The Teen Queens were an Australian pop music girl group, formed in 1991 by three model-singer-actresses: Roxanne Clarke,

Kellie Crawford Kellie Lynn Crawford, née Hoggart (born 1 May 1974), is an Australian singer, actress and children's performer. Crawford was an original member of the Australian children's musical group Hi-5 (Australian band), Hi-5 from 1998 to 2008 and was ...

and Liza Witt. In 1992 and 1993, they scored four

hit singles A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

with

cover versions In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "

Be My Baby "Be My Baby" is a song by American girl group the Ronettes that was released as a single on Philles Records in August 1963. Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, the song was the Ronettes' biggest hit, reaching number 2 in ...

" (No. 6, May 1992), " I Can't Help Myself" (No. 28, July 1992), " Love How You Love Me" (No. 14, September 1992) and "

Baby It's You "Baby It's You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach (music), Luther Dixon (credited as Barney Williams), and Mack David (lyrics). It was recorded by the Shirelles and the Beatles, and was a hit for both. The highest-charting version of "Baby I ...

" (No. 91, April 1993). The group's debut album, ''Get Happy!'', was released in November 1992, which peaked at No. 36. The group disbanded in 1993. Their singles "I Can't Help Myself" and "Love How You Love Me" were nominated for Engineer of the Year at the 1993 ARIA Awards. From 1998 to 2008, Crawford was a member of Hi-5, a children's music group aligned with a TV series of the same name.

Background

The Teen Queens were formed in Sydney in 1991 by three model-singer-actresses: Roxanne Clarke,

(née Hoggart) and Liza Witt. Note: Article is published across three pages. A pilot episode was developed by the creators of '' E Street'', a teen TV soap opera, for a self-titled half-hour TV program about a girl group set in 1960s. According to ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' correspondent the show "follows three girls from the country who head to the city to make it big in the music world. Naturally all doesn't go according to plan." By the time that the pilot was turned down, the trio had made the group a reality as a dance-pop act. In May 1992 their cover version of the Ronettes' "

" became a No. 6 hit on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

.Australian (ARIA) chart peaks: *Top 50 peaks: *Top 100 peaks: Their debut album, ''Get Happy!'', was released on Westside Records/

Phonogram Phonogram may refer to: * A sound recording – see Geneva Phonograms Convention * ''Phonogram'' (comics), a comic book by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie * Phonogram (linguistics), a grapheme which represents a phoneme or a combination of phone ...

in November 1992 and reached No. 36 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It included "some classic songs from the '60s." Bevan Hannan of ''The Canberrra Times'' rated the album at 3 out of 10, he felt that it was "Manufactured pop... for aspiring musicians (?) like the Teen Queens, who supposedly have the world at their feet, why would you choose to play the type of material that clapped out rockers use on the RSL club circuit? ''Get Happy!'' is a bit like that... it would probably be better to tune in to 2CA, or better still purchase one of the '60s rock box collections. The originals blow away this regurgitated stuff." The group also provided the vocals for a Coca-Cola TV ad. In July 1992, the Teen Queens appeared on ''E Street'' as contestants on a fictitious, in-show dating game, ''Dream Date''. They had further top 40 singles including The Four Tops' " I Can't Help Myself" (No. 28) in July 1992 and The Paris Sisters' " Love How You Love Me" (No. 14) in September 1992. The latter track featured on an episode of ''E Street'' for the wedding theme for the characters of Toni and CJ. A final single, a cover version of The Shirelles and The Beatles' "

" was released in April 1993, which peaked at No. 91. In June that year they performed the track on TV's ''

Midday Noon (or midday) is 12 12-hour clock, o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for 12-hour clock, meridiem, literally 12:00 noon), 12 p.m. (for 12-hour clock, post meridiem, literally "after noon"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24 ...

'' show, with backing by the station's Geoff Harvey band. A second album, ''Get Happy! II'', was released in July 1993 before the group disbanded.

After Teen Queens

After the Teen Queens split in 1993, each member pursued solo projects. Crawford became a founding member of the children's music group, Hi-5, from September 1998 to December 2008: she appeared on the TV series of the same name. Witt appeared on TV shows, ''Good Morning Australia'' and ''Mornings with Kerrie-Anne'' and, as from 2006, she hosted a TV online-shopping site. Clarke and her brother PJ Clarke devised the performing arts agency 'Detour' out of Brent Street Studios in Sydney from 1998 to 2003. As agents they launched many performers and creatives into successful careers within the industry and produced entertainment at events. Clarke currently works with her brother PJ at Jeep Management Pty Ltd in Sydney, Australia.

Members

* Roxanne Clarke *

* Liza Witt

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

External links

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teen Queens, The New South Wales musical groups Australian girl groups Australian musical trios Australian pop music groups Musical groups established in 1991 Musical groups disestablished in 1993