Girls@Play were a British five-piece

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

from London formed in 2000, consisting of Vicky Dowdall, Lisa-Jay White,

Rita Simons Rita Joanne Simons (born 10 March 1977) is an English actress and singer. After beginning her career as a member of the short-lived girl group Girls@Play, she became best known for portraying the role of Roxy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera ''Ea ...

, Lynsey Shaw and Shelley Nash.Girls at Play
, ''Music Moz''. Retrieved 2007-05-28. They were signed to GSM Records and produced by Stock & Aitken (

Mike Stock Michael Stock (born 3 December 1951) is an English songwriter, record producer, musician, and member of the songwriting and production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. He has been responsible for over a hundred top-40 hits in the UK, including 16 n ...

and

Matt Aitken Matthew James Aitken (born 25 August 1956) is an English songwriter and record producer, brought up in Astley, Greater Manchester, best known as part of the 1980s/early-1990s songwriting/production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. Biography He beg ...

). Each member of the group played a different character in their music videos. Dowdall played a

cowgirl A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

, White an executive, Simons a

mechanic A mechanic is a skilled tradesperson who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially engines. Formerly, the term meant any member of the handicraft trades, but by the early 20th century, it had come to mean one who works w ...

, Shaw a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

traffic cop and Nash a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

. This gimmick led to Girls@Play being described as the female version of the

Village People Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the re ...

History

The group released two singles: "Airhead" on 12 February 2001 and a

cover version 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 " Respectable", originally by

Mel and Kim Mel and Kim (stylized as MӗL & KIM) were an English pop duo, consisting of sisters Melanie Appleby, Melanie and Kim Appleby. Originally managed by Alan Whitehead (drummer), Alan Whitehead, they achieved success between 1986 and 1988, before Me ...

, on 1 October 2001. "Airhead" reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart on 18 February 2001, while "Respectable" reached number 29 on 7 October 2001.everyhit.com
/ref>
, ''Mobius' Music Home Page''. Retrieved 2007-05-28. They also supported

Hear'Say Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV (TV network), ITV reality TV show ''Popstars (British TV series), Popstars'' in February 2001, the first UK series of the international ''Popstars'' Media franchise, franch ...

and Steps on their arena tours in 2000 and 2001. The announcement of Girls@Play's disbanding was made on 18 November 2001.

Possible reunion

In January 2014, it was announced that the group's management were in talks to reform the group. They were also in discussion to reunite the group for the second series of ''

The Big Reunion ''The Big Reunion'' is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed ...

''; however, the group have never materialised since. Rita Simons hinted the group may reunite in the future. In March 2016, it was announced that the group were again in talks about reforming, but nothing came of it. In 2019, Girls@Play again came to the streaming service

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

with previously unreleased material from their unreleased album, including "When Love Takes Over You", "Outta My Head", "Forget About Love", "Everything I Need", and "Brand New Car".

Members

* Victoria "Vicky" Dowdall (born 23 January 1979

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

)
Vicky Dowdall grew up in Heworth, Gateshead and studied at Reavley Theatre School in Gateshead. In 1999, she was one of three session singers recruited by

Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, and television personality. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman production and songwriting team, he co-wrote and co-produced many UK hit singles. An av ...

to sing on a remake of "

That's What Love Can Do "That's What Love Can Do" is a song by American female pop group Boy Krazy, written and produced by British hitmaking team Stock Aitken Waterman, and first released in 1991 as Boy Krazy's debut single. Lead vocals were performed by group member ...

" credited to Toutes Les Filles. Upon Girls@play's dissolution, Dowdall joined her schoolfriend Camilla Romestrand to form a pop duo originally known as Neway and subsequently as Honeytrap, Honeybeat, and in 2003 - taking a more rock music focus - Purple Patch. Eventually Dowdall moved into artist management founding VDM Management based in London. * Shelley Nash (born 13 January 1978)
A professional singer from age 11, Shelley Nash formed Friday with Nash and Simons upon Girls@Play's disbanding. She earned a BMus honors degree from the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

in 2005 and focus her career on classical music. * Lynsey Shaw (born 15 June 1980) Loughborough Leics.)
Lynsey Shaw studied fashion in Loughborough and London before making singing the focus of her career. Subsequent to Girls@Play disbanding, she took part in the 2002 televised auditions to replace

Kym Marsh Kimberley Gail Marsh (previously Ryder, Lomas and Ratcliff; born 13 June 1976) is an English actress, television presenter and singer. In 2001, she won a place in the band Hear'Say as a result of appearing on the reality television series ''Pop ...

, being eliminated in second place. Shaw made a 2010 move to Los Angeles where she ran a boutique record label, Big Finish Records. *

(born 10 March 1977, in

Whipps Cross, London Whipps Cross is an area of the districts of Leytonstone and Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in East London, England. It is most famous for Whipps Cross University Hospital. Prior to 1965, it was located in the historic county ...

)
Upon Girls@play's disbanding, Simons joined Nash and White to form Friday, then in 2002 joined a new girl group named Charli. In 2002, Simons ended her singing career to focus on acting and portrayed the character

Roxy Mitchell Roxy Mitchell (also Slater) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Rita Simons.BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

''. * Lisa Jane "Lisa-Jay" White (born 23 May 1979)
After joining Simons and Nash to form the group Friday upon Girls@Play's disbanding, Lisa-Jay White has evidently retired from performing.

Discography

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girlsplay English pop music groups English pop girl groups Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups disestablished in 2001 Pop music groups from London