All Saints

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All Saints were an English/Canadian girl group. Founded in 1993 as All Saints 1.9.7.5., the group consisted of founding members Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis, and two Canadian sisters: Natalie and Nicole Appleton. They became one of the most successful pop groups of the 1990s, with nine top ten singles (including five number-ones), two multi-platinum albums, two gold albums and record sales in excess of ten million worldwide.


Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis started their career by singing backing vocals at Sarm West Studios, the ZTT recording studios near All Saints Road, London. In 1993, Blatt, Lewis and Simone Rainford were signed to ZTT Records, and music manager Ron Tom decided the trio should become a group.
All Saints 1.9.7.5 were launched as a trio in the vein of girl group Eternal. In 1994, All Saints 1.9.7.5. performed for their first time at the Touch Magazine stage at the Notting Hill Carnival. They released two singles together, but they were not successful. Additionally, Rainford and Blatt had conflicting visions of All Saints's musical direction which caused tensions within the group.
By 1994, the complicated recording sessions had produced the group's first single, "Silver Shadow", and they performed throughout the UK. In mid-1995, Rainford departed and ZTT Records dropped the remaining duo from their label. Regardless, Blatt and Lewis set out to find a replacement for Rainford. Conducting many auditions, Blatt's father met Nicole Appleton in May 1996 whom Blatt knew from her days at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Nicole's sister Natalie subsequently became the fourth member of the group.

In February 2001, All Saints announced that they were to take a break so that they "could clear the air between themselves". Melanie Blatt said later that year that it was uncertain if they would reform, citing their difficulties with the financial and business aspects of the group. Shaznay Lewis later explained that the catalyst for the break-up was a disagreement over who would wear a certain jacket for a photoshoot: "I would never in a million years have put money on the group ending over a jacket incident. But when that incident happened, it fired up so strong, it had to be over. And the way I was then, the state we'd got into then, there was no way she was getting that stupid jacket."

A second single, "Chick Fit", followed in February 2007, but promotional appearances and a physical release were cancelled and it failed to reach the top 200. It was subsequently reported that All Saints and Parlophone had parted ways and the group cancelled their planned UK tour. Blatt discussed the reunion's failure in an interview with i-D magazine in 2012: "I don't think it was done for the right reasons... I know that I did it for the money. We got signed before we had even made music again, it wasn't like we felt we had something to give back to the world... we were given an opportunity and took it, without really thinking about it too hard". She also said she never felt comfortable with the success the band had and that "it was not necessarily the plan at the beginning; there was a lot of compromise involved".

In January 2008, Nicole Appleton and Melanie Blatt served as "hijackers" on E4's Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, during which Blatt said that they had a record deal with an undisclosed company in a conversation with housemate Nathan Fagan-Gayle.

In August 2009, Melanie Blatt told the London Lite: "All Saints are never getting back together again. I never want to sing again. I recently did the Brits with Nic and we just went round chatting to people and then got drunk. That's my goal—to get paid for chatting to people and getting drunk!". In 2013, Blatt said of a second reunion: "I can't see it, but then I never thought I'd see Michael Madsen in [Celebrity] Big Brother either. Who knows what will happen".



Discography

Main article: All Saints discography


1997: All Saints
2000: Saints & Sinners
2006: Studio 1
2016: Red Flag


Members


Shaznay Lewis
Melanie Blatt
Nicole Appleton
Natalie Appleton