The Paradiso Girls were a
girl group created by
Robin Antin
Robin Antin is an American actress, entrepreneur, dancer, choreographer and clothing designer. In 1995, she founded the modern burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls. By 2005, she diversified into various media including a pop recording group with i ...
, and were a European spin-off of Antin's other girl group
The Pussycat Dolls
The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Iovine, Antin decided to take the burlesque troupe ...
. The members come from a number of countries: Chelsea Korka from the United States, Aria Crescendo from France,
Lauren Bennett
Lauren Diane Bennett (born 23 June 1989) is an English singer who is known for being a member of the girl group G.R.L. Bennett has also worked with the Paradiso Girls, CeeLo Green, Robin Antin, The Pussycat Dolls, and LMFAO. She was feature ...
and
Kelly Beckett
Kelly Donnelly (formerly Kelly Beckett) is a British professional singer, actress, TV host and activist. She is best known as a member of the musical group Paradiso Girls and more recently as a TV host on Style Network, G4 (U.S. TV channel), G4 a ...
from the United Kingdom and Shar Mae Amor from the Philippines. They were signed to
Interscope Records. Their debut single "
Patron Tequila" featuring
Lil Jon
Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cr ...
and
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
was released on May 12, 2009 and reached position 3 on the ''
Billboard''
Hot Dance Club Play
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...
. Following uncertainty from their label, the group disbanded in 2010.
History
2007–2008: Formation
Jimmy Iovine
James Iovine ( ; ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, record executive, and media proprietor best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. In 2006, Iovine and rapper-producer Dr. Dre founded Beats Electronics, which produces ...
, owner of
Interscope Records, decided to create a new girl group after meeting
French singer and former
Star Academy
''Star Academy'', called ''Operación Triunfo'' ("Operation Triumph") in Spanish-speaking countries, is a highly successful television pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements.
Format
There are many versions of t ...
yoga teacher Aria Crescendo. Together with
Robin Antin
Robin Antin is an American actress, entrepreneur, dancer, choreographer and clothing designer. In 1995, she founded the modern burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls. By 2005, she diversified into various media including a pop recording group with i ...
,
Martin Kierszenbaum
Martin Kierszenbaum, also known by his pseudonym Cherry Cherry Boom Boom, is an American music personality. As a songwriter and producer he worked with Lady Gaga, Sting, Madonna, Mylène Farmer, Keane, Tokio Hotel, Far East Movement, Robyn, Fe ...
and
will.i.am
William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas.
...
, he auditioned over 500 girls in London, some of which had been noticed during ''
The X Factor UK
''The X Factor'' is a British reality television music competition, created by Simon Cowell. Premiering on 4 September 2004, it was produced by Fremantle's Thames and Cowell's production company Syco Entertainment for ITV, as well as simulc ...
'' auditions, casting six of them including singer
Lauren Bennett
Lauren Diane Bennett (born 23 June 1989) is an English singer who is known for being a member of the girl group G.R.L. Bennett has also worked with the Paradiso Girls, CeeLo Green, Robin Antin, The Pussycat Dolls, and LMFAO. She was feature ...
,
singer/dancer
Kelly Beckett
Kelly Donnelly (formerly Kelly Beckett) is a British professional singer, actress, TV host and activist. She is best known as a member of the musical group Paradiso Girls and more recently as a TV host on Style Network, G4 (U.S. TV channel), G4 a ...
,
as well as rapper/singer, Shar Mae Amor.
Each girl represented a different country and the group had no lead singer, unlike
The Pussycat Dolls
The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Iovine, Antin decided to take the burlesque troupe ...
.
The group, cut down to a quartet was then featured in a remix of "
I Got It from My Mama
"I Got It from My Mama" is a hip hop song by American rapper will.i.am. The uncredited female vocals in the song are from singer Kat Graham. It was released as the lead single from will.i.am's third solo album, '' Songs About Girls''. It's prima ...
" by
will.i.am
William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas.
...
.
However, following their appearances on ''
Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll'', Chelsea Korka, Mariela Arteaga, Brittany Diiorio,
Sisely Treasure
Sisely Dove Treasure (born November 28, 1982) is an American singer and dancer, notable for the song "All Around the World" released by Dreamworks Records in July 2003 and appearing in Billboard Magazine's Top 40 Dance charts the same year. "Mor ...
as seen on rehearsals videos.
The group was then first revealed by Korka and Antin at CW Upfronts 2008.
2009–2010: Debut, departure from label and disbandment
After two years of production, the group finally released its first official single, "
Patron Tequila" featuring
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
and
Lil' Jon
Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cru ...
on
iTunes on April 14, 2009. The song was intended as the lead single from their to-be debut album entitled ''Crazy Horse''. As promotion, the group was featured on various songs by
Space Cowboy and made appearances in numerous events
including the Party Rock Tour, which featured many new artist from their label, TV shows, blogs and magazines
They have also modeled for Beats By Dre. In 2010, their second single called "Who's My Bitch" was released digitally on June 22, 2010 with a music video, shot from April 7–8, 2010 which had appeared on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
and
MySpace on June 5, 2010. Unlike the previous single, it performed poorly on the charts and the group did no promotions for the song.
Following the poor performance of the second single, numerous rumors of disbandment began to circulate the internet after some members began to remove the word “Paradiso” from their Twitter names, although member Shar Mae Amor stated in an interview on
UStream
IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest offices. ...
that the group was preparing for a third single while
Lauren Bennett
Lauren Diane Bennett (born 23 June 1989) is an English singer who is known for being a member of the girl group G.R.L. Bennett has also worked with the Paradiso Girls, CeeLo Green, Robin Antin, The Pussycat Dolls, and LMFAO. She was feature ...
stated that the album is already finished and that the group is just waiting for their record label to set a release date. However, Interscope Records did not release an official statement explaining the status of the group.
The fate of the group was then put to question when a brief disagreement broke out between band members Aria Crescendo and
Chelsea Korka on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, after Korka tweeted that the group was still together but each band member will be pursuing their own projects for the time being. A frustrated Crescendo then replied to her tweet by saying "why are you confusing the fans ????????? u know the troth Chealsea so stop pretending .......be truthful to ur hart for once".
On October 27, 2010, band member Aria Crescendo made an unofficial confirmation that the group was dropped by
Interscope Records through an online interview hosted by popChamber via
Vimeo
Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...
. In the interview, she expressed her disappointment for the lack of promotions given to the group in return for the efforts put in by each of the band members for the last two years. She has also confirmed that their highly anticipated debut album will no longer be released. It was revealed that they had apparently recorded over 50 songs for this album including a song called "Bad Man" featuring
Will.i.am
William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas.
...
.
Discography
Singles
Collaborations
Music videos
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paradiso Girls
Pop music groups
Dance music groups
Girl groups
Musical groups established in 2007
Musical groups disestablished in 2010