Saturday
31st March 2001 - Hear'say album breaks sales record
Hear'Say
have broken the record for the most copies of a debut album sold
in its first week in the UK.
Over
300,000 copies of Popstars had been sold by lunchtime on Friday
and that figure's certain to rise by Sunday.
Meanwhile,
Hear'Say's single Pure And Simple is set to spend a third week at
the top of the UK singles chart, according to figures from HMV.
That
means the band will also be the first to have their debut single
and album at the top of the charts at the same time.
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Friday
March 30th 2001 - Hear'Say's second single will be Show Me The Way
To Your Love
Hear'Say's
second single will be Show Me The Way To Your Love.
It will be released in the summer complete with remixes by Jewels
and Stone, who have previously worked on hits by Boyzone and Adam
Rickitt.
The
original version of the track features on the band's debut album,
Popstars.
The
album is expected to top the charts at the weekend.
Show
Me The Way To Your Love was premiered on ITV's Saturday morning
show CD:UK in February.
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Friday
30th March 2001 - POPSTARS GURU NETS A FORTUNE
POPSTARS
guru Nigel Lythgoe is to pocket £2million - while chart-toppers
Hear'Say get £100,000 for reaching No1.
TV
boss Nigel - dubbed "Nasty Nige" - has signed a whopping
deal with ex-Spice Girls svengali Simon Fuller.
Meanwhile
Myleene and the rest of Hear'Say are to collect a bonus for hitting
top spot with the single Pure and Simple - after moans about pay.
Nigel,
51, has stunned LWT by quitting as Controller of Entertainment.
He
has landed a deal worth £400,000-a-year over five years with
Fuller, who was the Spices' manager until 1997.
Nigel
joins Fuller's TV company 19 Group when he finishes work on Big
Brother-style show Survivor in the summer.
He
will oversee Popstars follow-up Pop Idol - which insiders say will
be an even bigger hit.
Nigel,
currently on location in Borneo, said: "This was an opportunity
I couldn't turn down."
Meanwhile
Hear'Say were celebrating yesterday after each being given a £100,000
bonus.
It
was a joint thank-you from record company Polydor and Popstars makers
Granada to Myleene Klass, 22, Noel Sullivan, 20, Suzanne Shaw, 19,
Danny Foster, 21, and Kym Marsh, 24.
An
insider said: "The band's success has exceeded expectations
and they deserve this."
The
band get 4p each for every £3.99 copy of Pure and Simple.
They got a £20,000 advance and £500 a week expenses.
After
grumblings Polydor - thought to have spent £1.5million grooming
them - agreed to a "top-up" of £4,000 each.
The
band have also expressed concern about their cut of merchandising.
Yesterday
5,000 fans besieged the Virgin Megastore in Coventry when Hear'Say
signed copies of debut album Popstars. Some had camped out since
5am.
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Tuesday
27th March 2001 - Hear'Say star's girlfriend receives hate mail
Hear'Say's
Danny Foster's long-term girlfriend has been the target of hate
mail from obsessive fans.
He
says the experience has been the most negative thing to come out
of his rise to stardom.
Chloe,
19, became the target of jealous fans after making an appearance
on the Popstars show.
In
an interview with Heat magazine Foster said: "The letters
and stuff that Chloe has been getting have been vicious. She is
trying to cope with it but as you can imagine it isn't easy for
her.
"She never asked to be in the public eye and she certainly
never asked for this. It has not been great for her recently."
He
said the pair, who have been together for three years, are hoping
the situation comes to an end soon.
"It
has scared her and it is the most negative thing to come out of
the whole experience," he said.
It
is not the first time the band members or their loved ones have
faced the downside of stardom.
Earlier
this month police were called to investigate when fellow Popstar
Myleene Klass received hate mail and her boyfriend was attacked
in the street.
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Tuesday
27th March 2001 - Hear'Say expected to set record with debut album
Hear'Say
are set to be the first artists ever to have a debut single and
debut album at number one at the same time.
The
band's album Popstars has sold 86,000 copies since its release only
yesterday, and is expected to have sold around 250,000 by the weekend.
Meanwhile,
their single Pure And Simple is likely to spend a third week at
the top of the UK singles chart according to early sales figures
from HMV.
Crazy
Town, M&S and Britney Spears all release new singles this week.
According
to HMV, Crazy Town's Butterfly is currently at number four, M&S's
Salsoul Nugget is at number five and Britney's Don't Let Me Be The
Last To Know is at number 12.
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Sunday
25th March 2001 - ITV announces Popstars sequel
ITV
is set to stage a sequel to Popstars by searching for a solo singer.
Pop Idols will features thousands of hopefuls auditioning from across
the UK.
But
although a panel of talent-spotters will choose the shortlist, it
will be up to viewers to vote for the final star.
The
winner will be offered a deal with former Spice Girls manager Simon
Fuller and a record contract with RCA.
A spokesman
for ITV told Ananova the show will be a great follow-up to the Popstars
phenomenon.
"This
time it gets even more interactive with viewers deciding who should
be next for pop stardom," she said.
Dates
for the auditions will be announced soon.
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Sunday
25th march 2001 - Phenomenal
sales predicted for Popstars' album
Records
shops are predicting phenomenal sales as Hear'Say launch their debut
album.
The
band are poised to add a number one album - also called Popstars
- to their singles success.
The
group set new sales records with their single Pure & Simple,
the fastest-selling debut ever, which went straight in at number
one. It shifted more than half a million copies.
Now
record label Polydor are believed to have sent about 600,000 copies
of the album to shops, which means it will instantly go double platinum.
Industry observers expect them to sell about half of that during
the first week in the shops.
Clamour
for the release is expected to go some way to mirroring demand for
the Oasis album Be Here Now in 1997 at the height of the band's
success. That album sold 663,000 in a week.
The
Spice Girls sold 114,000 copies of their debut release Spice in
November 1996 at a time when the band was hugely popular. Another
big selling debut was Robson & Jerome's album which shifted
210,000 in its first week.
The
largest week one sales of recent months was The Beatles' 1 with
319,000 copies sold.
Gennaro
Castaldo of retailers HMV said: "It's incredible to think
that Hear'Say could be outselling the Spice Girls at the height
of Spicemania or that they might be selling nearly as many copies
of Popstars as The Beatles' 1 sold in its first week. "Most
of the biggest selling albums tend to do well around November and
December in the run-up to Christmas which is the industry's busiest
period. "So
for an album to potentially sell upwards of 200,000 at this time
of year is phenomenal."
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Sunday
March 25th 2001 - Popstars
top charts for second week
Popstars band Hear'Say maintained their grip on the nation's affections
on Sunday topping the single charts for the second consecutive week
with their debut "Pure and Simple."
The
manufactured fivesome have been phenomenally successful since being
groomed for stardom on the ITV Popstars series.
Hear'Say
saw off a musical challenge for the top spot from Shaggy, whose
single "It Wasn't Me" climbed from third to second.
At
number three were Irish boyband Westlife, with their Comic Relief
cover of the jaunty Billy Joel tune "Uptown Girl."
Liverpudlian
all-girl trio Atomic Kittens were still slinking along - unchanged
- at number four with "Whole Again."
Highest
new entry was from indie rockers Sterophonics, straight in at five
with "Mr Writer."
Southampton
soul star Craig David entered the charts at number eight with "Rendezvous."
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March
22nd 2001 - BEATLE BACKS POPSTARS!
Sir Paul McCartney has come out in support of the manufactured TV
pop group Hear'Say, offering them "the best luck in the
world".
Former
Beatles legend McCartney was speaking in Liverpool yesterday, ahead
of a poetry reading of his work in the city. Before the appearance,
in front of 400 people at the city's Everyman Theatre, Macca commented:
"Popstars is what it is. "They are kids looking for
a break. I wish them the best luck in the world. They will need
it."
A
crowd of around 3,000 people gathered at a signing for McCartney
yesterday, as he autographed copies of his book 'Blackbird Singing'.
He explained: "I'm interested to hear what people think
of my poetry. But I don't take me very seriously."
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