Bardot
Belinda
Belinda Barbara Chapple was born in Sydney 15 January 1975.She has one sister.
Belinda started her dance career at the age of 13, and spent the next four years at the Johnny Young talent school. Shortly after finishing her final year at school, she was spotted by a local talent scout and invited to join a dance agency. "So basically, you could say I've been working professionally in this industry since I finished school", she says.
Dancing and theatre were here biggest passions at this stage, but it wasn't long before Belinda's stunning looks led her into the world of modelling. "It was a really good grounding for what I'm doing now", she laughs. But in her heart was a burning desire to make it as a singer too, so Belinda took the plunge, and joined a band. "For the past year, I've been performing with a band in and around Sydney", she told us, "as well as touring with The Tom Jones Show - I played Tina Turner, it was pretty cool!"
It wasn't easy though- there were many times when she'd sink into bouts of depression. "I'd get really down on myself because I didn't seem to be moving in the direction I wanted to go. To be honest, I was getting to the stage where I was giving up hope of ever making it."
Just when she was almost at the point of chucking it all in, fate stepped in. "I was seriously considering moving into styling or makeup, when I heard about the Popstars auditions", she recalls. "I'd done some styling for magazines in the past and I had a few contacts in the industry, so I figured I could always fall back on the experience."
Little did she know that within a few months, her face would be splashed on the covers of magazines all over the country. "Being a member of Bardot has opened up so many doors for me", she adds "so I guess it's true what they say about never giving up!"
Katie
Katie Ashley Underwood was born in Adelaide 23 December 1975. She has a older sister.
One of Katie's first public appearances was at the age of 11, when she sang a solo in front of 2000 people at the Adelaide State Theatre. "It was part of the annual public schools music festival", she says "and after the performance I was approached by three choirs to sing for them!". Realising that she may have a future in singing, Katie decided to join the Adelaide Girls Choir, with whom she sang until she was 16. On top of that she had also been playing the piano since she was six and had taken up the clarinet in high school. The violin, however, was another story... "I never quite got the hang of violin", laughs Katie. "After a year of that screechy cat noise, they gently suggested that it was time to move on!".
Following her HSC, she still had no idea what she wanted to do but decided that computers and information technology was the way to go. It wasn't long, however, before she realised that her heart just wasn't in it. "I was doing something I thought I should do, not something I really wanted." After studying maths at uni, Katie ended up working as a singing waitress in Adelaide. "It was good fun," she laughs "we'd dress up and entertain the customers.
In 1996 she joined her parents in Melbourne, where they'd moved three years prior. "I just wasn't going anywhere and my parents were dead keen for me to move to Melbourne."
It was three years later that her friends finally convinced her to do something with her talent and she went on to record a dance track which was sent to a DJ, who released it in the UK. It looked like Katie's luck was changing when she succeeded in securing a place as the singer in a jazz-swing band called Corduroy Lounge. But fate stepped in and shortly joining the band, she heard about the Popstars auditions. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Sally
Sally Polihronas was born in Adelaide 22 June 1976. She has one sister and two brothers.
Sally started her career at the Johnny Young Talent School, "I loved Young Talent Time, it was my favourite show," she says. And once the performing bug had bitten, there was no holding her back. During her performing career she satisfied her desire to be famous by performing in children's shows, pantomimes, conventions and corporate functions thorughout Adelaide. And though she always dreamed of making it big, she also realised how difficult the road could be, and wisely decided to study fashion so that she'd have something to fall back on if she didn't make it. After a brief stint with an established Adelaide fashion house, Sally jetted off in pursuit of her dream to be a dancer, working briefly in Japan before returning to Melbourne to dance full time.
Sally also spent some time at a club called Heaven in Adelaide where she handled venue coordination, marketing and PR, as well as dancing. After deciding to take a year off to improve her singing skills she took a course in marketing and management last year, never dreaming that she was about to become famous.
Sophie
Sophie Sharlene Akland Monk was born in England 14 December 1979. She has two sisters and a brother.
Sophie's singing career started pretty early. Clasically trained, she was only eight years old when she was spotted at an eisteddfod. Within days, people were calling her house, asking her to sing at weddings, concerts, and parties. "I've been getting paid to sing since I was little so I guess I've been lucky", she says.
At 12, Sophie decided to try something a bit different, and soon appeared on the TV show New Faces, "I didn't win, but I got the encouragement award," she laughs.
After leaving school, she landed a fantastic job at Warner Bros Movieworld on the Gold Coast, playing the part of Marilyn Monroe. "I didn't realise at the time how much that job would help me achieve my dreams," she chuckles, referring to the cool Marilyn audition piece that wowed the Popstars judges. While working at Movieworld, Sophie also joined a cover band called Adore. "There were four of us - two girls and two guys," she recalls "and we played mainly in club and pubs."
Juggling two jobs at the same time wasn't easy for Sophie, "I was a very tired girl," she laughs. But no sooner had she finished her stint at Movieworld, when she heard about the Popstars auditions and went on to secure her spot in Bardot. Guess that means our Sophie is going to be tired for a little while longer, but somehow we doubt the she'll mind too much.
Tiffany
Tiffany Jayne Wood was born in Newcastle, NSW, 8 November 1977. She has two sisters and a brother.
From an early age Tiffany dreamed of making it big... as a drummer! "I loved Karen Carpenter, and I just wanted to be like her", she remembers. Her mum, Judy, however had other ideas, and convinced Tiffany to try her hand at singing.
Tiffany started out at the Paul Bee Talent School, before joining a group called The Young Stars with the talent school. Although most of their gigs were around New South Wales, the group did manage to put a CD together, and were approached to perform at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. "That was a pretty big deal for us", she laughs.
Some time after Tiffany joined a covers band, earning her bread and butter from doing pub and club gigs in Newcastle, as well as taking part in modelling and swimwear competitions. "Belting out all those Nirvana and Pearl Jam songs really ruined my throat."
That's when she decided to move to Sydney, and enrol with the Australian Institute of Music to perfect her vocal technique before joining another band. "It was the best two years of my life, the guys were great and we just had so much fun!" One of Tiffany's fellow band-mates, was none other than Aleesha Rome, who has also moved on to bigger and brighter things, including supporting Bardot.
Source: http://www.crosswinds.net/~jordanlee/bardot/
As submitted by wdawes
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