B*Witched
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| B*Witched | |
|---|---|
| Origin |  Ireland |
| Genre(s) | Pop |
| Years active | 1998—2002 |
| Label(s) | Sony BMG Epic Glowworm |
| Former members | |
| Sinéad O'Carroll Edele Lynch Lindsay Armaou Keavy Lynch |
|
B*Witched were an Irish girl group who enjoyed success in both the European and the North American music scene throughout the late 1990s. They were characterised by their distinctive mixture of Irish folk music with mainstream pop and were perhaps best known internationally for their debut hit C'est la Vie.
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[edit] Overview
B*Witched comprised of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Sinéad O'Carroll and Lindsay Armaou.
Edele and Keavy's brother and a member of The Young Knives, helped them find a manager who got them signed to Glowworm Records, a subsidiary of Epic Records.
They released their debut single "C'est La Vie" on May 25, 1998 to mixed reviews, though it reached No. 1 on the UK charts, making them the youngest female group ever to do so. They went on to reach the top ten in the United States as well. Their debut album, B*Witched, was released on October 12, reaching No. 3 in the UK charts. It would later be certified double platinum. Very rare dolls of the group were made by Yaboom Toys.
The band deliberately cultivated a tomboy image. To appeal to a younger audience, B*Witched also lied about their ages in their early years. Despite being dismissed as a throw-away pop act, the girls co-wrote many of their own songs, including 5 of their 7 UK singles. In early 1999, they had a debut televised concert in the United States with British band Five at Disneyland, which was later released on home video.
B*Witched was the first Irish group ever to have its first four singles all enter the UK charts at No. 1.
Their second album, Awake and Breathe, released in 1999, peaked at No. 5 on the charts and sold nowhere near as many copies as their debut. The singles from the album reached No. 4, No. 13, and finally No. 16, a disappointment for the group and record company, but the girls continued to tour the globe and began work on their third album with producers Ray "Madman" Hedges and Richard Stannard. After a successful tour in Europe the group decided to tour in America. They joined The All That Music and More Festival and helped headline the tour with LFO and Blaque. "Across America 2000" was released in the US, featuring covers of "Mickey" (which was featured in the teen film Bring It On) and "Play That Funky Music", and they re-appeared a few months later on The Princess Diaries movie soundtrack with "Hold On" - a track taken from their third album. They appeared on the American soap opera General Hospital on July 4, 2001.
Their eighth single, "Where Will You Go", was scheduled for a summer 2002 release, but the group was dropped by their record label whilst in America waiting to fly to Africa to shoot the promotional video for the single. Keavy & Edele confirmed that the band were not actually in Africa when they received the call when they appeared on the Podge & Rodge show, an Irish television show, on New Years Eve 2006. Plans for a new deal with Telstar records fell through later that year, and they officially split in September 2002 after Sinéad O'Carroll left the band, although on her website Lindsay Armaou has since insisted that all four members remain friends.
In February 2008, they will be playing events in Dublin City University and Maynooth College Ireland.
[edit] Members
[edit] Lindsey Armaou
Lindsay Gael Christian Rose Armaou (Greek: Λίντσεϋ Γαίηλ Κριστίαν Αρμάου) was born 18 December 1977, Athens, Greece) to a Greek father and Irish mother. As with bandmate Sinead, her age was lied about in the early days of the band, some stating that she may even have been born in 1980.
After the band split up in 2002, Armaou was quick to set up an official website the following year. She has been working on new solo material for the past few years and told fans in December 2005 that "workwise, I've had some positive feedback on the record company front. That's all I can say for now as nothing is set in stone. But put it this way, I'm feeling very positive about 2006".
Armaou can play piano,guitar and Theremin, learning all of them before she was thirteen years old.
Armaou is also well known for her long-term relationship with 911 frontman, Lee Brennan. The couple announced their engagement in January 2006, and were married the following September. [1]
She unveiled new material for the first time in July 2006, playing a short gig in London.
She joined the band Clayton (formerly known as Callaghan) in May 2007, as singer and co-writer. They played several gigs, including on Second Life.
[edit] Keavy Lynch
Keavy-Jane Elizabeth Annie Lynch (born 15 December 1978[citation needed] in Dublin, Ireland) remains somewhat active in the music industry, forming Ziiiing!, a production and songwriting company, with musical partner Alex Toms. She is also working on a musical called "Guilty", and took the lead role in a pantomime performance of Snow White in December 2005 at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham.
Keavy and her twin sister Edele have now formed a duo called 'Ms Lynch' and are working on their new album. Tracks include 'Tip It', 'Diet Coke', 'What's Up', and 'Poppin In'
In 2007 Keavy admitted that when B*Witched were forced to split, after their record company dropped them, she contemplated suicide. [2]
In 2006, two former members of the group have re-formed to do shows at colleges in the United Kingdom, including playing at the Freshers Ball at the University of York. Videos have been posted on YouTube, many to indifferent reviews. In May 2007, Keavy Lynch suggested that the group are to fully reform after the former members were approached to join reforming Steps, N*Sync, S Club 7, Atomic Kitten and the Vengaboys for a one off gig named The Battle of the Pop Bands.
[edit] Edele Barrett
Edele Theresa Christina Orla Lynch-Barrett (born 15 December 1978[citation needed] in Dublin, Ireland) was a member of the band along with her twin sister, Keavy. Her brother Shane is a member of boy band Boyzone. Since leaving the group she has been writing for Xenomania team. So far she has co-written Girls Aloud - Some Kind Of Miracle as well as co-writing the Sugababes - Situations Heavy.
On August 9, 2006, Edele married Michael Barrett. [3]
Edele and Michael welcomed their first child on 7 July, 2007 at 7:09 a.m. Daughter Ceol Sheila Barrett weighed in 6 pounds, 5 ounces. [4]
Edele and her twin sister Keavy have now formed a duo and are working on their new album. Tracks include 'Tip It', 'Diet Coke', 'What's Up', and 'Poppin In'.
[edit] Sinéad O'Carroll
Sinéad O'Carroll was born Sinéad Maria O'Carroll, on 14 May 1973, in Dublin. Although the official B*Witched websitegave her year of birth as 1978, she later admitted that this was a lie.[5]
It was her departure from the group in 2002 that broke up the band, and since then she has embarked on a string of solo projects, with mixed success. She spent some time managing a new girl group, Minx, until their somewhat early demise in 2004, but recently set up a musical workshop known as Star Academy to help talented youngsters succeed in the music industry.
She has stated that she does not wish to return to the music business as an artist in her own right, disliking the levels of control that record companies can exert over musical acts - something that she claims to have fallen victim to in the final months of her time in B*Witched.[citation needed]
O'Carroll got married in Ireland in June 2006.
In November 2007 Sinead starred in an episode of the Irish soap Fair City as a hotel receptionist.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Statistics | Singles |
|---|---|
B*Witched
|
Singles Released |
Awake and Breathe
|
Singles Released |
[edit] Singles
All regularly released singles and their chart positions in Ireland (IRL), the United Kingdom Singles Chart (UK), the United States (US) and Australia (AU).
| Year | Title | Album | IRL | UK | U.S. | AU | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | "C'est La Vie" | B*Witched | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | - |
| "Rollercoaster" | 2 | 1 | 67 | 1 | - | ||
| "To You I Belong" | 4 | 1 | - | 35 | - | ||
| 1999 | "Blame It on the Weatherman" | 9 | 1 | - | 48 | - | |
| "Thank ABBA for the Music" | ABBAMania compilation album | - | 4 | - | 9 | with STEPS, Tina Cousins, Cleopatra and Billie | |
| "Jesse Hold On" | Awake and Breathe | 6 | 4 | - | - | - | |
| "I Shall Be There" | 29 | 13 | - | - | featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo | ||
| 2000 | "Jump Down" | 26 | 16 | - | - | - | |
| "Across America 2000" | Single-only release | - | - | - | Only released in the U.S. The song "Mickey" was featured on the Bring It On soundtrack |
- A dash indicates the song did not chart or was not released in that country.
[edit] Other songs
1999: Does Your Mother Know - from the ABBAMania compilation album
1999: Get Happy- from the Pokémon: The First Movie soundtrack
[edit] External links
- B*Witched at the All Music Guide
- B*Witched discography at MusicBrainz
- Lindsay Armaou Official Website
- Official Keavy Lynch site
- Keavy And Edele's MySpace
- Lindsay Armaou at the Internet Movie Database
- Keavy Lynch at the Internet Movie Database
- Edele Lynch at the Internet Movie Database
- Sinéad O'Carroll at the Internet Movie Database
| B*Witched |
|---|
| Edele Lynch | Keavy Lynch | Lindsay Armaou | Sinéad O'Carroll |
| Discography |
| Albums: B*Witched | Awake and Breathe |
| Singles: "C'est La Vie" | "Rollercoaster" | "To You I Belong" | "Blame It on the Weatherman" | "Jesse Hold On" | "I Shall Be There" | "Jump Down" | "Across America 2000" "Someday" |
| Related articles |
| Glowworm Records | Thank ABBA for the Music |
