The Girl group took the 90’s by storm, with their girl power, close bonds and messages of female empowerment, combined with new, innovative dance choreography and individualised fashion statements. For these lovely ladies the music industry was the perfect platform to spread the word on the issues faced by women and help pave the way for gender equality.
The third wave feminist movement began in the early 90’s, with the focus of embracing individualism, diversity and sought to redefine what it meant to be a feminist. Through this time female musicians wrote songs based on women's issues and empowerment, driving up the popularity of girl bands and spreading the message around the world.
The decade was a creative time in music bringing a blend in genres such as, Urban blended with Soul, funk and jazz creating fusion genres like neo-soul, hip-hop soul and g-funk. Rocks popularity continued to grow resulting in new genres emerging like alternative rock, grunge, nu metal and punk.
The 90’s also saw a growth in popularity for electronic music as well as the creation of new genres like trance, europop, trip hop and happy hardcore. While pop music maintained it’s growing popularity, the love of the girl or boy band across all genres sent the 90’s teen crazy.
A lot changed in music throughout the decade, making it one of the best decades in music of all time but no doubt the 90’s was the era of the girl band, so here are the 10 girl groups of the 90’s we all know and love:
1) TLC was an American R&B/Hip Hop group Formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1990. Consisting of three amazing women, Tionne “T-Boz” watkins, Lisa “left eye” Lopez and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. With nine top-ten hits on the Billboard top 100, including four number-one singles "Creep", "Waterfalls", "No Scrubs", and "Unpretty, TLC became the best selling girl group in America and second best selling girl group in the world. Billboard magazine ranked TLC as one of the greatest musical trios, as well as the seventh most successful act of the 1990s.
All three members of TLC are considered irreplaceable by the other members, following the death of Lisa Lopez in 2002, instead of replacing her, the remaining members chose to continue as a duo. On June 30, 2017, they released their final album "TLC” they have clarified that they will not split up following the album's release and will continue to perform together.
2) Salt N Pepa are an American Hip Hop/Rap girl group who formed in the 1985, New york. Members Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Deidra “Dj Spinderella” Roper made their impact on hip-hop by being one of the first all-female rap groups.
With lots of concerns about sexist lyrics and video clips that objectified women's bodies in hip hop music, many feminists disliked rap and hip-hop music because of its bad portrayal of women. However, Salt-N-Pepa changed the look of hip hop. They flaunted sexy clothing and were not afraid to talk about sex and their thoughts about men, with hits like “Let's talk about sex” “push it” “Shoop” and “whatta man” Salt N Pepa paved the way for many female groups to follow.
3) Spice Girls are a British pop group formed in 1994, who originally had five members Melanie Brown "Scary Spice", Melanie Chisholm "Sporty Spice", Emma Bunton "Baby Spice", Geri Halliwell “Ginger Spice”,and Victoria Beckham, née Adams "Posh Spice".
Their debut album Spice sold more than 31 million copies worldwide, becoming the best selling album by a female group in history. Some of the many hits the girls released are “wannabe”, “say you’ll be there” “2 become 1” “mamma” “spice up your life” and “viva forever”. Three of the members where rumoured to be reuniting, which was postponed due to Geri being pregnant, so we can look forward to more girl power in the future.
4) Destiny’s Child was an American girl group whose final, best-known line-up comprised of Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams, who formed in Houston, Texas in 1997.
It was Destiny’s Child's second album that shot them to stardom with two number 1 singles “bills, bills,bills” and “say my name” at the time the group consisted of four members, by the the third album (which was released in the 2000’s) two members (LaTavia Roberson, and LeToya Luckett) were replaced by Michelle Williams, and the trio took the early 2000’s by storm. Releasing their final album in 2004, two members Beyonce Knowles (whom we all know and love) and Kelly Rowland went on to have successful solo careers that are still alive and booming today.
5) All Saints were a british pop group formed in London, in 1993. The group found success in 1996 when members Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis where joined by sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton.
With chart busting hits like “Never Ever” “Under the bridge” “Lady Marmalade” and “Bootie call” the group's debut album, All Saints, peaked at number two on the UK album charts and went on to become the third best selling girl group album of all time in the UK. All Saints have gone on to release a further three more albums throughout the 200’s including “red flag” released in 2016.
6) En Vogue is an American R&B/Pop group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones Formed in Oakland, California in 1989.
In 1996, "Don’t let go" became the group's third, and most successful single, En Vogue released several smash hit throughout the decade including “Hold on” “Born to sing” and “My lovin’” as well as releasing a further four albums in the 2000’s. In March 2015, Billboard magazine named the group the ninth most successful girl group of all time. Two of the group's singles ranks in Billboard's most successful girl group songs of all time list, "Don't Let Go" at number 12 and "Hold On" at number 23.
7) Eternal was Britain's answer to En Vogue, becoming an international success, selling around 10 million records worldwide. Consisting of sisters, Easther, Vernie and Kelle Bennet, and their friend Louise Redknapp.
In total they achieved 15 UK Top 20 hits between 1993 and 1999, with their other Top 10 hits including "Stay", "Oh baby i...", "Power of a women", "Someday", "Secrets"and "Don’t you love me". Eternal's 1993 debut album “Always & Forever” peaked at number two on the UK album charts and went four-times platinum in the UK. In 1997, they reached number one on the UK singles charts with "I wannabe the only one". Louise Redknapp left the group after the release of their debut album to focus on her solo career.
8) Dixie Chicks are an American country music band, though they also crossover into pop and alternative country. Formed in Dallas, Texas in 1989, member include sisters Martie Erwin Maguire, Emily Erwin Robison, and friend Natalie maines who holds lead vocals.
The Dixie Chicks hit commercial success in 1998 with hits like “there’s your trouble” and “wide open spaces” As of 2015, the Dixie Chicks had won 13 Grammy Awards, including five in 2007 for “Taking the long way”, which received the Album of the year Grammy Award.
9) B*Witched are an Irish group made of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou, and Sinead O’Carroll. They enjoyed success in both Europe and North America between 1998 and 2000, releasing two albums and eight singles, all of which made the UK Top 20.
Their first four singles, "C’est La Vie", "Rollercoaster", "To you i belong" and "Blame it on the Weatherman", all reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. By 2002 the group had sold over 3 million albums worldwide, splitting soon after. However, In May 2013, B*Witched revealed a new song called "Love and Money", during a radio interview in October 2013, Edele Lynch confirmed that the group would be releasing new material. On 28 September 2014, they released a new EP, entitled Champagne or Guinness.
10) Cleopatra are a British R&B/pop group whose members are sisters Cleo, Yonah and Zainam Higgins, the girls have recently reunited with youngest sister Terri stepping in for Zainam. Their debut single, "Cleopatra's Theme" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 3, The next three singles, "Life Ain't Easy", "I Want You Back" and "Thank ABBA for the Music" all followed the same success by reaching the top 5, gaining the girls BRIT Awards and MOBO Awards nominations.
Who's your favourite girl group from the 1990's? Let us know in the comments.
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