I know I have discussed some other girl groups I love, but thought it was time for a bit more CanCon (or Canadian content for those of you not familiar). And there have been a fair number of Canadian girl groups over the last 20 year – actually probably triple the number of girl groups to Canadian boy bands!
So today, I just want to remember some of the Canadian girl groups of the past that were pretty prominent on the playlists of my formative years!
Sugar Jones, 2001 – 2002
Back in 2001, when reality singing competitions were just starting, Popstars was the newest show on the air. Thousands of contestants from across Canada auditioned and at the end of the season, Sahara, Andrea, Julie, Maiko and Mirella were the final five and together formed Sugar Jones. The group only released one album – self titled – and it featured the debut single Days Like That. While the band didn’t really break through anywhere other than Canada, I bought the album and listened to it all summer in 2001. The group disbanded in 2002 and sadly never released any kind of follow up singles or albums. I believe all the members (or most of them at least) went on to release some solo efforts – but for me, unless the group was together with the same vibe they had in 2001, I wasn’t as interested. In any case – if you want to take a trip down memory lane, give this a listen!
LiveOnRelease, 2001 – 2003
Right around the time Sugar Jones was on Popstars, LiveonRelease was also making their debut! From Vancouver, LiveonRelease was more of a pop punk girl group – produced by the legendary Bif Naked! Made up of Colette, Brittin, Foxx and Leah, these ladies played their own instruments and had a pretty significant hit with I’m Afraid of Britney Spears off their Seeing Red album. They put out one more album and disbanded shortly after, but for a short while, they were a regular feature on my CD player – and on MuchMusic those days!
Lillix, 2001 – 2010ish
Once again, right around the same time as the other two girl groups above, Lillix signed with their record label in 2001 and released their debut album, Falling Uphill in 2003. The album had a couple hits including It’s About Time and more prominently, their cover of What I Like About You that was on the Freaky Friday soundtrack. The group also received two Juno nominations in 2004. The group was made up of Tasha-Ray, Lacey-Lee, Louise and Kim – but after their first album, began to switch out members on a fairly regular basis until they went on hiatus form 2006-2009, and eventually disbanded around 2010.
It’s been fun going down memory lane into the early 2000s Canadian girl groups! Do you remember listening to any of the same ones? Comment below!
The Chatty Enthusiast 