how you doing?"

We'd see Mary Wells. "Hey, Mary, how you doing?"

And one day, one of the producers came out and said,

"The thing is, and I hear the background singers

"and I hear the handclappers, we need..."

We said, "We'll do it! We'll do it!"

So, you know, we made ourselves likeable to everyone,

and then after a little while, Mr Berry Gordy,

he was like, "You girls really are serious, I think I'll sign you."

# Set me free, why don't you, babe?

# Get out my life Why don't you, babe?

# Cos you don't really love me

# You just keep me hanging on... #

The Supremes had the talent and steely determination to back it up.

But sometimes, the big break can come by simply being in

the right place at the right time.

'This is Warrington!'

I was in a nightclub in Warrington, Mr Smiths.

I was 17 and a guy actually approached me with a letter saying,

"I'm in The Porn Kings,

"we're looking for dancers."

And my forte was dancing.

Gets home to me mum, pissed as a fart.

Says to me mum, "Mum, this guy wants me to be in The Porn Kings."

Me mum says, "You're not going to be in no bleedin' bluey!"

Thinking it was like a porn movie.

And that, and that's how it started.

And then he kept saying, you know,

"You're too good to be just a backing dancer.

"There's a friend of mine starting a girl band.

"I think you should go for an audition."

I thought, why not? Give it a go, might as well go ahead with it.

Threw me Page Three photographs down, told dirty jokes,

sparks a cigarette up, sang a few songs

and went, "You're in the band!"

# So come on, baby Do it to me good now

# Do it to me slowly

# Huh, yeah

# Be the one and only... #

Whether it's by diehard determination

or barefaced cheek,

what hasn't changed in 50 years is that to make the leap

from dreamer to diva, a girl needs to impress whoever's in charge.

And more often than not, the gatekeeper to the music biz...

..is a man.

It's not easy to be in a girl group

in the first place.

It's not easy to be a girl

in the music business.

It's kind of a boys' club

in many aspects.

First, they see you as eye candy, or just young girls,

before they see the person,

the businesswoman, the artist

and you really have to fight

through the crap to be respected.

I probably would've crumbled under all of that if it'd been me

on my own, dealing with such a male industry by myself,

but I think with the girls, it was a lot easier.

There wasn't just one voice that people were dealing with,

there was four.

This is the point when female dreams and togetherness

collide with male logic and the need for control,

or in the case of '60s

super producer Phil Spector,

complete, total and absolute control.

I was 13, Didi was 16, so these are teenagers,

so I think that he knew exactly what he was doing.

When you're young, you can be controlled.

I shouldn't say this, but I also think probably

he wants somebody young, young girls that were stupid.

I don't think he would have gotten Barbra Streisand,

you know what I'm saying?

If she was in her 20s, because she would have known too much.

Following in that tradition, Svengali Richard Barrett

bossed the career of The Three Degrees for 20 years.

He was pretty much a tyrant

when it came to the three of us.

We knew it was either his way or the highway.

He would always tell you,

"I have a coin, here,

"and I can replace you

"at the drop of a hat.

"So, do what I say do, the way that I say do it, and we'll be fine."

# Got myself a crying, talking

# Sleeping, walking, living doll... #

Once they've signed on the dotted line,

generations of fledgling girl groups have found themselves

thrust into a secret process of moulding and grooming

to transform their raw talent and ambition into a slick,

chart-ready, pop proposition.

# ..Got the one and only walking, talking, living doll... #

Take Berry Gordy's Motown production line,

where nothing was left to chance.

# Nowhere to run to, baby

# Nowhere to hide... #

We had people training us the Motown way, and it was like a school.

There was Maurice King, teaching us the music theory.

There was Charlie Atkins,

who had been with Cholly Atkins, of vaudeville.

He taught us the proper way to dance, show business dance,

and Professor Maxine Powell told us,

"You are like flowers..."

I'm imitating her now, but lovingly,

"..and you all have your own particular beauty."

I remember one time, she said to us,

"You are diamonds in the rough,

"and we are just here to polish you."

Well, that would make you feel real good, right?

More than anywhere else in pop, a girl group will find themselves

judged on their looks, as well as their hooks.

There are really very few women who can't look attractive

when they're properly made up.

If you're a girl group then, you know,

instantly, people are going to think,

"Oh, something to look at."

You know, you're a product.

We all are, if we are going to put ourselves out there.

# One, two, three, four

# Everything he does, better than

# Anything ordinary... #

I don't think I want to see five scruffy girls

standing on a stage, which haven't

had their hair and make-up done

and their nails, and don't look

like they're bothered.

I want them to be glamorous.

# You're gonna make me Make me love you

# Nothing at all, nothing that I do

# Promise I made, promise I made

# Started to fade Started to fade, fade... #

The image that you have, the image that you choose,

or the image that you are, is, can make or break you.

The first rule of the girl group look

is for the visuals to have the same impact

as the supercharged multiple voices.

And since the invention of the girl group as we know it

in the late 50s, three of a kind

has been a winning formula.

# I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still

# Da do ron-ron-ron Da do ron-ron... #

These early incarnations were a celebration of sisterhood

and conformity.

Girl groups then were like the Mad Men typing pool

bursting into song.

Everybody was following everyone.

The Shirelles, The Chantels, you know,

Martha Reeves And The Vandellas...

I would see Martha with a blue pair of shoes

that matched her dress.

She would see us with the same thing.

Because everybody followed that pattern

of just looking like you're

graduating from high school, with the frilly dresses on,

a little bow, you know, everybody swaying the same way,

the hands moving the same way, the heads are going to the side.

That was what people wanted.

Highly groomed girls with a synchronised look

became the girl group template.

And the well-drilled matching frock format

got a flick-haired '70s spin from these wholesome Irish sisters.

# Hey! Hang on just a little longer... #

The Nolan sisters, sugar and spice, and all things nice.

We were given an image, manipulated into having an image

of being sweet, glorious, lovely sisters,

and we were nice girls, don't get me wrong, but nobody is that sweet.

# Yeah

# We're on a one-way ticket to anywhere

# There's no place we can go... #

But the truth was that off-duty life in The Nolans

was like a big night out with the girls, every night of the week.

You're drinking till seven in the morning, then on the bus at nine,

but what I did... Dark glasses,

then stay at the back of the bus,

-and they used to say...

-"Leave her."

"Don't ask Bernie anything."

"Leave her till about one o'clock."

You know, our crew were devastated that Bernie could drink them

under the table, really. And it just didn't go down well with our image.

Even if their on-tour exploits got a little airbrushing,

The Nolans played up their family values

and flew the flag for the good girl end of the pop spectrum.

# He met Marmalade down in old New Orleans

# Struttin' her stuff on the street

# She said, "Hello, hey, Joe

# You wanna give it a go...?" #

Others, like '70s soul sisters Labelle, took a fiercer,

more sexually charged stance.

# ..Creole Lady Marmalade

# Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?

# Voulez-vous coucher avec moi...? #

These days, though, when it comes to sexual expression,

girl groups often take a more direct approach.

But if they are largely aimed at teenage girls,

who is all the bare flesh for?

There is this element of,

if you are female

in the performing arts,

you have two project some level of allure, sexiness.

# Better move, cos we've arrived

# Lookin' sexy, lookin' fly... #

The dads want to leer at them.

The older brothers want to kind of go, oh...

So, the girl group exists for everyone, from kids to grandfathers.

# ..I don't think you're ready for this jelly

# I don't think you're ready for this

# Cos my body too bootylicious for ya, babe... #

While some men might join the party, lured in by looks

as much as the music,

a girl group must never lose sight of the fact

that their most devoted fans have always been teenage girls.

There's a really fine line with a girl band

and how they present themselves, because

they have to be quite careful not to position themselves

as being the sort of girl

that other girls don't like,

the sort of girl who might come along

and nick your boyfriend when you're 14. I mean,

that's the worst thing that can happen when you're 14.

# Are we about to get just a lil' hot and sweaty in this?

# Ooh, baby... #

A group who threatened to trample all over that fine line

was the Pussycat Dolls.

Their racy reputation gained as burlesque dancers

put them in need of a makeover if they were to convince

teenage female pop fans that they weren't really

a ruthless band of boyfriend stealers.

Originally, it came from a more theatrical,

cabaret place,

and that was the image,

and then we kind of made it

a little bit more street,

and a little bit more current, so kids could wear

some of our stuff as well.

It went from corsets and gloves and boas and all this stuff

to, all of a sudden,

we are these urban street chicks, and it was like,

I had a mohawk, Ashley had a braid,

Jessica, poor thing,

the most feminine girl ever,

and she had like a hoodie and all these pins in her hair.

And it was trying to find her inner ghetto goddess, I guess.

# Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?

# Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?

# Don't you? #

A timely rethink on the image front

with Moulin Rouge style titillation out

and Lara Croft-esque empowerment in

was the Pussycat Dolls' attempt not to burn the bridges

to their core audience.

But there is another more powerful way

for a girl group to win the hearts and minds of young female fans.

# A few questions that I need to know

# How you could ever hurt me so

# I need to know what I've done wrong

# And how long it's been going on

# My head's spinning

# Boy I'm in a daze

# I feel isolated

# Don't want to communicate... #

The reason girl groups exist is because

teenage girls like to feel that

the girl groups are reflecting their reality,

singing about their experiences of lost love

and unrequited love,

that's all you really want a girl group to do.

# ..Never ever have I ever felt so low

# When are you going to take me out of this black hole?

# Never ever have I ever felt so sad... #

It's also about presenting something aspirational to girls,

as well, so you're not necessarily talking

to them explicitly about what's going on in their life right now,

but you're painting a dreamscape of what their lives might be like.

So you're offering that up to them.

Here's where you are, and maybe your life's not so great

because you're a teenager and it's all a bit difficult,

but look at this magnificence that could be yours.

# I need some love like I never needed love before

# I want to make love to ya, baby

# I had a little love Now I'm back for more

# I want to make love to ya, baby... #

Love in all its forms, endless, hopeless, and unrequited,

is guaranteed to chime with the teenage heart.

But what other magnificent emotions and obsessions hit the spot?

# Yeah, I'm in the mood for dancing

# Romancing Ooh, I'm giving it all tonight... #

There's the blissful sugar rush

of that storming the dancefloor with your mates moment.

# We are family

# I've got all my sisters with me

# We are family... #

And the joy of being together with your sisters

is a heady musical message.

Girl groups are all about girl talk.

Their songs like musical extracts from a teenage girl's diary.

But it's also the case that many of the greatest

have actually been written by - whisper it - men.

'The first all-important decisions are made at the meeting,

'what tempo, what key, what sort of accompaniment.'

So, how do the backroom boys of the music biz tap into

the well of female emotion that overflows in a girl group classic?

You've got to understand the people in the band.

You've got to understand

what their philosophy is,

how they perform,

because you've got to write - a male, usually - for the female.

The name on many of the biggest girl group hits in recent years is

Xenomania, a crack team of Kent-based songsmiths,

led by a man called Brian,

with a knack for turning the everyday lives

of their girl group subjects into songs.

Xenomania were fantastic with us because Brian Higgins

would regularly sit down and be like,

"All right, mate, let's have a chat."

And we would sit down

and he would try and find out,

what was your day like, or what's happening with your boyfriend,

or what's happening here? And he would gather all this information

about all five of us and then they could go off and write songs.

# Nobody's perfect

# We've all gotta work it

# But, fellas, we're worth it

# So don't break the law... #

We actually never knew what the songs were going to sound like

until we got them at the very, very end.

I don't know how they done it.

# I'm just a love machine Feeding my fantasy

# Give me a kiss or three

# And I'm fine

# I need a squeeze a day... #

It's an age-old story,

the girl group singer putting her faith

in the musical maestro at the controls.

But can he be trusted?

When laying down her vocal for The Bangles' hit Eternal Flame,

Susanna Hoffs was introduced to her producer Davitt Sigerson's

idiosyncratic Olivia Newton-John studio method.

Davitt was doing this whole thing,

and it was really kind of sweet.

It was very artist friendly. He was

a very artist friendly producer,

and he was saying,

"On the nights that you sing, I want to have your favourite drinks."

It was really cute, if she said, I like this wine,

he'd have it there waiting.

Everybody had their stuff.

So he had told me this story that he'd just finished working

with Olivia and that she got her best vocal takes when she sang naked,

because that was just so freeing and so vulnerable,

and so free at the same time. And I'm thinking,

"Wow, that sounds really cool, I want to try that."

And sure enough, pretty soon, I'm coming into the studio going,

"OK, here goes." And I had my drink of choice, and then they would say,

"OK, time to sing it."

They would listen for the sound of the clothes dropping.

# Close your eyes

# Give me your hand, darling... #

You have to know something about our Susanna,

-as lovely as she is, she's very gullible.

-Yes.

-Of course, they...

-Made it up.

They made it up.

Davitt made that up and I fell for it.

# ..An eternal flame... #

Anyway, it's true, I did. Whatever, it happened.

Not all girls are quite so eager to please.

Bananarama had a revolutionary take on the girl group.

No towing the line, no dressing to please men,

no party invitation declined.

For the first three or four years,

it was just a complete laugh a minute, you know.

We kind of saw it as taking the piss

out of the music business, but it worked.

So, we ran with it.

I remember once, in somewhere like Pebble Mill,

and it was, like, moments before we were due live on-air,

and we found a big laundry basket

in the corridor of the TV studio,

and we hid in the laundry basket.

'Bananarama to stage, please.'

The runner came with his little headset

and he couldn't find us anywhere,

and was sat on top of the laundry basket,

and we were in the laundry basket, like, pissing ourselves laughing,

listening to their worried conversation.

Just stupid, we were like 14-year-old girls,

and we were able to stay being like 14-year-old girls

for years, you know?

By the time they came to record their fourth album,

Bananarama were big stars.

Welcome to the Hit Factory in London.

So when their DIY punk ethos collided with

the blokey bullishness of producer Pete Waterman, sparks flew.

Anybody who ever said to me that it's easy working with women

should have worked with Bananarama.

I've got to tell you, I think I aged 50 years just working with them.

They had Kylie and they had Jason, and they had Rick Astley

and they had, they were having

lots of success with loads of different artists

and they tried to apply the factory approach

to the Bananarama record, and I was really insulted.

They had a very strong idea of what they wanted to make.

I had a very strong idea of what I wanted them to do,

which was not what they wanted.

There was a lot of locking of horns, especially between me and Pete.

# Last night, I was dreaming

# I was locked in a prison cell

# When I woke up, I was screaming

# Calling out your name, woah!

# And the judge and the jury... #

I'm sure if you asked Alex Ferguson

what it's like managing 11 blokes and they're all trying to score one goal,

I'll tell you, he must say it's impossible.

Trying to get three women to agree on one subject

is almost twice as impossible.

He is a card, isn't he?

He does come out with quite shocking things!

# ..Come on, baby, can't you see?

# I stand accused of love in the first degree... #

When girl group Venus collides with music mogul Mars,

however interstellar the fallout,

if a group reaches the point where they have the look

and they've bagged a hit song,

it's time to prepare for takeoff.

Destination Dreamland.

What seemed like a fairytale all those years ago

is fast becoming reality.

We had this dream, we definitely had this dream, in the garage,

-that day back in 1981...

-Awesome dream.

-I know. ..and it came true.

# Don't stop believin'

# Hold on to that feeling

# Streetlight people... #

The album was at number one, the tour was selling out,

we were just nominated for a Brit,

then we won the Brit,

and I actually remember

thinking to myself,

I am so happy.

Me whole life felt perfect.

You're living your passion,

you're living your dream,

you're working really hard and you're not even feeling tired.

It's just exhilarating.

I even took a mental picture,

to the point where I did this,

cos you're going to remember this,

and it was here in London,

performing to a sold-out crowd,

and everyone in that place was singing every single word,

and I think all of us looked to each other

with just some tears in our eyes, like, "Oh, my God!

"We did this! We did this!"

# ..Don't stop. #

CROWD CHEERS

With the fulfilment of the dream comes the VIP attention

of a court of primpers, crimpers, advisers, and assistants.

In the '60s, The Supremes discovered that they hadn't just

found fame and success for themselves,

they'd also acquired an entourage.

We were a very large operation, travelling in those days.

In fact, we did have our own band.

We had chaperones.

We had chaperones, I can't believe that,

until we were, like, 23.

So we had a huge entourage,

maybe 15 people,

so back then, that was pretty heavy duty.

Team Supremes might have seemed extravagant then,

but today's girl groups must wonder how they ever managed.

How many people? I don't know. We've got hair and make-up.

Stylists.

Two stylists.

Possibly a stylist's assistant.

Directors, all their assistants.

Manager.

Vocal coach.

Drivers.

Maybe a PR company.

Road manager, slash MD, slash... gosh, the poor guy did so many jobs.

-Dancers.

-All the dancers. The band.

Jana Banana, who did wardrobe.

-Eight dogs.

-Eight dogs.

It was like a huge tribe of people.

They were necessary.

For the successful girl group, entourage in tow,

the dream hatched in the schoolyard

is suddenly something the whole planet wants a piece of.

The world just changed.

My world has changed from living

in a one-bedroom council flat

at the age of 17

to being in Japan five times,

south-east Asia, Singapore, Malaysia. It was crazy.

The furthest we'd ever been

was Benidorm, I think.

-Yeah.

-So, Japan, wow.

So we go for this promotional tour and we get off the plane

and we can hear all this shouting and stuff.

-What the hell is that? You know?

-Yeah.

And I said, I remember distinctly saying,

"Well, there must be somebody famous on the plane," you know, seriously.

All of a sudden, you hear,

"We want The Nolans!"

I'm thinking, "Oh, my God, it's us!"

And there's all these banners,

because we were number one there, but we didn't know.

And we were in the hotel, and they said, "No, you mustn't go out."

"Sod this! We're going out."

And we found the back entrance, the four of us,

and we went out, and we were in this shop, and I looked round,

and there's two little young schoolgirls at the door,

really excited, cute, you know,

and then I looked round again and there's 15. I think,

"Yeah, that's cute." The next time, I looked round, it's like The Birds,

you know the Hitchcock film? There's about 200.

# Big in Japan... #

How do we get out? This is scary now.

They were right. We shouldn't have come out.

So we pushed through them. "Hi, nice to meet you," and all that.

Pulling our hair and clothing. And we ran. We legged it, didn't we?

And we managed to get back to the hotel, but scared, like,

"Oh, my God! This is awful," but in a way, it was brilliant.

The Nolans were big in Japan.

Bananarama have had more UK chart entries

than any other girl group before or since,

and The Three Degrees managed to garner royal approval.

But when it comes to global success,

there is one British girl group who topped the lot.

Well, it's nice to see that somebody's taken Take That's crown

and is wearing it properly.

Long live pop and long live the Spice Girls!

# La la la la la la la la la

# La la la la la la laaaa... #

When the Spice Girls stomped into the scene in the mid-'90s,

the very idea of the girl group was in jeopardy.

The word was that what teenage girls

really, really wanted was five pretty boys standing in a row.

When we first started out, all we ever got was,

girl bands don't sell.

Not interested.

It's all about boy bands.

The Spice's first stroke of genius

was to steal the age-old boy band trick

of giving each member a distinctive individual character.

# Giving you everything... #

Posh, Scary, Baby, Ginger, and Sporty.

We were given our nicknames by Top Of The Pops Magazine.

Of course we played up to it.

We loved it. We became caricatures.

We had to do that, because I think if we were confined to,

you know, having a uniform and being a certain way,

we wouldn't have lasted five minutes.

And now it's time for the first award of the day,

so here's the nominees for Best New Act.

At five, it's Peter Andre.

At four, it's them Backstreet Boys.

But would this be enough to convince the boy band obsessed

teenager that this new girl group could be trusted

with her affections?

But here, at one, they're live, and they know what they want,

it's the Spice Girls!

# Tell you what I want What I really, really want

# So, tell me what you want What you really, really want

# I'll tell you what I want What I really, really want

# So tell me what you want What you really, really want

-# I wanna...

-Ha...

-I wanna...

-Ha...

-I wanna...

-Ha...

-I wanna...

-Ha...

# I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah... #

Masterstroke number two

was to make their debut single a kind of manifesto.

They took the implicit celebration of the power of girls

that had always been there in girl groups

and shouted it from the rooftops

as Girl Power.

# ..Get your act together We could be just fine

# I'll tell you what I want What I really, really want

# So tell me what you want What you really, really want

-# I wanna...

-Ha...

-I wanna...

-Ha...

-I wanna...

-Ha...

-I wanna...

-Ha...

# I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah

# If you wanna be my lover

# You gotta get with my friends Gotta get with my friends... #

Now you can be one of the gang. We can do whatever we want to do.

Get with us. We're your friends.

And I thought that was a really clever starting point for the girls.

# Make it last forever Friendship never ends

# ..If you wanna be... #

For us, it was really important from early on,

we knew we wanted to be a girl band for the girls.

CROWD: Girl Power! Girl Power! Girl Power!

It's the first time that you'd ever heard that mantra -

you can be whatever you want to be, just have belief

and take your girls with you, take your friends with you.

That sort of sisterhood, and I think that's what the appeal was,

that girls bought into it because they believed it.

They wanted to be in that group.

CROWD: Girl power!

The Spice Girls seized back the girl group audience from the boys

and changed the pop landscape forever.

They writ large the inclusive message of sisterhood

that had drawn young women to girl groups for half a century

and invited a new generation of girls into their girl group gang.

Across the ages, from The Nolans to the Spice Girls,

life in the groups seems to be like a teenage girl heaven,

a kind of endless 24/7 sleepover.

One of the best things about being in a girl group

is that you've always got a friend there, you know,

it's like a girly night every day of the week.

You know, you're in Sex And The City every week.

People would normally assume that you go to your separate rooms,

see you later, good night.

We don't!

We all have our own rooms,

but they all, for some reason,

it's this unwritten rule that's happened,

the girls always come and sleep in my room.

Yeah, we watch movies, chill out.

# Were going to dance till the broad daylight... #

We shared everything. I mean, we shared clothes, we shared...

We'd get on the telephone and talk about boyfriends, you know,

"Oh, my God! He's so cute! Oh, my God, he talked to me."

You know, we did all those girl things that girls do.

We loved each other and we had so much fun, and we'd always just

make each other laugh and be each other's support system.

If somebody is not feeling good, there's a circle around them

to communicate and be there for them and give them a hug.

# Nobody going to love me better... #

I didn't have much closeness in my life before the Pussycat Dolls

and they became my family.

The bond of sisterhood can grow as strong as flesh and blood,

and that's a good job, because like a real family,

girl groups end up spending a lot of time together.

-Not so much of a whip in the turn. Is that all right?

-Uh-huh.

# Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen

# Pour myself a cup of ambition

# And yawn and stretch and try to come to life... #

I think it's completely different

to the vision you have as a kid,

having that dream of just being

on stage and singing and doing what you love,

and then when you actually get into it,

you actually find yourself doing less of the singing

and more of just the talking, and having to pose for pictures.

That's not always great.

An average day in the life of Atomic Kitten would be, up at six,

do a few schools, a bit of TV, a few more interviews...

-Fly to another country.

-Yeah.

First, it's like, "Oh, my God! How great is this?!"

And you get to a certain point on photo shoots and they come in

and they do your hair, and you're just like,

"Fuck off and leave me alone!"

# Working nine to five

# What a way to make a living... #

Sharp words to a stylist, that's not very sisterly.

And it gets worse.

# ..Use your mind and you never get the credit

# It's enough to drive you

# Crazy if you let it... #

Girl groups can sit there and say,

"Oh, we're like sisters. We love each other." Yeah, you are.

But there's something about females being together,

it brings out these weird little insecurities.

People do start to become overly picky and slightly paranoid.

Girls, I hate to say it, we can be bitchy.

You know, we can be difficult. One-upmanship.

She was longer in make-up than me. I wanted to wear that dress.

You don't get that with boys.

There's so much pressure on you.

We were exhausted. We missed home. We missed our families

and everything and, you know,

within the band, you've got very different personalities,

and, you know, some of the girls were

pretty tricky to get along with a lot of the time.

The little minutiae of life,

the things like there's five cookies on that plate.

Who took the sixth cookie?

You know, that was my cookie.

When we go shopping for the dresses, that's the issue,

is because the colour you like,

I don't like, so we argue about it.

We were, like, always rowing with each other.

The sort of teenage things. Well, no, you said it. Well, you said it.

Well, you've sang that song.

I want to wear them jeans. No, I want to wear them. You have them.

I want that top.

If you didn't get into the car on time, and you had girls

waiting in the car outside,

that would cause World War Five,

because World War Three and Four had already happened the week before.

# Aaaah, I hate you so much right now

# I hate you so much right now... #

Even when singing sisters are actual sisters, petty squabbles can

suddenly get out of hand.

Everybody always asked us

all the time - do you fight?

The clothes, mascara, bobby pins,

anything in the dressing room,

we'd argue about.

With sisters, it gets deep.

I remember, we were in Mexico and this guy came in the dressing room.

He goes, "I'm a huge fan of Sister Sledge. Do you want anything?

"A pina colada? Or whatever." So we all ordered these pina coladas.

And while he's gone, the two sisters, Joni and Kim, get into this

really big argument.

-Kim's got a hothead. She's the hot-headed one.

-Wait a minute!

-Let me finish, then you can respond.

-OK.

-See?

Anyway, she pulled my braids, and I was like,

"OK, that's the last time." So I pulled hers.

They've got each other's braids and they had this Mexican stand-off,

and they're holding it. And he walks in.

And we're locked in this braid lock, and he's like,

-he was so distressed.

-It was really funny.

-I felt so bad for him.

And I was like, it's OK,

it's going to be OK, just leave.

Life in the girl group bubble is intense and bust-ups will happen,

but sometimes, spats over cabs, cookies and cocktails

can be a symptom of something deeper,

that one of the pop princesses...

She will die!

..wants to be Queen.

There's always someone in the group

who naturally has that thing. I don't know what that thing is,

and that person doesn't even always have to have the best voice

or be the most talented.

They've just got that thing.

It's Kerry from Atomic Kitten! Yeah!

SMTV, they used to have chums.

They'd always asked me to play the role.

That's a frightfully interesting smell.

What perfume are you wearing?

-Sweat.

-Look at that! Aren't we getting on fabulously, yeah?

The girls were like, "Why do we never get a go?"

And I went, "You do it. I really, really, I don't mind.

"It's not me." And they go, "No, the producer wants you to do it."

"Well, I can't argue with that."

Unfortunately, that's how it works. It was probably the blonde hair and big boobs.

When the men from the music business hone in on a favourite member,

it can only mean trouble.

# Slide your feet up the streets

# Bend your back, shift your arm Then you pull it back

-# Like Sergeant O...

-Oh-Way-Oh

-So strike a pose on a Cadillac

# If you want to find all the cops

# They're hanging out in the doughnut shop

-# They sing and dance...

-Oh-Way-Oh

# They spin their clock Cruise down the block... #

There was an element of, like, this is amazing,

but it did bring up some of the...

some of the issues that we had in the band.

All the Bangles wrote and sang,

but the male gaze of the music industry

began to zero in on sultry Susanna,

a fact not lost on the sisters whose band it was in the first place.

I had a problem because my overarching

and all-encompassing view

was always the four, the gang, that image, that form, that force.

That's what I wanted it to be.

# ..Walk like an Egyptian... #

If Susanna had a vocal on a song that was a single, you know,

then the guy who's going to shoot

the video is going to be,

you know, just shooting Susanna.

And that became increasingly difficult.

There were definitely fissures and fractures that started to appear.

Once the cracks begin to appear, an unspoken fear starts to rise

to the surface.

That within the ranks, there may be a solo star,

just waiting to escape.

In the beginning, you are part of a group,

and you have this pledge that - we'll be together forever.

And then you have to come down to reality and you see,

wow, it doesn't last forever.

# My world is empty without you, babe

# My world is empty without you, babe... #

Motown mogul Berry Gordy gave The Supremes their start in pop,

but soon, Diana Ross's relationship with him

became about more than just the music.

And at the peak of the group's success,

they started hatching a plan for her solo career.

Florence Ballard, you know, she was really the original singer

and Diana Ross was the one that was more marketable.

That's where I think the biggest problem comes in the band.

I think no-one wants to be a background singer. No-one.

# I remember Momma says

# You can't hurry love

# No, you just have to wait

# She said, love don't come easy

# It's a game of give-and-take

# How long must I wait?

# How much more can I take?

# Before loneliness... #

They wanted to change our names from The Supremes

to Diana Ross And The Supremes.

We were kind of pushed back in terms of our power,

we were losing more power now, with this new identity.

And it was not a good feeling, you know, it was destroying us.

Finally, Diana Ross kissed the girls,

said goodbye to sisterhood,

and set off alone.

# No mountain high enough

# No valley low enough... #

For Diana Ross, dating the boss

didn't exactly harm her career prospects.

But having your eye

on the ultimate prize and being singled out

by the man in charge for special attention doesn't always

work so well.

People make strategic moves of who they date. You know,

it's easy for somebody to think,

"Well, you know what?

"If I have the producer,

"then I can be a bigger star."

The Ronettes!

It's usually egos that will tend to make someone go,

I want to stand out front more.

And my cousin Ronnie had that.

# There's been a lot of talk around

# That you've been seen with a certain party... #

The young Ronnie Bennett had always been the leader of this pack,

but when she, her sister Estelle, and cousin Nedra recorded with

maverick pop genius Phil Spector,

the result was girl group gold.

But Ronnie wanted more.

# ..Is this what I get for lovin' you, baby...? #

He was a small stature person. He had insecurities.

Extremely talented, but extremely, deep down inside, messed up.

# ..You said you'd never hurt me... #

I knew Ronnie and so I knew who she liked.

And I was like, "That's not it."

This little short guy that's eccentric and spits when he talks.

So, I knew that it was a career move.

OK. Let's forget about the intro for now. Let's just come right in.

One, two, three, four.

It's one thing being a control freak in the studio,

but Spector applied the same

obsessive approach to his relationship with Ronnie.

He wanted to know where she was at, calling all the time,

he didn't get a hotel, you know, he's calling all night long.

Leave the phone off the hook,

so I can hear you breathe.

# I'll make you happy, baby

# Just wait and see

# For every kiss you give me

# I'll give you three... #

The world fell in love with The Ronettes,

but Spector only had eyes for one of them.

When I began to sense and see

that Ronnie, herself - and she is my cousin, I love her -

began to let him go, "Well, I could push you here,"

I said, "Oh, I see what's happening."

So, it was like, let's talk this over.

The day we're not a trio, we're over.

Just weeks before Phil and Ronnie tied the knot,

the Ronettes broke up.

But Ronnie's solo career never took flight.

Instead, she found herself locked away in a Hollywood mansion

by the reclusive Spector.

Sometimes, the end of the dream isn't hastened

by the lure for solo stardom.

But it's always personal.

Go from being best friends to really irritating each other.

And, erm,

and then not wanting to be around each other, you know.

Those two were best friends from when they were little kids,

so they started to, you know, go to the pub without inviting me,

and things like that.

I felt lonely and lost

and friendless and really unhappy.

Being girls, we're more emotional, maybe men are more pragmatic

and they'll just hate each other and have separate limos

and separate dressing rooms, but still turn up for the dosh.

I wouldn't like to stand on stage with somebody that

I felt resentment for and, you know, life's too short.

# Just make it go away... #

By leaving, it means...

leaving the thing that you love doing most in the world

and that you're so passionate about,

and, yeah, it's...

it's a difficult thing to leave.

As Siobhan found out,

walking out on the thing you wanted the most of all in life is tough.

Whatever the era,

when an original girl group member leaves,

it's like part of the dream of sisterhood has died.

Geri Halliwell, otherwise known as Ginger Spice,

has confirmed that she has left the Spice Girls.

She says differences between her and the other band members

were to blame for her decision.

# Goodbye, my friend

# I know you're gone You said you're gone

# But I can still feel you here

# It's not the end

# You gotta keep it strong Before the pain turns into fear... #

I don't know all of Geri's reasons behind leaving,

but I know she was very unhappy and

she felt that she had to jump ship.

# No, no, no, no... #

It was a really sad time for all of us.

It's just a bit sad when you kind of achieve your dream,

it's not what it's cracked up to be, you know?

I kind of think that was the beginning of our decline,

because the power we had was the five of us,

you know, it was the jigsaw puzzle,

and it just wasn't the same any more.

The dynamic had changed.

# ..It's not the end... #

We would never have considered finding a replacement for Geri,

because, you know,

if someone else had come in,

they would have been an intruder, you know,

it was something that the five of us... It was our baby.

# ..You know it's time to say goodbye... #

Like the purity of a first love,

their devotion to the original line up meant

that adding a new Spice was unthinkable.

# Looking back on when we first met... #

But not all girl groups are like the Spice Girls.

I'll never forget the day

I told the girls I was leaving.

Liz jumped out of the car, ran down the street, was like thinking,

that's the end of the band,

and this is where Tash, I saw Tash grow from a young girl to a woman.

She grabbed hold of Liz and went, "Don't worry,

"we're going to be absolutely fine,

"and we're going to find somebody else."

I thought, "Bitch!"

# You can make me whole again... #

As far as the man from the music business is concerned, yes,

it's all very sad when someone makes their exit,

but the show must go on, and after all,

there are plenty more dreamers out there.

When Siobhan quit Bananarama, they drafted in their old chum

Jackie to replenish the three.

When Diana Ross had turned her back on The Supremes,

Motown had well-drilled substitutes

waiting in the wings to make up the numbers.

# Another one bites the dust. #

As for The Three Degrees, strictly speaking,

if all members are taken into account,

The 14 Degrees would be nearer the mark.

I started out in the beginning, left, Sheila took my place.

When I came back, it was to replace Fayette Pinkney

# When will I see you again...? #

-Val replaced...

-Sonia.

-No, Janet.

-Sonia.

-No.

Everybody keeps getting that wrong.

# ..Are we in love...? #

I don't know, it gets confusing

when you're trying to figure out who replaced who.

# ..Is this my beginning...? #

If they're not sure who joined when, how are we supposed to keep up?

And what of the Sugababes?

Still chalking up hits after 11 years.

Total members across the band's history, six.

Original members still in the band now, zero.

I think that's what's helped the band last so long,

-because it's just a new personality, a new voice coming in.

-Yeah.

# Round, round, baby Round, round

# Spinning out on me

# I don't need no man

# Got my kicks for free... #

Whoever wants to continue singing, you know,

under the name Sugababes, if it makes you happy, why not?

I've been in the group for ten years. Mel's been in it for six.

Jade's been in it for two, so we've been that history of making,

you know, building that name.

I would prefer to remember it from when we first started

going in and busting our butts to make a record,

and that, to me... Whenever I see Mutya, whenever we sing together,

whenever I hear our voices together,

and with Siobhan's as well, that's when I feel like a Sugababe.

You don't think I'm sounding bitchy, do you?

# Train comes I don't know its destination... #

So what should we make of the Sugababes regenerating again

and again, like pop Time Lords?

A cynical ploy dreamed up by marketing men?

Or is it actually proof that the girl group dream is

so powerful that we just don't want it to die?

Even when the dream has lain dormant for decades,

sisters have reunited to rekindle the spark.

We were all women of a certain age, and you think

it's never going to happen to us again,

and there we were as a girl group in 2009.

# I'm in the mood for dancing

# Romancing... #

We could see women of our age, who'd grown up with us as a girl band,

if you like, and they're crying,

and they've got their kids with them and it was just amazing.

Best thing ever.

# ..So come on and hold me tight... #

Even those who vowed never to return

will put it all behind them to live the dream once more.

So much water had, you know, passed under the bridge.

that I just thought, you know what,

when am I ever going to get the opportunity to do these things again?

So, I thought, let's just go for it.

Let's just do it.

# Slam me to the left... #

A Spice Girls reunion they said would never happen.

The generation spanning appeal of The Nolans,

and the apparent indestructibility of the Sugababes

are all proof that whatever a group's been through,

the feuds, the fatigue, and failed friendships,

however it's threatened by personal pressure, internal paranoia

and even old age,

somehow, the sisterhood and the dream emerge triumphant.

And that's Girl Power!

We put on a great show, we saw all our wonderful fans,

probably for the last time, and I've got great memories of those shows.

# ..If you're havin' a good time

# Shake it to the right... #

But by the end of it, we all wanted to kill each other.

Next time, it's all about the solo stars,

the men and women who go it alone, armed with a microphone,

some songs, and an unquenchable desire to be pop top dog.

I'm egotistical. I'm vain, and you have to be to be a pop star.

I found it terrifying. I couldn't look at audiences.

I couldn't begin to understand how this was happening to me.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd