Bachelor Girl are an Australian pop duo, formed in 1992 by Tania Doko as vocalist and James Roche as musician, producer and arranger. Their 1998 debut single, " Buses and Trains", was a top-10 hit in Australia and New Zealand; it peaked in the top 30 in Sweden and charted in the UK. The follow up single, " Treat Me Good", reached the top 40 in Australia and New Zealand. Their debut studio album, '' Waiting for the Day'', was released in 1998 and reached the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart and achieved platinum certification. Worldwide, Bachelor Girl has sold a total of more than 500,000 albums and singles.

History

1992–1997: Formation

Bachelor Girl formed in December 1992 when songwriter and record producer, James Roche, met vocalist Tania Doko. Roche had previously worked, on keyboards or producing, with Tommy Emmanuel,

John Farnham John Peter Farnham AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...

and Jack Jones (aka

Irwin Thomas Irwin Thomas (born Irwin Thomas Whittridge, 6 January 1971) is an American-born Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He performs professionally using the stage name Jack Jones from when he was the lead vocalist-guitarist in the band South ...

). Doko was a classically trained university student. Roche was crafting a demonstration tape of a song he had written for an Australian

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of wh ...

, Girlfriend, and when the original singer cancelled, he recruited Doko. They began writing songs and recording other demos together. In December 1997, Bachelor Girl signed with Gotham Records, distributed by BMG, after being rejected by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

1998–2001: ''Waiting for the Day''

Bachelor Girl's debut single, " Buses and Trains", was released on 18 June 1998. The song peaked at No. 4 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 ...

and No. 6 on the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

. In 1999, it appeared in the top 30 on the

Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish ...

and reached the top 100 in the UK. Their second single, " Treat Me Good", was issued in November 1998 and reached the top 40 in Australia and New Zealand. The related album, '' Waiting for the Day'', was released in November and peaked at No. 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart. In May 1999, their third single, " Lucky Me" reached the top 50 in Australia and New Zealand. It reached the top 20 on the

Finnish Singles Chart The Official Finnish Charts ( fi, Suomen virallinen lista; sv, Finlands officiella lista) are national record charts in Finland compiled and published by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. The name ''Suomen virallinen lista/Finlands officiell ...

. In August, the album was issued internationally as ''Breaking Through from Down Under'' on

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...

2002–2004: ''Dysfunctional'' and split

In July 2002, Bachelor Girl released " I'm Just A Girl" as the lead single from their forthcoming second studio album. The song reached the Australian top 30. Their second album, '' Dysfunctional'', was released in August and peaked in the top 30. " Drowning Not Waving" was released in October 2002 as the second and final single from the album. The band recorded their third studio album in 2003-2004 but was never released as the duo amicably split in 2004.

2004–2017: Hiatus, ''Loved & Lost: The Best of Bachelor Girl'' and ''Beautifully Wrong – The Lost Songs''

In April 2011, a compilation album, '' Loved & Lost: The Best of Bachelor Girl'', was released by Sony Music Australia. It featured four tracks abandoned from the third studio album. Doko stated in interviews that the band did not feel there was enough material from their two albums to fill a greatest hits album, and they decided to use cuts from the unreleased third studio album. In May and June, Bachelor Girl performed three gigs to promote the album. In August 2011, the previously unreleased third album was released digitally, titled '' Beautifully Wrong – The Lost Songs''. In 2012, Doko moved to Sweden where she worked as a singer/songwriter and vocal coach. Roche worked with a number of Australian musicians, including producing

Anthony Callea Anthony Cosmo Callea (born 13 December 1982) is an Australian singer-songwriter and stage actor who rose to prominence as the runner-up in the 2004 season of ''Australian Idol''. Callea's debut single, a cover of Celine Dion and Andrea Bocell ...

's number one album, '' Backbone'' in 2016.

2017–present: Reformation and "Speak"

In mid-2017, Roche completed a three-week trip to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

, Sweden, where he met up with Doko. The duo wrote and recorded with various Swedish writers and producers. Roche said, "I had a fantastic time; the context there of musical creation and endeavour is inspiring and energising. I've returned with a collection of songs I am so excited about - I can't wait to complete the production on them!". New material is set for release in 2018. " Speak" was released on 18 June 2018, exactly 20 years since the release of "Buses and Trains".

Discography

Albums

Compilations

Singles

Other appearances

Awards and nominations

ARIA Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions ...

. Bachelor Girl have won 1 award from 5 nominations. , - , 1998 , rowspan="2", " Buses and Trains" ,

Best New Talent Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation, ...

, , - , rowspan="4",

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, ARIA Award for Highest Selling Single , , - , rowspan="2", '' Waiting for the Day'' , Breakthrough Artist - Album , , - , Best Pop Release , , - , Bachelor Girl for ''Waiting for the Day'' , Producer of the Year ,

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. Bachelor Girls have been nominated for three awards. , - , rowspan="2",

, rowspan="2", " Buses and Trains" , Song of the Year , , - , Most Performed Australian Work , , - ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, " Lucky Me" , Most Played Australian Work ,

Australian Women in Music Awards

The Australian Women in Music Awards (AWMA) is an annual event that celebrates outstanding women in the Australian Music Industry who have made significant and lasting contributions in their chosen field. They commenced in 2018. , - ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, Tania Doko , Songwriter Award ,

References

{{Authority control APRA Award winners ARIA Award winners Victoria (Australia) musical groups Australian pop music groups Australian indie rock groups Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Australian musical duos 1992 establishments in Australia 2003 disestablishments in Australia