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TrueBliss were a New Zealand
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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 ...
formed in April 1999. The band were formed on the popular television show ''
Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...
'', which aired on
TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...
's TV2 channel for nine weeks in the search for a new girl group. TrueBliss were the first ever group to be formed under the ''
Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...
'' franchise, before the concept was sold to broadcasters in Australia (who formed the group Bardot in similar style), continental
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, United Kingdom, United States and Latin America.


Formation

Five girls, Joe Cotton, Keri Harper, Erika Takacs, Carly Binding and Megan Alatini, were taken from obscurity to instant stardom overnight while enjoying commercial success with their No.1 single "
Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
". TrueBliss were managed by Jonathan Dowling, and briefly by Simon Grigg, although on TV they were portrayed as being managed by Peter Urlich, and enjoyed three single releases with label Columbia, an imprint of
Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
. The girls signed sponsorship deals with
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and
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before embarking on the 'Number One Tour' across 17 towns nationwide. Demand for tickets to the shows was so strong that matinee performances were put on in most venues. "Number One" was the follow-up to "Tonight", achieving a #12 position on the New Zealand charts. In September 1999 a cover of the
George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...
penned "Freedom" was released but failed to chart. Columbia discussed a follow-up album to the platinum 11-track debut
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in 1999, but it was never recorded. The planned first single 'We Kissed' was written by Carly Binding who then left the band in early 2000 citing personal differences. She has since gone on to record a string of hits - including releasing the aforementioned "We Kissed" as a solo single.


Post TrueBliss

South African-born Megan Cassie later married
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Pita Alatini. She also opened a hair braiding shop in Dunedin she ran herself. In July 2006 Megan Alatini reappeared on screens in ''
NZ Idol ''New Zealand Idol'', also known as ''NZ Idol'', was the New Zealand version of the ''Idol'' series which originated in the United Kingdom as ''Pop Idol''. New Zealand first saw the ''Idol'' format when TV2 aired '' American Idol 2'', which garn ...
'' as the new female judge along with
Iain Stables Iain Phillip Stables of Ngati Porou is a Maori New Zealand Kapa Haka, TV and Radio personality. In the past Stables worked on various radio stations across New Zealand beginning his radio career on Radio Windy in Wellington at the age of 14. As ...
and
Frankie Stevens Frankie Stevens (born Francis Donald McKechnie Stevenson in Wellington, 1950), MNZM, is a New Zealand entertainer and singer. He was a judge for all three seasons on the reality series ''New Zealand Idol''. He is the brother of singer Jon Steven ...
. She also played Java in Cloud 9's '' The Tribe'' along with her two sisters Monique Cassie and
Meryl Cassie Meryl Danielle Cassie (born 2 April 1984) is a New Zealand actress and singer. She has three children, a son, Rylon born in 2006 and two daughters Breeze (Born 18 October 2013) and Diaz (born 2015). She is most famous for her role as Ebony in t ...
and Atlantis High by the same production company where she played Dr. Legges. Megan and her sisters recorded music for the shows including the opening and closing songs to ''The Tribe''. Megan also competed on the third season of New Zealand's ''Dancing with the Stars'' finishing a controversial second place. Post DWTS the sisters formed a band called Nubian Angelz (Dark Angels) performing at private functions and events with the hope of recording some new music. She has appeared as a celebrity guest on many shows and is passionate about her Charity work. Megan is currently in Japan with her family. Carly Binding has had the most successful career afterwards scoring six top 40 hits and a gold-selling album ''Passenger'' as well as donating her hit song "This Is It" to the New Zealand AIDS Foundation's 'Love Is...' campaign. Her most recent album to date ''So Radiate'' was released on 3 July 2006. Joe Cotton was the winner of ''
Pop's Ultimate Star ''Pop's Ultimate Star'' was TV2 (New Zealand), TV2's reality television show which pits former reality contestants against each other, most of whom are former ''NZ Idol'' contestants. The show was produced by Eyeworks Touchdown, with first prize $ ...
'' in 2007. The show showcased winners of various Kiwi singing contests over recent years. Her other screen work included hosting TV2's Thursday-Saturday ''M2'' show (a graveyard shift alternative music programme). Joe left ''M2'' (when it was cancelled in February 2003) and after appearing on '' Celebrity Treasure Island'' became a fill-in host on the C4 music channel show ''
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''. She has recently appeared on the shows '' The Great New Zealand Spelling Bee'', ''Pop Goes The Weasel'' and '' Celebrity Joker Poker''. After hosting her own show on the New Zealand radio station
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she went on to be co-host on
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Auckland's breakfast show and currently hosts the evening show. She was also the vocal coach for
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and did backing vocals on their b-side "
Pour Some Sugar On Me "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is a song by the English rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album ''Hysteria''. It reached number two on the US US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on 23 July 1988. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is considered the band's signatu ...
" from their chart-topping single "
You Really Got Me "You Really Got Me" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by frontman Ray Davies and released as their third single in 1964. The song, originally performed in a more blues-oriented style, was inspired by artists such as Lead B ...
". Erika Takacs hosted the weekly ''Coke RTR Top 20'' show which ran on TV2 from 2000 to 2003, appeared on commercials for the chain store
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and appeared on celebrity shows. She was signed to Sony for a single "Do It" which remains unreleased. Keri Harper kept the lowest profile post-TrueBliss; although a song called 'Atmosphere' was produced by
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, it has never been released. She has also had cameos in the finale song of the 2002 "Coca Cola Christmas in the Park" (Auckland performance) and, in 2005, in the series final of the charitable show '' So You Wanna Be A Popstar?'' with all other True Bliss members except Binding. Keri has continued with theatre work including a stint with
Michael Barrymore Michael Ciaran Parker (born 4 May 1952), known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is an English comedian, influencer and television presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s, 1990s and 200 ...
in
Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' is a sung-through musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice mu ...
. In 2007 Keri competed in ''
Pop's Ultimate Star ''Pop's Ultimate Star'' was TV2 (New Zealand), TV2's reality television show which pits former reality contestants against each other, most of whom are former ''NZ Idol'' contestants. The show was produced by Eyeworks Touchdown, with first prize $ ...
'', but was the first contestant to be eliminated.


Reformation

In 2012 Megan Alatini, Joe Cotton, Keri Harper and Erica Takacs reformed the group to sing and release a single for the New Zealand Child Cancer Foundation. The song was performed live at a
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versus NSW Swifts
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game. The single "A Minute of One Day" was released via iTunes on 20 July 2012 with all proceeds going to the Children's Cancer Foundation. Carly Binding, was in a relationship with former Kiwi league player Matthew Ridge. In November 2010, the couple had a son, London Luca Ridge. The couple separated in 2014 and Binding confirmed the split in February 2015 with
Matthew Ridge Matthew John Ridge (born 27 August 1968) is a New Zealand television presenter, and a former rugby union and rugby league footballer. A fullback in both codes, Ridge played rugby union for Auckland and became an All Black, but never won an ...
. Carly Binding was not part of the reformed band.


Discography


Album


Singles


References


External links


AudioCulture profile
{{Authority control New Zealand pop music groups New Zealand girl groups Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups disestablished in 2000 1999 establishments in New Zealand