All Saints, The Story

"All Saints' story is an inspiration for anyone who has a dream and is prepared to make as many sacrifices are as necessary along the way to fulfil it. If you put your mind to something there is nothing to stop you achieving your goal." - Jeremy Case, author of All Saints. The complete, unofficial story.

Unlike so many of other music sensations, All Saints didn't answer a newspaper advert. Their story involves hard work, sweat, tears and a never-failing dedication to music. Mel, Nic, Nat and Shaz all knew they wanted to be musicians, but they had to struggle for years, living on a limited amount of food and struggling to make ends meet to realise their dreams.

Their story begins seven years ago, in a recording studio called Metamorphisis on All Saints Rd in Notting Hill, London, where two sixteen-year-olds, Shaz and Mel, met and became friends.

Shaz had been entering singing contests since she was thirteen. "I had always sung at school, wrote little poems and rapped for my friends," she says. "Even if I'd ended up working in a shop, I would still have been singing on the side." And when Shaz wasn't driving her mum mad by sneaking out to watch bands and going to rap gigs, she was in her room pretending to be a DJ. "I'd introduce a record then I'd have to be that record, so I taped myself singing everything from Madonna to Whitney Houston," she recalls. But it was by pure accident that Shaz got the big break into the music business that she was looking for. She was attending the same party as Ben from Curiosity Killed the Cat. If it wasn't for Shaz's friends, who spotted Benand told him what a talented vocalist she was, Shaz would have been too shy to approach him. Ben was interested in her, and had a chat to her about work and then he said, "Right then. Let's go down to the studio and see what you're made of." But Shaz was really worried it was a dodgy situation, but her friends encouraged her to go, and the next day Shaz met Ben at Metamorphisis.

"He just flung on this instrumental record on and said 'Sing,' so I started singing to the backing track and they went, 'Cor!' "

Without realising it, Shaz had her ticket to the music business. And it happened when she least expected it.

"You get to this stage where you find yourself constantly being in a circle of aspiring musicians and that's what happened to me," she explains. "I ended up working a lot at Metamorphisis, which, of course, is where I met Mel. After a while it all kind of fell into place that it was me and Mel working together."

Mel was just as determined to be in a band, "I'd sit on the couch and listen to everything that was going on," she says, "I used to make tea. I wasn't getting paid. Eventually they let me sing backing vocals for people. That's all I did for two years."

But that was all Mel needed to do, because that was how she and Shaz met. The found they had a great deal in common, even if there were some nerves at first. "I remember being terrified of Shaznay when I first saw her," says Mel. "I didn't have any girlfriends my age at the time and when she walked in with her mates I thought, 'God, she's so pretty.' I was really intimidated." Luckily, Shaz wasn't so timid ("I thought Mel looked really girlie, quiet and innocent," she says) and the two hit it off straight away.

"Shaznay and I were on the same wavelength," explains Mel. "We did loads of session work but we weren't really going anywhere, so we formed a band." So Mel and Shaz got together with Simone Rainford, another girl at Metamorphisis, and All Saints (Mark One) was born. Getting together was easy, but finding a name wasn't so easy. "One of the names was Spice, but we didn't think it was good enough," admits Simone. Some of the others names they considered included Slinky and Shifty. In the end they called themselves All Saints 1.9.7.5. after the recording studio and the year of their births.

At first, everything went excellent for All Saints 1.9.7.5. They were snapped up by small label, ZTT in 1993 and gave their first live performance at London's Notting Hill Carnival the following year. But the problems started generate when the trio couldn't decide on what kind of music hey wanted to make. "All we were asked to do was other people's songs," moans Mel. They released their first single in 1994, which was a cover of soul song, 'Silver Shadow' but it was a resounding failure.

But there were many other problems generating because Shaz and, in particular, Mel were not getting along with Simone. "We were only seventeen of eighteen at the time, so we were really naive and hardly knew each other and we signed the deal," says Shaz, "Simone needed to be a solo artist. I think she only decided to join because of the sake of a deal, not because she thought we all got on well together." It was only a year before the musical difference became too much for Simone, and she left during the summer of 1995.

But Simone wasn't surprised when All Saints made it big, but Simone is still struggling to get her solo career off the ground. "I wasn't surprised when All Siants made it big," she admits. "I just wish things had turned out differently. Now I'd be making millions too. I'm going to try my hardest to make it big on my own. But I haven't got any regrets. Not really."

But, back then, life was tough for Mel and Shaz too. "We were broke when we started," says Shaz. "We lived on fritters from a West London café where Mel had a tab, which is still outstanding. We used to say, 'We'll pay you back because we're going to be big one day.' It's taken five years."

Their second single, 'If You Wanna Party (I Found Lovin')', was released on 25th September 1995, but it flopped too. Meanwhile, the girls were struggling to mix their British and French influences into an original sound.

But there was one highlight to their two years at ZTT, their live performance in the Smash Hits tour. They performed with Boyzone, Peter Andre and the Backstreet Boys in November '95. "That was the bast thing ever," remembers Shaz. "I went round to Mel's house to learn a dance routine and a friend of mine sat on the bed and held up a mirror so we could see what we looked like while we practised."

The tour gave the duo an early taste of super-stardom, but off stage everybody seemed to ignore them. "There was one day when everyone else was doing TV appearances or interviews and we were sitting in the hotel doing nothing," remembers Shaz. "It wasn't like our music wasn't good enough, either 0 we'd already recorded a version of 'I Know Where It's At' - and everyone we played it to loved it. It made us think, 'Oh man, this isn't good.'"

And it looks like ZTT shared their opinion because the duo was dropped from the label. But Mel and Shaz were a long way away from chucking it all in, they saw it as a chance to work on their own material. "The Smash Hits tour made us determined to carry on and do our own thing," says Shaz.

But doing their own thing wasn't as easy as they thought. The girls were still broke and had to do odd jobs and rely on favours to survive. "I don't know how Mel and I survived," Shaz grimaces. "I even temped over Christmas, at Top Man, and it was a nightmare. It lasted about two weeks. Then I worked in a men's clothing shop for three weeks, as a favour for a friend." But the girls did earn free studio time in exchange for their singing work. But without the help from their friends and family, it's hard to see how they could have kept going.

Not everyone in the music business was out to help Mel and Shaz. "For years we'd met people in the studio who'd promise us a great deal and it would never actually happen. We were still babies. And we knew back then was we loved making music. Outside of that, we didn't have a clue," says Shaz.

But, Shaz's song writing was improving all the time and soon more vocalists were needed to sing Shaz's soulful harmonies. It was Mel's dad, a taxi driver at the time, who ran into Nic in a TGI Friday restaurant in May '96 and reunited the girls. "It was fate," says Mel.

Nic and Nat had attended the same stage school and Mel, and Nic and Mel were best friends for a year before Mel moved to France for her back operation and the Appletons moved to New York with their mum. "I never stopped thinking about her," says Nic. "I knew we would meet up again. When we ran into each other, it was as though we had never been apart."

But Mel was too embarrassed to ask Nic to join the band, so she left it to the normally shy Shaznay to pop the question. "We gave her the low-down on everything and played her some demos, which she loved," she says. "She sang to me in the bathroom of a restaurant and we knew right away she'd be perfect. I was like, 'Cool! She can join!' And that was that."

Nic didn’t have to think twice. "I'd been doing odd jobs like waitressing, working on a hot-dog stand, a lifeguard. I had nothing to loose."

But Nat was a different story. Nat was just as rapped as Nic at the thought of her joining a band, but being two years older and more business minded, at first she pondered with the idea of becoming the band's manager. "Then one day, it just clicked," says shaz. "Nat had so much energy ans was so exited about getting us a deal, it seemed only natural that she should be a part of it." Nat had to be persuaded to join the band, because she didn't want to leave her daughter, who she loves dearly, while she was overseas. But, luckily, Nat's parents stepped in and offered to look after Rachel for her. "When Nat joined, it was like the missing piece of the puzzle."

Suddenly, it all clicked. Nic and Nat's American influences gave the transatlantic music that extra edge, while Nic's energy and Nat's maturity blanded in well with Mel's mad outbursts and Shaz's quiet genius. All Saints was ready to take on the world!

With the line-up sorted out, the girls had only one thing to get - a record deal. The new-look All Saints were going to have to make many sacrifices to get to the top. "We wer eon the dole and just dedicated our lives to hanging around studios, sharing one Pot Noodle between us and recording when we could," says Mel, who admits she used to cry herself to sleep at night worrying about the band.

All Saints couldn't understand why they still didn't have two pennies to rub together, their songs could compete with anything on TOTP. Things got so bad that the girls decided to split with their manager, Paul Hallett, and try their luck with someone else. The move really helped them get off the ground, but it cost them later, because in early 1998 they were legally forced to pay him £500,000 for his part in their rise to fame.

While the outgoing and confident, Nic, was partying at a night club, she spotted a guy involved in the music business, John Benson. She marched right up to him and told him that All Saint were the best thing since sliced bread and that he would be a prize idiot if he didn't agree to be their manager. Luckily, Benson did agree and he realised that the four girls had the ability to make it to the top. "It had to be polished," he says. "But I know what's good."

But All Saints' timing was all-wrong and they kept finding they were being compared unfavourably with other girl bands. At first, everyone was saying they were too much like Eternal, then in 1996 along came the Spice Girls (or the "other group" as Mel now calls them), who exploded into the scene. Suddenly, everyone wanted their own copycat version. But All Saints stuck to their guns. "We couldn't change and be who they wanted us to be, it wouldn't have lasted," says Nat. "We decided to wait to find a label that was interested in our music and didn't want to change us. That's real girl power," adds Shaz.

All the waiting took it's toll - and All Saints were getting fed up with comparisons. Mel thinks it's remarkable that they didn't just give up. She had to rely on borrowing money from people all over west London and is still distressed about her experiences: "People see four young girls and think they can manipulate us. Who wants to be told how to look, how to wear our make-up and what to say?"

All Saints were daring enough to turn down three offers of a deal fro three labels, including Sony, because of these very reasons. "None of them cared about the songs," says Nat. "They would demand that we started showing our 'feminine side' We're not boys. We can dress like elegant women and we love to look good, but when we do our music, we want to be comfortable."

Finally, after years of striving for success, they got what they deserved. Manager, John Benson, was friends with Tracy Bennett (a guy), the big cheese at London Records. He asked Tracy to listen to a tape of the girl's songs. Bennett admits he was a bit unwilling to listen to it at first. "But when I put it on, I realised he had brought me the best demo in the whole world. There were six songs and there and they were all hits. By the time the tape reached 'Never Ever', I was getting everyone into my office to listen. I couldn’t believe my luck. I've dealt with a lot of bands, but Shaznay is the best songwriter I've worked with."

Mel Thomas, London Record's publicist, was just as impressed as Bennett, "When we first heard their demo we thought it was so good there had to be a catch," she says, "like the looked really terrible. But they turned out to be gorgeous and we were, like, we've got to sign them."

And in November 1996 that's just what they did! "It was amazing! Ad a real relief as well," shouts Mel. "We had a meeting with Tracy Bennett one Tuesday," recalls Shaz, "and by the next Tuesday we were in a studio doing our first photo shot."

London Records spent £200,000 in TV advertising for their album, that's how confident that All Saints were going to the top. "All Saints are going to be one of the biggest bands in the world," Bennett said, BEFORE they released their single!

Benson started making a video charting the girls' rise to fame. No, he wasn't being sentimental, he was being smart because he knew believed that All Saints were a great proportion, and the video would be in years to come as well. Let's hope they release it soon!

London Records believed that, for All Saints to retain credibility, they would have to build slowly to their success, but it was out of their hands. The public was lapping up anything remotely Saintly. Their first single, 'I Know Where It's At' was written an extraordinary four years prior to it's release, on 18th August 1997 and went straight to number four in early September. It stayed in the charts for an awesome eight weeks. "It's amazing to think there are so many people out there who like what we're doing," said Shaz, in serious shock.

It was the Smash Hits tour that gave All Saints a taste of adoration that was to come. Just two weeks after releasing their first single, they were voted number two in Smash Hits' best newcomers poll and number five in the Best band poll.

All Saints were on a roll and released their second single, 'Never Ever', which capitalized their newfound fame. It drew more fans, by appealing to the older audience. The song finally reached top spot on 11 January 1998, selling double platinum 1.2 million copies in the UK. In that same week, they released their self-titled album, which peaked at number two on the charts. To date, it has gone treble platinum and has sold over one million copies in Britain alone.

All Saints' third single, a double A-side 'Under The Bridge' and Lady Marmalade' was backed up by what the press called a 'mini-movie'. it included the videos for both singles and cost an immense £500,000 to make. The nine-minute film took four months to shot and was shown at 400 cinemas just before the screening of the hit movie Jackie Brown. All proceeds went to breast cancer charities. The videos are jam packed with special effects done by the experts that created the batman and Robin film. The girls did their own stunts, and Nat was lucky to escape unhurt after being knocked over by an explosion on the set.

The single exploded onto the charts, going straight to number one on 3rd May. Despite being knocked down to number two by Aqua's 'Turn back Time', All Saints proved their staying power and continued fighting back to reclaim their number one spot seven days later.

Bennett's prediction was correct, All Saints are one of the biggest bands in the world. All that hard work finally paid off. "I'm glad we went through everything," says Shaz. "There's nothing I regret, because if we hadn't gone through it all, we may not have woke up and know what we do now. It's fate - everything happens for a reason."

To date, All Saints have bagged many awards including best newcomer at Music of Black Origin awards were they performed along side queen of swing Mary J Blige and the massive Backstreet.

Then, in February '98 they won two covered Brit awards - Best Video and Best Single, both for 'Never Ever'. They were just thrilled when they won the award for Best newcomer - by the Sterephonic. To celebrate they gave a stunning live performance of 'Never Ever', backed by a full gospel choir and full orchestra.

All Saints' must have been secretly proud that they walked off with the same two awards that the Spice Girls got the year before.

All Saints have finally escaped the shadow of the Spice Girls. They had been asked about them in every interview that's done and been compared unfavourably to the group in every article printed. When All Saints were looking for a record deal, they kept being asked to be more like the Spicers. And when they finally made it to the charts, they were accused of jumping on the bandwagon, or merely riding on the back of the 'Girl Power' phenomena.

All this despite that All Saints had been around two or three years longer. Neither was their music particularly similar. All Saints had more in common with En Vogue, TLC and Janet Jackson, as opposed to the pure bubblegum pop of the Spice Girls.

Journalists made yp a 'Spice Girls v All Saints' battle. They even tried to make up Spice-style nicknames for All Saints, such as Shy Saint for Shaznay and mouthy Saint for Melanie. Unsurprisingly, these names never caught on because, while the Spice Girls emphasised their different personalities, All Saints were first anf for most a band, a group of girls with a common love for music and a shared dream. They are so much a unit, papers keep getting them mixed up, especially the Appleton sisters.

"Respect to the Spice Girls for what they're doing," says Shaz. "They make a lot of people happy. But our music's different. We're a real group. We're not manufactured. Spice is a phenomenon and it can't happen again for a long time," And she insists that there are no hard feeling (although All Saints have been known to have the occasional outburst): "Everyone goes round saying we hate them, but we don't. We admire them, because they've done what they wanted to do. We're totally different and that's that."

Smash Hits editor, Gavin Reeves, believes that the contention will soon be forgotten. "People will stop comparing them once they establish themselves," he says. "The quality of the girls' voices is exceptional, outstanding. They are sexier and more streetwise."

If you look beneath the surface, the differences between the two bands become more and more obvious than the similarities. The Spice Girls are loud and showy. All Saints are subdued, sophisticated and totally dedicated to music - tellingly they even have pop stars for boyfriends. Many people believe that there will be around for far, far longer. And in a way, All Saints are much more about Girl power than the Spice Girls themselves. Traditionally all-female groups have always had a man behind the scenes pulling the strings, but All Saints have done it all themselves, the hard way. They have stuck to their guns, refused to compromise and now their songs have touched millions of music fans throughout the world, regardless of sex, age or nationality. "We're into people power," says Nat. "Whoever you are, whichever sex, just go for it."