Here come the girls!
Meet The Saturdays – Rochelle, Vanessa, Una, Frankie and Mollie. They’re the new girls on the block and on a mission to bring pop back to the charts! To find out more about who these girls are, view below for The Saturdays’ biography.

But if you fancy skipping that and would rather come say hello to the girls in person, come check ‘em out on tour! They’ll be supporting Girls Aloud on the official Tangled Up tour 2008 right around the country. For the full listing


MOLLİE KİNG
Oh my goodness I cannot believe we performed at wembley arena. It really was like a dream come true. I remember going to watch Britney performing there when I was 12 and just thinking that this was my ultimate goal. I remember I just watched her with my jaw to the ground in disbelief at how huge the arena was and how magical it felt! (Yes that is the Disney side of me coming out, haha!)

When we arrived at wembley on Saturday morning I just couldn't wait to go and see all the seats. When we were called to sound check I actually thought I'd misheard Paul (our choeographer) when he told us
we would be coming out of the floor!! You're kidding was my first reaction!!

We went underneath the stage and got ready to be lift up to the stage level - I couldn't believe it was actually 2 men pulling cables that lifted you up , I thought it would all be done by machines!! When it came to the actual show I was so nervous about balancing that I suddenly turned into Mollie Motormouth. The poor men under the stage about to lift me up must have thought gosh this girl doesn't pipe down, haha!

When we shot up to the stage and the pyros went off it was the best feeling ever. I could see screaming girls for miles, all wearing bunny ears and waving lights!

Thanks so much to everyone that came, it was such a special day, I felt really emotional. It really was one of the best performances of my life!

VANESSA WHİTE

Sultry half Filipino Vanessa White might be the youngest – and quietest - of the Sats at 19 years old, but she more than makes up for it with her big voice. Rochelle calls her ‘our Christina Aguilera’ and although she ‘cringes’ (her favourite word) at the compliment, it’s actually pretty spot on. This is a girl who was singing lead in hit West End musical The Lion King when she was barely in her teens — even though now she’s too modest to make a big deal about it — and so into big, dramatic voices she actually convinced her mum to name her baby sister Celine.

But despite the fact Vanessa had been on stages as soon as she could walk (she remembers her mum taking her Filipino singing contests when she was five) she was racked with nerves the first time she performed with THE SATURDAYS.
“Oh I was petrified to the point my legs were shaking!” she shudders. “I almost ran off stage.”

Swept up in the Sats’ whirlwind schedule, Vanessa quickly got over her nerves, she says, but is still regularly gobsmacked by events, recalling a recent ‘random’ (another of her favourite words) dinner with the man they call The Hoff in LA (“he gave us each these black vest tops with ‘Don’t Hassle The Hoff’ written on them in diamantes with his face in the middle. It was a bit weird”) and being overwhelmed during their Asian promo tour this summer.

“When we landed in Thailand there were so many fans waiting for us we had to have our own police escort, it was crazy,” she recalls. “And then this superfan gave us these books full of photos of himself dressed up like us doing different poses from the Chasing Lights album cover! Of course I’ve still got mine!”

ROCHELLE WİSEMAN
Elegant shopaholic (with a passion for Louboutins) Rochelle Wiseman’s best mate is her mum. It was her mum who finally agreed to let her go to dance school every Sunday when she was just seven years old and her mum who wrote her the odd sneaky dentist note when she had to skip school to do an audition.

“And I used to go to the dentist a lot!’ she laughs. “My teachers must have thought I had really bad teeth!”
It paid off. Rochelle was already something of a pro before she was even ten, clocking up TV commercials and even the odd chorus line stint. When S Club Juniors came knocking she was an obvious choice (yes, her and Frankie are old friends). And when S Club ended she didn’t miss a beat and her infectious, upbeat personality bagged her a job presenting on kids BBC.
“I was 15 years old and only worked two days a week. My mum always would come with me and hang out for the day. How brilliant is that?” she beams.

When Rochelle found out about a hot new girl group she had no idea Frankie was even auditioning, and when she found out they’d both got in she was over the moon.

She’s gorgeous, funny and isn’t afraid to laugh at herself, which she does a lot.
“When we were supporting Take That and got to meet them I was so starstruck it was ridiculous,” she laughs. “You know when you end up talking too much to overcompensate? I was like ‘bloody hell just shut up Rochelle!’”

FRANKİE SANDFORD
Frankie Sandford (or Francesca, if you’re her mum) – the one with the infamous pixie hair style – may be only 20 but has been living the pop life for years. At 12 she was part of S Club Juniors, regularly juggling TV studios and home tutoring for five non-stop years. “I see it as my apprenticeship for The Saturdays,” she says, even if she readily admits it’s all something of a blur. “Sometimes I see old clips of us and I honestly have no idea that even happened.”

When S Club ended Frankie went through what she calls her ‘rebellion phase’: “ I just bummed around. Got a job in a bar - really fun - and in a shop - really boring - and went through a little emo phase, cut my hair a million times, changed the colour, went to few festivals and did some moshing.”

Hectic as The Saturdays schedule is, Frankie still finds time not only for the odd festival — “I’ve just bought a tent this afternoon. Every year I go and leave it behind, it’s too much effort. This is my fourth!”

UNA HEALY
Irish bombshell Una Healy wants to get something out of the way off the bat.
“A lot of people might think ‘oh you’re 27, aren’t you a bit old to be in a girl band?’ If anything I just hope that I’m inspiration to people to never give up on what you want to do.”

To that we should add a/ she doesn’t look it for a second (“my mother’s genes, I’m lucky”), b/ who cares anyway? and c/ most importantly, she certainly isn’t kidding when it comes to the ‘don’t give up’ bit.

As a kid in Tipperary, Una had already won a national gold medal for swimming when she was nine (“when I want something I really go for it” she confirms) before she picked up her mum’s guitar and promptly taught herself to play. It wasn’t long before she was writing her own songs, sailing through her music exams, and setting her sights firmly on a music career.
“I went out and bought a PA system and a car where I could let the seats down and get speakers in and I called up every single live music venue there was.”

Una’s self-determination saw her gigging four or five nights a week “for barely a crust” and even recording her own album of self-composed tunes, before moving first to Dublin and then over to London eager for her big break. And with THE SATURDAYS she found it.

“I’ve wanted this for so long that even if there’s some days when I have to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning” – Una readily admits she’s not really a ‘morning person’ – “I always remind myself how lucky I am to be here.”