The Electric Barbarellas were an American all-female

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

group whose career with producer

Midi Mafia The MIDI Mafia is a music production duo consisting of American Bruce Waynne (born Waynne Nugent) from Brooklyn, New York and Canadian Dirty Swift (born Kevin Risto) from Ottawa, Ontario. Together as Midi Mafia since 2003, they are most notable for ...

was depicted in a short-lived, critically panned, eponymous

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

that ran for one season on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Background

In 2010,

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

CEO

Sumner Redstone Sumner Murray Redstone ( Rothstein; May 27, 1923 – August 11, 2020) was an American billionaire businessman and media magnate. He was the founder and chairman of the second incarnation of Viacom which was dissolved in 2019 (a year before Redsto ...

personally paid over $500,000 to fly the group to New York to meet with record labels while filming a reality-TV series based on the trip, after asking then-Viacom CEO

Philippe Dauman Philippe Pierre Dauman (born March 1, 1954) is an American businessman who served as President, CEO and Chairman of Viacom from September 2006 until May 20, 2016. Dauman was a longtime associate of the company's chairman Sumner Redstone. Dauman ...

to give one of his romantic pursuits an MTV series. Redstone then forced Viacom-owned

to air the series. MTV executives originally balked at airing it because it was "so bad" but their resistance almost cost MTV's then-CEO Judy McGrath her job. Les Moonves also arranged for the series to be promoted on CBS, as a favor to Redstone. The series ended with a phone call from a record executive provoking much shrieking, but the group quickly faded into obscurity once the show ended. The group performed the song "Without You" on ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, ...

'' on May 27, 2011. In their 2023 book ''Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy'',

James B. Stewart James Bennett Stewart (born c. 1952) is an American lawyer, journalist, and author. Early life and education Stewart was born in Quincy, Illinois. He graduated from DePauw University and Harvard Law School. Career He is a member of the Bar o ...

and Rachel Abrams said that the Barbarellas were "singing wildly off pitch" in that ''Late Late Show'' appearance and that Moonves "dreaded" the requests by Redstone to promote the group on CBS.

Members

* Heather Naylor, Chelsea Costa, Gynger Fluellen, Missy, and Raven

Discography

* ''Strange World'' (2011)

The Alectrix

Two years later, Naylor hired Joe Simpson (father of Ashlee and

Jessica Simpson Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10, 1980) is an American singer, actress, entrepreneur and philanthropist. After performing in church choirs as a child, Simpson signed with Columbia Records in 1997, aged seventeen. Her debut studio album, '' Swe ...

) to audition new members for the group, under the new name The Alectrix. Again, the ordeal was filmed as a reality-TV series and aired on MTV. And again, soon after the series ended, the group faded quickly into obscurity. Later, Naylor was sued by Sumner Redstone's girlfriend Sydney Holland for allegedly stealing her laptop. Naylor counter-sued, claiming Holland negatively influenced Redstone to intentionally interfere with the success of The Alectrix, however Naylor eventually dropped the lawsuit.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Electric Barbarellas, The American pop girl groups 21st-century American women singers MTV reality television series