Girlfriend (band)

Background and history

Three of the members — Jacqueline Cowell, Siobhánn Heidenreich and Melanie Alexander — first met while taking dance lessons at age three. Years later, they decided to form a pop group, and, through their dance teacher Janice Breen, met Noel MacDonald, a singer, songwriter and jingle producer who saw promise in them. Two more singers were added to the group – Robyn Loau, who MacDonald saw singing at Wonderland Sydney Theme Park, and Lorinda Noble, who auditioned for the group. Singer and choreographer Kelley Abbey was also brought in to choreograph the group's dance moves. The quintet was signed to a deal with RCA Records Australia (now part of Sony Music) in 1991, after a year of self-promotion. The band were formed with the ambition of being both Australia and Asia's #1 girl band, with the band members, particularly Robyn Loau, undertaking extensive Japanese lessons.

In 1992, the group's first single, "Take It From Me", reached #1 on the ARIA chart, followed by "Girl's Life" (#15) and "Without You" (#18). In "Girl's Life", the girls sing about 'girl power', four years before the Spice Girls used it as their slogan. The group's two studio albums, 1992's Make It Come True and the 1993 follow-up It's Up to You were certified platinum and gold respectively in Australia. The group also became recognised for its fashion sense, with their flower hats becoming a symbol of the band; at one point, they had their own clothing line.

In 1994, after the group had returned from a tour of Europe and Japan, Loau announced she would be leaving the group to start a solo career. She later enjoyed minor success with the hit "Sick With Love" which peaked at #21 on the ARIA Charts, and released an album, Malaria. The four remaining members decided to ditch the clean-cut image and remake themselves into a new group, GF4. Under the new name, they released two singles, the first, a cover version of the disco classic "Sooner Or Later", reached No. 11 on the ARIA Singles Charts. That song was the only tune on a "proof of concept" version of an enhanced CD - a form of audio CD that also presents content when deployed on a computer. That CD was produced by an Australian arm of BMG Music. In addition to the audio content represented by their version of "Sooner Or Later," the computer content consisted of a video of the girl group synced to the song, as well as marketing-type content.

In 1995, Jacqui Cowell left the band and was replaced by future Bardot member, Belinda Chapple, who featured in the music video for GF4's second single, "Need Love (To Make The Sex Right)", filmed in a Sydney nightclub. The video featured band member Siobhann Heidenrich miming to Cowell's spoken lines in the opening to the song. The single narrowly missed the ARIA Top 100 singles chart, resulting in the debut album that GF4 had recorded in Los Angeles being shelved. GF4 did not release any further material as a band and had split up by 1996.

Reunion on Where Are They Now

On 13 May 2007, the former five members of Girlfriend appeared on Channel 7's Where Are They Now? program. The five spoke about their time with Girlfriend and performed an a cappella rendition of "Take It from Me" for the live audience.

A "best-of" compilation, Essential Girlfriend, was scheduled for release in November 2010, but remains unreleased.

In November 2010, former member Melanie Alexander provided guest vocals on the song "Falling for the Dance Floor" with Australian DJ, Stonedog. The track appears on the compilation album Club Anthems Asia, released through Hong Kong-based independent dance music label Volume Up Records.

Members

Studio albums