Hear'say: [00] History

1st OCTOBER 2002: HEAR'SAY HAVE OFFICIALLY BROKEN UP Read our full history of the group below... FROM POPSTARS TO BREAK-UP ATH PRESENT THE ENTIRE HEAR'SAY STORY

2001 March 12th - Debut single 'Pure and Simple' released. March 18th - Debut single 'Pure and Simple' hits number 1. It became the fastest selling debut single... ever. March 26th - 'Popstars' released April 1st - Hear'Say become the first group to have a number one debut single and album - as 'Popstars' takes the album number 1 spot. April 2nd - 'Pure and Simple' goes double platinum - selling over 1.2 million copies. April 3rd - Hear'Say announce their debut arena tour. April 4th - Hear'Say announce 'The Way To Your Love' will be their next release. April 6th - Hear'Say add 4 more dates to their upcoming tour. April 28th - Plans for TV Show "Hear'Say It's Saturday!" are revealed. May 4th - Hear'Say announce the Cardiff leg of their tour is sold out - and add a few more dates! May 18th - Hear'Say record their new video 'The Way To Your Love' - then have to do it again - as the rain spoils the look of the video May 22nd - It is revealed Kym Marsh is dating Jack Ryder. May 24th - The video to 'The Way To Your Love' is premiered. June 5th - 'The Way To Your Love' release is officially announced for 25th June. June 21st - Scandul'Us cancel their own Australian tour to support Hear'Say on tour. June 25th - Second single 'The Way To Your Love' is released. June 30th - Tickets for "Hear'Say It's Saturday" become available. July 1st - 'The Way To Your Love' is announced as the UK number 1 single, while 'Pure and Simple' is at number 53 - over 3 months after release. July 22nd - 'Pure and Simple' becomes New Zealand's number 1 single August 18th - Hear'Say It's Saturday begins on ITV1, with less than impresive ratings. August 26th - It is rumoured Hear'say will release a christmas single with Popstars winners from Germany - 'No Angels'. September 1st - Rumours say that Hear'Say will release a new album before the end of the year. September 25th - Noel confirms a new album will be released in 2001, and early 2002 will see a second tour. October 19th - The video for the new single 'Everybody' is released. October 30th - The new album and single - both called 'Everybody' are announced for release in 2001. November 25th - Hear'Say announced 7th most likely to be the christmas number 1. November 26th - 'Everybody', the single, is released. December 2nd - 'Everybody', the third single, debuts in UK charts at number 4. December 3rd - Hear'Say are nominated for 'Record Of The Year' for 'Pure and Simple' December 3rd - Everybody, the album, is released. December 6th - The 'Everybody' tour is announced - it will play September / October 2002. December 9th - The second album, Everybody, debuts in the UK charts at a dissapointing 24. December 14th - The Sun reports Kym Marsh and Jack Ryder are engaged. December 28th - STEPS split. 2002 January 12th - Kym Marsh leaves Hear'Say. January 14th - Polydor deny that Kym Marsh has left. January 14th - Hear'Say are nominated for 2 Brit Awards. Best Single, and Best Pop Act. January 15th - Hear'Say's management admit their has been a disagreement - and Kym Marsh may be leaving. January 21st - Hear'Say delay a press statement that was to say Kym is staying. January 25th - Hear'Say announce that Kym has left on BBC One's Top Of The Pops. January 27th - Hear'Say announce plans to recruit a new member... with open auditions. January 28th - Kym Marsh signs a lucrative deal with OK! to cover her wedding to Jack Ryder. February 2nd - ITV2 announce a series of documentaries on the re-birth of Hear'Say February 3rd - Hear'Say begin auditioning for a new member February 5th - Hear'Say announce Johnny Shentall as the new member. February 6th - Hear'Say battle press accusations that the auditions were a publicity stunt as it is discovered Johnny previously appeared as a backing dancer with the group. February 21st - Hear'Say head to Norway to record new material March 13th - Hear'Say scrap plans for 'Everybody' 2002 Tour March 19th - Hear'Say announce they expect to release a new single in May March 29th - Reports say 'Lovin' is Easy' will be the new single April 16th - ITV1 announce 'Popstars 2' - Where two bands will be created. April 17th - Hear'Say confirm "Lovin' is Easy" will be released in July May 1st - Myleene will appear with Simon Cowell on a "Making a Popstar" video July 7th - Hear'Say announce a string of Summer Roadshow appearances July 8th - ITV1 announce "Popstars The Rivals" July 9th - Hear'Says new video "Lovin' is Easy" premieres July 10th - A Release date of August 12th is given to Lovin is Easy July 16th - Hear'Say have an encounter with a, apparently, armed gunman at a motor way service station August 13th - The fourth single, Lovin' is Easy, is released. August 18th - Hear'Say gain #6 in the UK charts with Lovin' is Easy. September 4th - Pete Waterman slams Hear'Say October 1st - Hear'Say split.

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The advert was clear... "WANTED: POPSTARS" it screamed in The Stage, the newspaper that brought Steps and the Spice Girls together. Auditions were to be held in Belfast, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester and Newcastle. Signs were not initially promising, with quality and turnout varying from poor (Belfast) to excellent (London).
Some of the people were unenthusiastic. Myleene Klass, fo one, who just went to Londone to support her brother and sister. "I wasn't nervous doing the auditions because I've done a lot now." Another doubter was Noel Sullivan, who had to be persuaded to go through with his Cardiff audition. He recalls, "There was an advert in The Echo that said, Do you want to be in the next Steps or S Club 7?, at that time I didn't, but in the end I thought 'What the hell?'
Danny Foster turned up to the London auditions late, "it was hard to know what they were looking for," says Danny. It was difficult to know who was going to be in the band."
Some of the singers were awful. "You did think that," admits Kym Marsh, who was in the Manchester auditions, along with another hopeful, Suzanne Shaw. The dancing was better in some cases, as anyone remembering Chapman from Glasgow's Ricky Martin routine will testify. By the time 163 people were selected for the next stage in Birmingham, the standard was high.
And once those 163 had been whittled down to 33 for the final auditions in London, things were about to get a lot more competitive...
By this stage things were starting to get really tense. In the week at the Brixton studios, everything was being considered as the final ten were chosen.
By now, it was just down to deciding the personalities and voices which would gel best into the band. The toughest call for the judges was deciding between Kelli and Suzanne, whose voices were similar. In the end, they went for Suzanne but the final five were not a massive suprise...
So after months of recording in March 2001 Hear'Say released their first single, Pure & Simple which went straight to the top spot and became the fastest selling debut single in the UK ever! A week later they released their debut album Popstars which also went to No.1, while Pure & Simple was still at no.1, this was a record!
In June Hear'Say followed up Pure & Simple with The Way To Your Love which also went straight to the top spot. From August to October 2001 they were on a sell-out tour throughout the UK. This made Hear'Say the first band to do a UK tour with only two singles released! During this time the band spent their time recording a second album which was to be released later.
The next single, Everybody was released November 2001 which reached no.4 in the chart. The album Everybody which followed didn't do quite as well as the first reaching only 24 in the UK charts.
Although the announcement of a new tour in September - October 2002 was announced this was soon to be postponed after a shock announcement.
In January 2002 it was announced that Kym had left the band, and that the band were to hold auditions for another member. After 4000 people auditioned on Tuesday 5th February 2002 it was announced that Johnny Shentall was the new member of Hear'Say!
After postponing the tour and months of recording it was announced that the new single Lovin Is Easy was to be released on August 12th. After storming into the charts at No.6, Hear'Say were definitely back and stronger than ever. After the next two months off for more recording it's revealed the new single will be If You Wanna Roll...