My child was in a S Club Juniors, ask me anything

[BeEagerEagle]

In 2001, my child auditioned for a CBBC show called ‘S Club Search’ and got a place in a child pop group who initially were meant to support S Club 7 on a one time support gig basis. This band was called S Club Juniors, later known as S Club 8.

The band ended up taking off and we basically had to sign or children away to Simon Fuller’s management to release a single. The kids were given tutors and chaperones, and spent most of their time in hotels (the ones London based stayed either their parents) or on the road. After that, they went on tour and I only saw my child once every couple of months. It was brutal but I knew that’s what they wanted to do.

they released two albums and the second one didn’t do that well, Simon Fuller tried them on a TV show called I Dream, however that also tanked. My child will admit that themselves. They all got dropped when aged 14-17. He said they had grown out of their roles a bit.

Now they are in their late thirties and trying to get back into the entertainment industry fully but it’s difficult. They’ve never quite got over their time in the band. They released music but it never really went anywhere. They would never say so, but it doesn’t help them that two of their fellow band members went on to become big stars, both were in a chart topping girl band and now are TV presenters.

their band (minus the two still-successful members) were meant to reunite for a TV show a long while ago, but for various reasons it didn’t happen. When S Club reunited, S Club juniors didn’t get asked to reunite as there was ‘no call’ for it and only a few were up for reuniting. (My child, and another boy and girl member)

they are still acquaintances with S club 7 and went to Paul Cattermoles funeral.

I know my (now adult) child doesn’t regret the choices they made as a child, but feels sad as an adult.

AMA- child (now adult) is also here to answer questions too and is happy to answer questions about specific members and music!

Ish. Chaperones and management tried to keep them as down to earth and their life as normal as possible when they weren’t working, I do think in a sense the kids had to grow up very quickly though.

They would’ve liked a solo singing career or to be in a successful band at first. It hit them hard seeing other band members do so well. I remember they blamed not living in london at first and how this could’ve contributed to not being approached. F and R lived in London from their childhood.

The OP is about S Club Juniors/8 not S Club 7. Two different bands.

Hannah was brought into the group after the first lot were chosen because she was a great little harmoniser and she was young, management wanted people to see her as the ‘cute baby’ of the band as she was only 10. She has a solo part on two B sides but your right she was completely wasted.

i think as one of the more shy members who didn’t really demand anything she was just on the sidelines a lot. Her parents weren’t as pushy as others and didn’t nag about her not getting a part.

There’s a member in sc8 called Hannah too!

I Dream!

it’s on YouTube

I am talking about Hannah from S club juniors.

Amazing, thank you 😊

I thought that was quite obvious given Hannah Spearritt is a famous actress now!

Back to the juniors, Daisy was my favourite - any idea what she’s up to now, OP?

Fascinating thread btw.

….. dear OP, You are Stacey’s mum.

all the members kept boosting Hannah up and making sure she still felt included which was kind. Hannah and her parents felt like they couldn’t kick up any sort of fuss, they are easygoing amiable people and Hannah was just glad of the opportunity however later admitted she did get sad about it.

i think a certain two of them got pushed into roles, one being “the girl everyone wants to be” and the other being “the heart throb”.

another member was sometimes known as the professional as he had a lot of west end experience before the band. And another was known as the calming influence.

She is a make up artist.

What was the deal with the Saturdays? Did the other s club 8 girls get a chance to be in this band too? There were better singers than Frankie and Mollie definitely as I remember

No. Truthfully i think if the other girls had been added Simon fuller would’ve kicked up a stink about it. Another management company managed the Saturdays. The sc8 lineup “belonged” to fuller. Frankie and R knew each other before SC8 so there wasn’t that Simon fuller link there.

the Saturdays were held by private audition, ie agents would put certain girls forward. I remember they were very keen to get Frankie on board once they’d got Rochelle in the auditions and persuaded her to come to the final selection which a lot of other potential girls found unfair as they had to audition through stages.

@BeEagerEagle did you miss this one?

They got regular vocal coaching throughout from the grants, and regular dance coaching.

It’s hard. Of course you want to be realistic but you also want to support them. Luckily my child has a sensible head and does a steady job while trying to pursue music on the side.

voice lessons with the grants were a regular thing, dance lessons were a regular thing, they got a bit of drama coaching towards the end.

Thanks for answering. I think it’s a real shame they couldn’t all have been in that band because truthfully the fame that three of them have now could have been any of the girls had they had that same chance with the Saturdays.

I understand the disappointment of the remaining members who maybe haven’t achieved the same, I’ve experienced something similar many years ago. Ultimately it’s never too late and they should stick with their dreams and not be too demoralised. It was just luck with the others.

Which 3 girls are famous? I can only think of Frankie and Rochelle?

Mollie as well, lots sponsorship deals and DJ on radio 1 I think??

Oh nooo mollie wasn’t sclub was she?! I think because she was on xfactor or similar that’s what I meant. My bad!

I have really enjoyed this thread, thanks OP. I was a bit too old for a club juniors as I was 17 when they got together, but I do remember them and a few of their songs.

Did they ever have any major fallouts that required management to step in or was it all just the usual teenage drama stuff?

There was a fallout between two band members at the end, but nothing major. Us parents regularly bickered with each other more than the kids.

Were you like the mums on Dance Moms? 😂

I’ve not actually seen that. Funnily enough, most of the pushy parents i saw were actually ones during the audition stages whose children weren’t successful at the last stage. applicants who made it to the final but didn’t get in the A or B team still got to meet s club 7 as they helped judge, and i remember one parent yelling at Paul Cattermole why wasn’t her son chosen. While her son stood there blushing. She had to be removed and it was cut out the show. Funnily enough- this son is also very famous (in the UK) now and does TV presenting! As in, more famous than 2/3 of the band are today. So maybe she was doing something right.

the band started as seven members and two members got brought forward from the B team, it was done behind the scenes however i remember a lot of upset when other people in the B team (normally their parents) found out.

as for the 9 chosen, one parent rubbed us all up the wrong way but wasn’t pushy per say. Her son was the one removed. From the remaining 8, parents all seemed nice but i do remember one child’s parents telling them that they had to take it seriously and no messing about or having fun as this was their career. I notice in a lot of the earlier press shots they are all grinning wildly apart from this one child a lot of the time. The child never complained bless em, they’d had a lot of previous experience and really acted like a little adult most of the time. They loosened up the longer they were away from their parents however the parents would ring them a lot.

I think the rest of us parents were so bemused as it was only meant to be one gig and everything was rushed so quickly, we had a week to decide whether to sign our kids over and not see them again for weeks.