Jo O'Meara on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Joanne Valda O'Meara (born 29 April 1979) is an English
pop singer. She is best known for being a member of pop group
S Club 7
S Club 7 were a British pop group from London, created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller and consisting of members Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O'Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens and Tina Barrett. The group ...
between 1999 and 2003. Born and raised in Romford, she launched her career at age 16 working with
. O'Meara later went on to launch a solo career and was a contestant on ''
Celebrity Big Brother
''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...
'' in 2007.
Early life
O'Meara was born in
Romford
Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...
,
London, to parents Dave and Barbara. She has a brother and sister, Shane and Julie. She grew up in
Collier Row
Collier Row is an area of Romford in East London, England, within the London Borough of Havering. It is a suburban development north of Romford town centre, around north-east of Charing Cross.
The area is based on a large housing estate built ...
, a suburban housing estate in the north of Romford in the
London Borough of Havering
The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. The ...
. She was educated at
Clockhouse Junior School and
Bower Park School. O'Meara was given a full scholarship to attend the
Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts is a performing arts conservatoire based in Woking, England. It was founded in 1911 by Italia Conti, an actress. The first production at Italia Conti Academy was the play ''Where the Rainbow Ends''. For ...
, where she excelled in music, acting and dance – receiving a standing ovation by the heads and principals for her rendition of the song “Summertime”.
Career
1996-1999
At age 16, O'Meara joined the earliest incarnation of girl group
Solid HarmoniE
Solid Harmonie (stylised as Solid HarmoniE, also known as SHE) are a British-American pop girl group. The group was moderately successful, releasing five singles and a self-titled album, before disbanding in 2000. They had the most success in ...
and flew out to Sweden to work with young record producer
. She'd return to Essex and performed open mic nights until she was spotted by the
S Club 7
S Club 7 were a British pop group from London, created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller and consisting of members Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O'Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens and Tina Barrett. The group ...
team in a country and western bar.
1999–2003: S Club 7
The group rose to fame by starring in their own
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
television series, ''
Miami 7
''Miami 7'' (known as ''S Club 7 in Miami'' in the U.S.) is a television series starring British pop group S Club 7. Thirteen episodes were produced and aired on CBBC from 8 April to 1 July 1999. During each episode, the members would perform on ...
'', in 1999. Over the five years they were together, S Club 7 had four UK No.1 singles, one UK No.1 album, a string of hits throughout Europe, including a top-ten single in the United States, Asia, Latin America and Africa. They recorded a total of four studio albums, released eleven singles and went on to sell over fourteen million albums worldwide. Their first album, ''
S Club
S Club 7 were a British pop group from London, created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller and consisting of members Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O'Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens and Tina Barrett. The group ...
'', had a strong 1990s pop sound, similar to many artists of their time. However, through the course of their career, their musical approach changed to a more dance and
R&B sound which is heard mostly in their final album, ''
Seeing Double''.
The concept and brand of the group was created by Simon Fuller, also their manager through 19 Entertainment; they were signed to
Polydor Records
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
. Their television series went on to last four series, seeing the group travel across the United States and eventually ending up in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, Spain. It became popular in 100 different countries where the show was watched by over 90 million viewers.
The show, which was a
children's
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...
sitcom, often mirrored real life events which had occurred in S Club, including the relationship of
Hannah Spearritt
Hannah Louise Spearritt (born 1 April 1981)Gregory, Andy (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa, , p. 478 is an English actress and singer. She is an original member of the pop group S Club 7. Spearritt is also known fo ...
and
Paul Cattermole
Paul Gerald Cattermole (born 7 March 1977) is an English singer. He was a member of the group S Club 7, but left the group in 2002.
Early life
Cattermole was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He was a member of the National Youth Music Thea ...
, as well as the eventual departure from the group of the latter. As well as the popularity of their television series, S Club 7 won two
Brit Awards
The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
—in 2000 for British breakthrough act and in 2002, for best British single. In 2001, the group earned the
Record of Year. S Club's second last single reached number-five in the UK charts and their final studio album failed to make the top ten. However, on 21 April 2003, during a live onstage performance, S Club announced that they were to disband.
2004–2007: ''Relentless'' and reality shows
In 2004, O'Meara signed with
Simon Fuller
Simon Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer renowned for nurturing and inspiring world class entertainment talent. He is the creator of the ''Idols'' TV format, including the UK s ...
as her artist manager and began recording her debut solo album, planned to be released between September and December.
The album would be focused on
R&B sound and Fuller described O'Meara as "the next
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...
".
In December 2004 she split from Fuller when the negotiations with
Polydor Records
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
failed and they disagreed over the recorded songs – he proposed that she record music from other composers, but she wanted an album with only songs written by her.
She returned to the studio to record a new material, focused on
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
style and produced by
Richard Carpenter, and planned to release as debut single "Taxi Cab", "Lovely" or "Don't Wanna Let You Down", featured
Lee Ryan
Lee Ryan (born 17 June 1983) is an English singer, songwriter and actor, best known as a member of the boy band Blue.
Ryan took part in the BBC series '' Strictly Come Dancing''. He was partnered with professional dancer Nadiya Bychkova and was ...
, but failed to sign with a record label and the project was postponed.
In July 2005, O'Meara signed with
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...
and on 26 September was released her debut solo single, "
What Hurts the Most
"What Hurts the Most" is a song written by American songwriter Jeffrey Steele and English songwriter Steve Robson. Initially recorded by country music artist Mark Wills in 2003 on his album '' And the Crowd Goes Wild'', it was covered by Bell ...
", a version of
Mark Wills
Mark Wills (born Daryl Mark Williams; August 8, 1973) is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label – ''Mark Wills'', ''Wish You Were Here'', '' Permanently'' ...
's 2003 song. The song peaked at number 13 on the United Kingdom and 26 in Ireland. On 3 October she released her debut album, ''
Relentless
Relentless may refer to:
Film
* ''Relentless'' (1948 film), an American film directed by George Sherman
* ''Relentless'', a 1977 American television film starring Will Sampson
* ''Relentless'' (1989 film), an American crime film starring Jud ...
'', produced by
Brian Rawling
Brian Rawling is a British record producer and songwriter. He is the managing director of publisher and production company Metrophonic. Rawling has produced singles and albums for artists such as Cher, with whom he won a Grammy in 1999 for his w ...
,
Graham Stack and
Bill Padley
Bill Padley (born March 1961) is a Scottish award-winning record producer and songwriter.
He, along with Jem Godfrey, won an Ivor Novello Award on 25 May 2006, for the Christmas number 1 record and best selling single of 2005, "That's My Goal ...
. The album peaked at No. 48 in UK and it was described by music critics as "polished", "well constructed" and "better than other ex boy and girl band" albums, citing the O'Meara "strong voice"
In November the label began planning the second single but executives and O'Meara disagreed over the choice – between "To Ease Your Pain", "Wish I was Over You" or "Relentless" – and she left the label.
In February 2006, O'Meara took part in the BBC reality show ''
Just the Two of Us
Just or JUST may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Just (surname)
* Just (given name)
Arts and entertainment
* ''Just'', a 1998 album by Dave Lindholm
* "Just" (song), a song by Radiohead
* "Just", a song from the album ''Lost and Found'' by Mudvayne ...
''. Her singing partner was
Chris Fountain
Christopher Ryan "Chris" Fountain (born 3 September 1987) is an English actor and DJ. He is known for his roles as Damien Jones in Emmerdale, Justin Burton in ''Hollyoaks'' and as Tommy Duckworth in ''Coronation Street''.
Early life
Fountai ...
, actor on the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
soap opera ''
Hollyoaks
''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...
''. The pair came third in the competition, failing to attract enough votes to make the final after their performance of "
Never Had a Dream Come True". In January 2007, O'Meara appeared on ''
Celebrity Big Brother
''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...
''. Along with
Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (5 June 1981 – 22 March 2009) was an English television personality. She came to public prominence in 2002 when she appeared on the third series of the Channel 4 reality show '' Big Brother''. She went on to s ...
and
Danielle Lloyd
Danielle Lloyd (formerly O'Hara; born 16 December 1983) is an English model and television personality. A former Miss England (2004) and Miss Great Britain (2006), Lloyd first rose to prominence when she was stripped of her Miss Great Britain tit ...
, O'Meara was
accused of racist and bullying behaviour toward fellow contestant Indian actress
Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty Kundra (born Ashwini Shetty; Née Shetty; 8 June 1975) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi-language films. Shetty made her screen debut in the thriller ''Baazigar'' (1993) which garnered her nominations for two Filmfare ...
, resulting in a record number of complaints to
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
, national and international media coverage, and condemnatory statements from the British and Indian governments.
2008–2020: S Club 3 and S Club 7 reunion
In November 2008, O'Meara,
Bradley McIntosh
Bradley John McIntosh (born 8 August 1981), also known as City Boy, is a British singer, rapper, record producer and actor. He was a member of the pop group S Club 7 where he enjoyed five years of hit singles, arena tours and awards. Since 2008, ...
, and
Paul Cattermole
Paul Gerald Cattermole (born 7 March 1977) is an English singer. He was a member of the group S Club 7, but left the group in 2002.
Early life
Cattermole was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He was a member of the National Youth Music Thea ...
formed the spin-off group
S Club 3 and have been performing in nightclubs, universities and
Butlins
Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families.
Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...
holiday camps around the United Kingdom. On 12 November 2008 a bottle was thrown during their performance in
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
. It struck O'Meara, leaving her with a cut to the head requiring hospital treatment. A 20-year-old man was arrested and it was suggested the attack was linked to her ''Celebrity Big Brother'' appearance.
O'Meara featured in a cover of the
Python Lee Jackson
Python Lee Jackson were an Australian rock band active from 1965 to 1968, before a brief sojourn in the United Kingdom from late 1968 to mid-1969. The group had recorded a single, "In a Broken Dream" (October 1970), featuring Rod Stewart as gues ...
song "
In a Broken Dream
"In a Broken Dream" is a song and single by Australian rock band Python Lee Jackson featuring vocals from Rod Stewart.
Released in 1972 it entered the UK chart in September, reaching number 3 in October. Stewart's vocals are not credited ...
" on
The Popes' 2012 album ''New Church'', her first released recording in seven years. She also appeared on stage with them performing the song. In November 2014, all seven original
S Club 7
S Club 7 were a British pop group from London, created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller and consisting of members Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O'Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens and Tina Barrett. The group ...
members reunited to perform a medley of some of their greatest hits on
BBC Children In Need. They performed a reunion tour,
Bring It All Back 2015, in May 2015.
Following the S Club reunion Jo continued to tour with Tina Barrett and Bradley McIntosh performing as S Club 3. In 2017, the trio released a single titled "Family" for charity but failed to chart in the UK.
In August 2020, O'Meara announced that she would no longer be performing as S Club 3 to focus on her upcoming second studio album. She was replaced by former
S Club 8
S Club 8 (originally S Club Juniors) were a spin off of the British pop music, pop group S Club 7. The group's members, Jay Asforis, Daisy Evans, Calvin Goldspink, Stacey Franks, Stacey McClean, Aaron Renfree, Hannah Richings, Frankie Bridge, ...
member
Stacey Franks, with the group renamed as "S Club Allstars".
2021–present: Solo career return
In April and May 2021, O'Meara released unplugged renditions of "
Don't Stop Movin'" and "Relentless," respectively. Her second album, ''With Love'', was released on 27 August 2021.
In 2022, O’Meara signed new management deal with
Saga Entertainment
Saga Entertainment is an independent record label, based in London, founded in 2017 by music producers Grahame and Jack Corbyn. Artists on the label include Sam Bailey, Bargain Hunt, Shona McGarty and the Celebs, a supergroup of celebrities in ...
with
Jack Corbyn
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
as her personal manager. This year also saw O'Meara taking to the stage at the
London Palladium
The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in the famous area of Soho. The theatre holds 2,286 seats. Of the roster of stars who have played there, many have televised performances. Between 1955 an ...
after releasing a cover of
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
classic
Creep.
In September 2022, O’Meara joined
The Celebs
The Celebs are a celebrity supergroup created by Grahame and Jack Corbyn with the intention of raising money for charity. The group was formed in 2018 and consists of a changing mix of TV presenters, musicians, radio DJs, actors and sports perso ...
to mark the 40th anniversary of the
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
classic
Thriller (album)
''Thriller'' is the sixth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, released on November 29, 1982, by Epic Records. It was produced by Quincy Jones, who had previously worked with Jackson on his 1979 album ''Off the W ...
and raise money for
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital ...
, with a new rendition of
Thriller (song)
"Thriller" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records in the UK on November 5, 1983, and in the US on January 23, 1984, as the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album of the same name. "Th ...
, the song was released on independent record label
Saga Entertainment
Saga Entertainment is an independent record label, based in London, founded in 2017 by music producers Grahame and Jack Corbyn. Artists on the label include Sam Bailey, Bargain Hunt, Shona McGarty and the Celebs, a supergroup of celebrities in ...
and produced by Grahame &
Jack Corbyn
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
.
Personal life
In 2008, O'Meara gave birth to her son, after separating from her partner Bill Slate.
Discography
Albums
Singles
Promotional singles
Filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omeara, Jo
1979 births
21st-century British women singers
20th-century English actresses
21st-century English actresses
Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
English film actresses
English mezzo-sopranos
English television actresses
English women pop singers
Living people
People from Romford
S Club 7 members