The Saturdays

After a prolonged absence of notable female ensembles from the British pop scene, the five-piece group the Saturdays emerged in 2007 as the first significant girl band to arrive in the U.K. in several years. Selected through auditions organized by a management firm intent on revitalizing a struggling market, the members each brought prior stage experience to the project. Una Healy had performed with a rock outfit before issuing a solo album that she promoted in Irish bars and clubs. Vanessa White trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and performed in the West End staging of The Lion King. Mollie King belonged to Fallen Angels, a group that advanced to the boot camp rounds of ITV's The X Factor. Frankie Sanford and Rochelle Wiseman had previously belonged to S Club Juniors, the teen pop act responsible for six Top Ten singles during the early noughties. The band secured a deal with Fascination, an imprint of Polydor Records that also housed Girls Aloud, whom the Saturdays later joined as support on the Tangled Up tour. Their debut single, "If This Is Love," incorporated a sample of Yazoo's "Situation" and peaked at number eight on the U.K. charts, paving the way for the self-titled debut album released late in 2008. A mini-album titled Headlines! arrived in 2010, fronted by the single "Missing You." The bulk of early 2011 was devoted to recording a third album; its lead single, "My Heart Takes Over," appeared in September, followed by the full-length On Your Radar in November. The track "30 Days" surfaced the next year. In 2013 the group issued the EP Chasing the Saturdays, named after their E! reality series, and also delivered their fourth studio album, Living for the Weekend, which featured production contributions from the Jam, Rodney Jerkins, and additional collaborators. One year afterward they released the compilation Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits, augmented by three newly recorded tracks.