Where would we be without the pop music industry? By 'us' I mean you, me and people like us - you know, red-blooded horny males with too much time on our hands :-) And by 'pop music industry' I mean nice, mainstream songs sung by appealing singers who are at least as easy on the eye as the ears, and not too taxing on the brain. This alliance of eye candy and disposable tunes can be used for good or evil. While the dark side of this force can be seen in the unholy Sith alliance of Brittney Spears, the Spice Girls and their ilk, the Jedi Knights boast the likes of Shakira and Christina Milian. In this scenario, the Obi-Wan Kenobi of pop has to be the all-girl foursome All Saints : they were shaking their booties when the others were still in the Mickey Mouse club dreaming of stardom; they were always there with better songs; and they were cut down just as they seemed to be slipping into comfortable middle age (which for pop music is only about 30!).

All Saints were compromised of Shaznay Lewis, Melanie Blatt and sisters Natalie & Nicole Appleton. Shaznay brought the dark skin and pouting lips, and (if the rumours are true) most of the talent. Some say Melanie brought a big nose, but we could never stop looking at her clevage for long enough for that to bother us (see pic on right). The Shaz/Mel duo even started down the road to pop stardom, but it looked like they weren't going too far. Time for some more recruits. Enter Nicole : the bubbly blonde. And then her sister Natalie arrived .. slightly less blonde, slightly less bubbly, and a bit more pouty. It was a good combination. For the early singles, like the insanely catchy I Know Where It's At, they were all bad-grrrl attitude, sportswear and tattoos. From the start, there were rumours of a break-up (see this story from 1998 on MTV.com). By the time they released their cover of Lady Marmalade they were sophisticated young urban women-about-town, hanging at the Met bar in London with the good and the great of British celebs. Then it was into gosip column territory with more rumours of the group splitting, and Natalie's affair with Oasis 'singer' and general yob Liam Gallagher. By Spring 2001 the band had split, and the mandatory 'Best Of' was released .. spanning their huge catalog of two albums! It was a rollercoaster ride while it lasted, but was worth it for their cover of Black Coffee if nothing else.

Since the demise of All Saints, the Appleton sisters seem to have formed a duo, going under the staggeringly unimaginative moniker of Appleton. The music, at first hearing, seems a bit bland and devoid of the kind of spark that elevated the best All Saints tunes above the rest of the rabble. But for pop totty, the litmus test is the video - and in this regard Appleton seem to have let the side down somewhat. The washed-out colour images of the girls looking moody in an empty room don't inspire the kind of following brought on by the tight t-shirts of, say, the Under The Bridge clip. But at least we can take solace in the basic truth of commerical music: if these songs aren't hits, then the clothes will get skimpier, and the gossip column appearances will get more frequent.

As of now (Feb 2006) Nat and Nic have gone to ground, and their official site at Universal Music seems to be off-line. Is this the end? Is Shaznay the only survivor of one of the most successful girl-groups of the 90s? Send us any information you have.

Update - Dec 2006
Talk about timing - just a scant few months after we posted the above entry, All-Saints are back! They appear to have reformed, and have released a single (Rock Steady), with an album (Studio 1) to follow. It's amazing what a few failed career moves will do to encourage people to be reasonable :-)
The new official site is here: www.allsaintsofficial.com.

Update - Mar 2007
Things move fast at the cutting edge of popular culture. Almost as soon as we updated this page, the band were dropped by their record label for failing to live up to expectations. The world of pop music is a harsh one.

www.allsaintsofficial.com.

Natalie Jane Appleton was born on May 14, 1973, in Mississauga, near Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She grew up with her elder sisters, Lori and Lee, and her younger sister, Nicole, in Toronto and New York before moving to Camden in London, England. When she was 20, she was briefly married to male stripper Karl Robinson, with whom she had a daughter, Rachel. To make ends meet, Natalie sang in bars and worked as an aerobics instructor. While she was attending the Sylvia Young Theatre School, Natalie met Melanie Blatt, who was forming a group, All Saints, along with leader Shaznay Lewis. Blatt invited Natalie to join, and Natalie, in turn, recruited her sister Nicole as well. However, the decision to join the band was not made lightly. Natalie was concerned about her daughter. In the end, her parents agreed to take care of Rachel while All Saints was establishing itself and, along the way, they reconciled their own troubled marriage.

On the personal side, Natalie has had fewer setbacks. In June 2002, she remarried, this time to Prodigy's Liam Howlett. Her second shot at family life seems to be more successful, and in March 2004, Natalie gave birth to a second child, a son named Ace.

Natalie showing us how to work the red carpet/clevage combo...
   

Nicole Marie Appleton was born on December 7, 1974, making her just over a year and a half younger than Natalie. In 1983 enrolled in the Sylvia Young Theatre School and it was there were she met Melanie Blatt and they immediately became best friends. In 1993, Nicole and her sister Natalie joined Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis in forming the band All Saints.

On December 7, 1998 Nicole met Robbie Williams while filming for Top of the Pops. They had a love affair and were subsequently engaged, but Nicole became pregnant and Robbie was reluctant to be a father. According to Nicole's biography Together London Records, her record label, forced her to have an abortion, however this statement has been denied by the label. In 2000 Nicole started a relationship with Liam Gallagher of the group Oasis and on July 3, 2001 their son, Gene Gallagher was born.

this is so much like my dreams, it's scary... 1024 x 768	yep - the dream had this part too... 1024 x 768
just Nat on her own, but still a stunning duo 1024 x 768

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