March 22, 201312 yr 01. Girls Aloud 02. Leona Lewis 03. Kelly Clarkson 04. Alexandra Burke 05. Rebecca Ferguson 06. One Direction 07. Little Mix 08. Olly Murs 09. Jennifer Hudson 10. Diana Vickers
March 22, 201312 yr BOO for no Haley Reinhart :( Someone else who likes Haley! :o I seem like the only proper fan of her around here. :lol:
March 22, 201312 yr Someone else who likes Haley! :o I seem like the only proper fan of her around here. :lol: She is AMAZING! 'Undone' is one of the best songs ever! One performance of that on Idol and she'd have gone global!
March 22, 201312 yr 01. Misha B (she hasn't got an album, but for Do You Think of Me alone >>>) (fave) 02. Jennifer Hudson 03. Alexandra Burke (mainly for Let It Go, but a few other gems scattered around too) 04. Girls Aloud 06. Kelly Clarkson 07. Matt Cardle 08. Leona Lewis 09. Olly Murs 10. Jedward
March 22, 201312 yr She is AMAZING! 'Undone' is one of the best songs ever! One performance of that on Idol and she'd have gone global! Undone is BEAUTIFUL! Free and Spiderweb though, they are both 11/10 moments right there. Special mentions to Oh My!, Let's Run Away and Hit the Ground Runnin' from the album too. :wub:
March 22, 201312 yr 01: Diana Vickers 02: Leona Lewis 03: Girls Aloud 04: Kelly Clarkson 05: Amelia Lily 06: Liberty X 07: Cher Lloyd 08: Little Mix 09: Jordin Sparks 10: Alex Parks -: Misha B
March 22, 201312 yr 01. Diana Vickers 02. Leona Lewis 03. Alexandra Burke 04. Girls Aloud 05. Jordin Sparks 06. Kelly Clarkson 07. Carrie Underwood 08. Rebecca Ferguson 09. Little Mix 10. Olly Murs Amelia just missed out for me on the basis that she has only release 2 singles! Really tough to choose as there were around 20 artists I initially wanted to vote for!
March 22, 201312 yr 01. Kelly Clarkson 02. Alexandra Burke 03. Jennifer Hudson 04. Will Young 05. Girls Aloud 06. Jordin Sparks 07. Cher Lloyd 08. One Direction 09. Leona Lewis 10. Olly Murs
March 22, 201312 yr Author She is AMAZING! 'Undone' is one of the best songs ever! One performance of that on Idol and she'd have gone global! She's not had a single or album chart in the UK else she would have been on this list. Sorry guys!
April 2, 201312 yr Author Your votes have now all been counted, we have our winner...however there was a whole ream of acts who recieved absolutely no votes whatsoever and as a result it would be silly to make it a top 50 list when not enough voted for them - so unfortunately it's bye bye to the following acts: NO VOTES - OUT Warren Stacey One True Voice Phixx Sarah Whatmore Michelle McManus Alistair Griffin James Fox Steve Brookstein G4 Andy Abraham Journey South Ray Quinn Ben Mills The MacDonald Bros Avenue Leon Jackson Rhydian Roberts Eoghan Quigg Marcus Collins So now the list will count down your top 40 ultimate reality popstars instead of 50. There was two acts who recieved just one solitary vote each but to make it a top 40 I decided the one to land at #40 would be the one with the highest UK charting single or album to their name and as such I shall feature the unlucky act here now as the 'Bubbling Under' feature (in effect #41)... BUBBLING UNDER MALACHI CUSH (1 point) ('Fame Academy', series 1, runner up, UMTV, 2002) http://a4.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/135/7a6ad2e8fd7d488eb32bb3c5259b1d73/l.jpg UK top 40 hits: 0 UK top 40 albums: 1 Biggest album: 'Malachi', UK #17, March 2003 Best known for: Smooth Irish croonings with fans in unlikely places Our first native of the Emerald isle, Malachi Cush was a gas fitter by day and a musician by night - brought up on his parents' collection of traditional Irish music as well as the Pogues, U2 and Van Morrison - when he entered the first series of Fame Academy in 2002. Finishing in 5th place he immediately signed to Universal Music's UMTV label after the show finished, and his self titled debut of 50/50 covers and original songs was released to cash in on the Mother's Day market where it spent one solitary week in the top 20 of the album chart. Though the first single from the album 'Just Say You Love Me' was recieved with complete indifference here in the UK, it was big news in the Far East where it topped the charts and he even embarked on a promo tour of Bangkok and Thailand at the end of 2003. His last released album in 2006 titled 'Celtic Heartbeat (Where the Heart Is)' was released through indie label Emerald but failed to chart at all. As of this day he still writes and records for himself and other artists in his native Northern Ireland, as well as being a renowned presenter of local radio and keen charity worker (he is a patron for the autism charity Impact Trust). Edited April 3, 201312 yr by ThePensmith
April 3, 201312 yr Author And so we now begin our countdown...I'll do the first five from 40-36 today. Where two or three artists are tied with the amount of points they recieved their position will be dictated according to which of them had the highest UK charting single or album to their name...so let's crack on then! 40. SAM & MARK (1 point) ('Pop Idol', series 2, runners up, 19/UMTV, 2004) UK top 40 hits: 2 UK top 40 albums: 0 Biggest single: 'With a Little Help from My Friends/Measure of a Man', UK #1, February 2004 Best known for: Leaping from pop to presenting After they finished second and third place respectively behind victor Michelle McManus on Pop Idol's second and final run in the UK, and having won a large following for the friendship they struck up whilst in the competition, Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes decide to club together rather than walk into the world of pop alone, and duly signed a three album deal with Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings label, also then home of Emma Bunton and S Club 8. Under the imaginatively titled 'Sam & Mark', their debut single was a double-a-side of a re-recording of American Idol runner up Clay Aiken's title track of his debut album and a less than well recieved cover of the Beatles standard 'With A Little Help from My Friends' (a quick sconce on YouTube unveils a clip of it being scathingly blasted by a less than impressed Jamelia and Usher for the 'Hotshots Review' section of CD:UK). It didn't stop it however from debuting atop the UK chart for one week. Alas, when follow up single 'The Sun Has Come Your Way' sank into the lower regions of the top 20 in May 2004, time was called short on their pop venturings as a duo. Around about the same time though, fate, or rather BBC bosses opened another door for them when they were offered a contract to co-host the summer run of CBBC show 'Top of the Pops Saturday' with the show's regular host Fearne Cotton that year. Such was their popularity in their new presenting roles though, that they had their contract extended and stayed with Fearne for the remaining two years of the show, by which point it was known as 'Top of the Pops Reloaded'. They have continued their successful presenting career for CBBC and other channels ever since. They famously fronted Saturday morning show 'TMi' alongside a pre-Xtra Factor Caroline Flack from 2006 onwards, 'Copycats', 'Comic Relief does Glee Club' and have also since 2011 fronted 'Sam & Mark's Big Friday Windup', a part-live weekly entertainment show which has had guests including The Saturdays, Pixie Lott and The Wanted to name but a few.
April 3, 201312 yr Author 39. ZOE BIRKETT (2 points) ('Pop Idol', series 1, runner up, 19/UMTV, 2002 - 2003) http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/37054377/Zoe%20Birkett%20PNG.png UK top 40 hits: 1 UK top 40 albums: 0 Biggest single: 'Treat Me Like a Lady', UK #12, February 2003 Best known for: being Pop Idol's little lady with a big voice Still one of the youngest contestants on either series of Pop Idol, County Durham native Zoe, who'd been in stage school from the age of 3, had been chasing success for a while before she appeared on that ground breaking first series. She'd unsuccessfully auditioned, along with Fame Academy series 2 runner up and star of last year's X Factor Carolynne Poole, for S Club 7 in 1998 (she'd got down to the last 14). She made it all the way to the live stages of the show and ended up finishing as the show's highest placed female, having wowed over the judges with her renditions of Whitney Houston's 'One Moment in Time' and Judy Garland's 'Get Happy' which was a promo only single from the 'Big Band Album' released after the contestants had done the Pop Idol arena tour in spring 2002. She struck up a particularly close friendship with fellow contestants and eventual finalists Will Young and Gareth Gates, and ended up joining them as the support act on their joint arena tour that autumn. By the time however she got round to eventually releasing her own music, her debut and only single 'Treat Me Like a Lady' was recieved with virtual indifference, just missing the top 10 at #12 and falling quickly off the chart thereafter. Since then she's made a move into the musical side of things, having appeared in the touring production 'What a Feeling' alongside Hear'Say's Noel Sullivan and Big Brother 6 winner Anthony Hutton. She also appeared in the new West End production of 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' alongside Jason Donovan in 2009. Edited June 10, 201312 yr by ThePensmith
April 3, 201312 yr Author 38. AINSLIE HENDERSON (3 points) ('Fame Academy', series 1, runner up, Mercury, 2003) UK top 40 hits: 1 UK top 40 albums: 0 Biggest single: 'Keep Me a Secret', UK #5, March 2003 Best known for: being Fame Academy's wild child Much like 'The Voice' is in true BBC standard the 'informative' version of 'The X Factor', so too was 'Fame Academy' to 'Pop Idol' ten years ago. Which is why they always seemed to make a particular point of recruiting contestants who were 'real n' authentic, like' that would fit the bill of tedium inducing musicianship neatly. Which Scots born Ainslie Henderson did precisely. But whilst his fellow student David Sneddon (who we shall come to soon) was a wilting wallflower personality wise, Ainslie was something of a wild child. Forever running around in his under crackers and causing mayhem either artistically or otherwise, he ended up finishing fourth in the show and was quickly signed to Mercury Records, with his debut single 'Keep Me a Secret' (the song he penned with Sinead Quinn and Malachi whilst in the Academy) storming the top 5 in March 2003. Unhappy however with the direction they were trying to push him in with his second single and album he quietly left them in 2004, and went over to the US where he co-wrote a track on the album of the then ascendant Jason Mraz. He last released material of his own through his MySpace page in 2006.
April 3, 201312 yr Author 37. DAVID SNEDDON (3 points) ('Fame Academy', series 1, winner, Mercury, 2002 - 2003) http://www2.sk-static.com/images/media/img/col6/20100331-190143-615238.png UK top 40 hits: 4 UK top 40 albums: 1 Biggest single: 'Stop Living the Lie', UK #1, January 2003 Biggest album: 'Seven Years Ten Weeks', UK #5, April 2003 Best known for: being reality pop's first primetime songwriter for hire Whilst in hindsight a quick look back on David's rollercoaster two years in the world of pop might seem rather flash in the pan, professionally he's in a much better place now then he was 10 years ago. Often met with good to middling responses to his performances during his time on 'Fame Academy' - he nonetheless was a sure firm favourite with the public and it was with his self penned song 'Stop Living the Lie' that he first won the series with and then went onto top the UK charts for a fortnight with in January 2003. But despite then storming the top 3 again that April with 'Don't Let Go' and achieving gold sales for his debut album 'Seven Years Ten Weeks', media and public reception to him dwindled as sharply as it had been gained - and within days of his final charting single 'Baby Get Higher' scraping in at #38 he'd left his Mercury deal behind. He has however, had the last laugh since. Having signed a publishing deal with Universal Music just days after losing his record deal, he is now the brainchild behind songwriting and production team The Nexus, whose writing and production credits have topped charts and dominated radio airwaves worldwide with their work for Lana Del Ray, a-Ha's Morten Harket, Newton Faulkner, Hurts and even fellow reality pop graduate Matt Cardle (who we will come to again later).
April 3, 201312 yr Author Right last one today... 36. DARIUS CAMPBELL (3 points) ('Popstars' series 1 and 'Pop Idol' series 1, contestant/runner up, Mercury/19, 2002 - 2005) http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/11906503/Darius%20diva1.jpg UK top 40 hits: 6 UK top 40 albums: 2 Biggest single: 'Colourblind', UK #1, August 2002 Biggest album: 'Dive In', UK #4, December 2002 Best known for: being the king of reality pop reinvention Where oh where do we start with this next man? With his goatee and ponytail and THAT rendition of 'Baby One More Time', Darius Campbell was the laughing stock of the general public when he auditioned unsuccessfully on the first series of Popstars in 2001. Which is what made his reappearance just under a year later on the first series of Pop Idol all the more surprising. Gone was the pony tail and cheesy musings about 'feeling the love in this room', and in its place was a sleeker and altogether cooler Darius than the one we'd previously seen. It did look at one stage as if lightning had struck twice when he didn't make it past the final 50 heat stages of the competition, but when Rik Waller pulled out due to a throat infection he was officially back in the running, and raced all the way to third place in the semi final. Simon Cowell had immediately wanted to take him on after the show finished, but instead Darius chose to sign a publishing deal with Brilliant, owned by Steve Lillywhite of U2 producing fame, and then to his joint record deal between Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings and Mercury. Ironically released in the week that the by this point Kym Marsh-less Hear'Say released their final single, he shot straight to the top of the charts in August 2002 with 'Colourblind' and became the first reality popstar to get to number 1 with a self penned single. A platinum album 'Dive In', a sold out UK tour and more huge chart hits like 'Rushes' and 'Incredible' followed into 2003, as well as his own book entitled 'Sink or Swim' which was a Sunday Times bestseller. After the release of his second album 'Live Twice' in 2004, which produced two more top 10 hits, Darius then went on to a successful run in the West End production of Chicago, where he still holds the record as the youngest actor ever to play the role of Billy Flynn. Further West End work in revivals of 'Gone with the Wind' and 'Guys and Dolls' followed, and he was more recently on our screens in the first series of ITV's 'Popstar to Operastar' where he finished second. He's currently recording his first new material in 9 years which is due for release later this year.
April 3, 201312 yr "Colourblind" was actually amazing. No lies. I thought his surname was Danesh though?!
April 3, 201312 yr Author "Colourblind" was actually amazing. No lies. I thought his surname was Danesh though?! I loved it too. RE: name change. This might explain it! http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment...ed-name-1047765
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