Mel Appleby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMQwdelTwB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQP9WFI2S44

Have they been mentioned in this thread? Because their time was cut short due to Mel's illness I think sometimes they get unfairly lumped with the PWL stable of being nothing more than a couple of hit singles.

Obviously they weren't our biggest girl group ever and we'll never know if their success would have been a flash in the pan however in their very short period of time they amassed a huge amount of success. They had massive hype and buzz, two huge singles, album sales and international success. In their few active months achieving a level that the likes of the most successful UK girl group up to that point Bananarama didn't even come close to.

Like I say we'll never know because of tragic events cutting it short and the success might have faded as quick as it came but then again it might have sustained and if so we might be talking about them.

Sugababes' best single in Australia is "Push the Button" which reached #3 on the singles chart and was accredited Platinum. Their other hits here are "Ugly" (#13), "Round Round" (#13), Red Dress (#22) and Hole in the Head (#25). To be honest, since Mutya Buena left the band, they saw a downward trend in worldwide success.

i think bananarama were pretty successful in the eighties to be fair. sure, they didn't have a uk #1 single or album, but they had tons of hits and a us #1 with another two hits over there. mel and kim were big and mel`s death was indeed a tragedy. however, their forth single barely reached the top 10 and that was a non-album track. so i do think their popularity may have been short lived. even kim`s comeback was just successful for a short period, but `don`t worry` was a great song, it really was.

Bananarama with "Cruel Summer" and "Venus" had two international hits, the first featured in Hollywood blockbuster The Karate Kid (1984) and the second hit #1 Billboard. Besides Spice Girls they are the only UK girlband who really had worldwide success. Cruel Summer was a truly great pop song (arguably the best by a UK girlband). I didnt know who mel and kim was so had to google it..they didnt achieve much. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_and_Kim) ..

Spice Girls #1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_Girls
Bananarama #2 (albeit a long way behind) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananarama

The rest?... well none of them were global. Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Atomic Kitten, The Saturdays.. etc etc etc. Alithough also not global, All Saints are probably the 3rd biggest UK girlband ever, and in Never Ever had a truly great pop song. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_E...l_Saints_song) Eternal would be the 4th biggest.

1.Spice Girls
2.Bananarama
3.All Saints
4.Eternal

i think `i heard a rumour` also was a top 10 hit in the us.

i don't need wikipedia links by the way, i am well aware of all of these artists. maybe, you should listen to some of the music before commenting, rather than just reading stats on websites and forming opinions on that alone.

good spot... not aware of that one. This only further solidifies their status as #2.

links werent for you (i knew you knew).. i was concuring in response to a previous poster on Bananarama.

i said they had 3 us hits in my first comment, i didn't spot anything.

never heard of it... and having just listened to it i know why.

Ok.. well.. 3 top 10 billboard... which is even more impressive than i had previously imagined.

Actually, The Sound Of Girls Aloud sold 1.17million in the UK - 3x Platinum. Just saying.

I'm not saying Bananarama weren't successful but it was based on them being around for a long time enjoying various levels of moderate (never huge) success.

And even though they had hit singles that never really translated into album sales. Mel & Kim had a hit album.

I know some people instantly jump on this slow-witted 'my favourite vs your favourite' war. That wasn't my point. I wasn't putting anyone down. Bananarama achieved a lot and survival is a great hallmark of success.

My point was that for that small time Mel & Kim were able to function as pop stars they achieved a great deal of success at a height that even the most successful UK girl group of the eighties Bananarama never managed. In terms of singles, albums and international success they managed all three together. That it would have been interesting to see if they could have capitalised on it, tragic circumstance prevented that.

Of course there's no way of knowing whether they would have sustained it into further albums. You mention their fourth song hitting number 10 but forget it arrived waaay after they basically vanished with nobody really knowing what was going on. They weren't a functioning pop act to promote it.

i know you wasn't and that`s why i tried to be as respectful as possible. to be honest, i don't really care much for either act. however, `bananarama` did hover around for a long time scoring hits in the process and to achieve a 3 hits in the us was not easy at the time. they were a single band if ever there was one and their only really huge album was the greatest hits. however, lets not forget that `siobhan fahey` left the group and formed `shakespears sister` and that group certainly achieved the same level of success that `mel and kim` did.

the only thing i will say in terms of there being no way of knowing if `mel and kim` could achieve longevity, is that kim`s solo career may in some way answer that question and kim said herself that the music was typical of direction that `mel and kim` were going with. sure we can speculate that bad timing played its part, but then the discussion becomes hypothetical. when actually the answers are there or at least there is evidence to suggest how things may have panned out.

I don't think there is.

I don't think Kim's solo career answers much at all. Firstly there was a huge break in momentum with Kim not coming back till three years after they essentially disappeared. Secondly solo success and group success don't necessarily connect.

In fact there was little record company interest or investment in Kim's solo career. They thought it wasn't gonna succeed because it wasn't "Mel & Kim". It was actually a surprise success... a moderate one but nonetheless more than they were expecting considering they didn't really push it as hard as they could of and nowhere near how they would of pushed it if it had been "Mel & Kim".

As for the Shakespears Sister comparison. You're right they did get similar success. However it took a long time to get there. That was my point "Mel & Kim" achieved a great level of success in such a short period of time. They hit big almost immediately and continued to grow. "Showing Out" was a success that spread to the top of the charts all over the world, then they followed it with "Respectable" which was an even bigger hit, then they released the F.L.M album which sold incredibly well... here aswell as overseas.

You seem to think I'm slagging off Bananarama. That wasn't my point. They were the most successful UK girl group of the eighties (re-read my original comment where I quite clearly stated that) and achieved a lot... I'm not disputing that. My point was more a speculation of what could have been with "Mel & Kim" if things had been different. That in their small time before they were forced to stop they managed to hit a collective peak of success that Bananarama never reached and that they also bucked the trends of the majority of other PWL produced acts (Kylie, Jason and Rick excluded) and single based pop acts.

some of the songs were in fact written before mel`s death and apart from the timing. i honestly don't think there would be much difference between a hypothetical group album or the actual kim solo album. besides, the timing really wasn't a major factor. unfortunately, mel`s death increased interest in kim`s solo work initially and people really wanted to see her succeed.

i have no issue if you were slagging bananarama off, but i didn't think that you were anyway.

Of course it is. Timing is everything.

Do you think if Kylie had stopped and released "Enjoy Yourself" three years after her debut instead of captalising immediately on the momemtum of it's success it would have done just as well?

If Mel hadn't of taken ill, they would have been continuously promoting and performing trying to sustain and build on the momentum created from their initial success. The follow-up would have been released in 1988 to capitalise on that. By 1990 (assuming they continued the success) they would have been on their fouth album.

And your right the people were on Kim's side due to what happened, which may have helped her success. But that doesn't change the fact the investment put in by the record company wasn't anywhere approaching what was put into "Mel & Kim" because they thought it wasn't gonna work for Kim as a solo act.

it is a factor, but the circumstance was unique. people were aware of kim and there was the sympathy factor. that in itself creates huge potential and her initial success capitalised on that factor. it wasn't the same as someone releasing a début and disappearing for three years. she didn't disappear, the media kept the story going due to the illness and the unfortunate tragedy.

I don't understand what point you're making.

Yes you're right it is unique. Yet it only seems to be unique when you need it to be to fit your illogical argument. And this idea that Kims solo career was basically the same as Mel & Kims second album career would have been just because the songs were written with that intention defies logic.

The fact is "Mel & Kim" disappeared and three years later Kim Appleby reappeared. Yes there was some tabloid attention but to the kids and music listeners, the people who buy music (as opposed to buy tabloids) they had gone. They weren't on Top of The Pops anymore, they weren't doing the roadshows, they weren't on the radio, they weren't on the cover of Smash Hits.

Maybe Kim's later success did come from that sympathy and support. Therefore how can you compare it to Mel & Kims potential success (or lack there of) with their follow up? An album that would be lacking that sympathy vote that would have definately have come 1 year later after non-stop exposure in the music press and on music tv and radio.

There is zero evidence for how things might have turned out.

I mean even this idea that this would have been the music that would have appeared on their second album if they hadn't been forced to stop is tenuous. If things had been different that might not have been the case at all. Like I said this music was made without much record company investment or involvement, if Mel hadn't developed the cancer then the record company involvement in the creation of the album, choice of producers, picking of songs would be very different. I mean even after the moderate success of Kim's first album the record company then got very involved and forceful in the creation of the second. With the much bigger success of Mel & Kims first album they'd be constantly on hand to protect their investment and involved in the decision making of the second.

let`s move on, because frankly i don't care enough to continue. i know what i mean in my own mind and perhaps i didn't convey it properly. however, your original point was that they had a certain level success and you pondered on whether they could have maintained that success. i give you my thoughts on that and you obviously have other ideas.