Girls Aloud are celebrating their ten year anniversary with the release of their singles collection Ten, but they weren’t the only group formed on Popstars: The Rivals in December 2002. Their competition, the boyband One True Voice, didn’t last even one year, let alone ten. Let’s see what’s happened to them in the nine years since they split…
Daniel Pearce (Twitter)
Daniel was, in my opinion, the most talented singer in One True Voice and in fact in Popstars: The Rivals overall. He has managed to continue working in music with a fair amount of success. He performed in the West End musical Jailhouse Rock, sang backing vocals for Craig David, reached judges’ houses in X Factor 2009 and joined Dizzee Rascal’s band. He featured uncredited on the song Dirtee Disco (look out for him as a chauffeur in the video) and appeared on Christmas Top of the Pops in 2009 singing Holiday with Dizzee. Let’s hope it didn’t bring back too many bad memories of missing out on the Christmas no.1 in 2002!
Anton Gordon (Twitter)
Anton attempted a solo career quite soon after One True Voice split, and recorded a surprisingly great song called Hot Romance with a Norwegian-Eritrean singer called Winta Efrem Negassi, or Winta for short. Although on YouTube it’s now just credited as Winta’s song, Anton appeared in the video and I believe the song did quite well in Norway. Three years before Daniel, Anton auditioned for X Factor in 2006, but unfortunately he didn’t make it past the producers, despite being a very talented singer. He is now known as Anton Romero and has collaborated with popular UK rapper Donae’o.
Keith Semple (Twitter)
Irish rocker Keith was also one of the strongest singers on Popstars: The Rivals, but made no sense in a boyband singing Pete Waterman songs. After One True Voice ended, he fronted various bands and moved to Chicago, where in 2008 he became lead singer of an American group called 7th Heaven who’d had some success in the ’80s. In 2010 he auditioned for American Idol and was one of the early favourites to reach the finals, but unfortunately had to pull out as he only had a temporary working Visa for the US and not permanent resident status. Sadly he’s now too old to audition again. Perhaps he should try The Voice!
Matt Johnson (Twitter)
Matt was lucky enough to get a solo record deal with Jive after the band ended, but it didn’t amount to anything and no music was released. Like Daniel and Anton, he also auditioned for X Factor. His audition took place in 2004 and it was broadcast, but he only made it to the boot camp stage. Only a year after One True Voice split, the failure must have been very tough for him. After that he became the lead singer of a pop-rock group called State Warning, who played gigs with McFly, supported Westlife as a solo artist, and nowadays he performs at such glamorous locations as Pontins, cruises and weddings.
Jamie Shaw (Twitter)
Jamie released an album through Decca as a child star before the band and went solo again once One True Voice split. Signed to an independent label called Rockin’ Nation Music he released a single called Different, jumping unconvincingly on the pop-rock bandwagon led by acts like Busted at the time. He supported the Backstreet Boys on tour, including performing at Wembley, which was something One True Voice never achieved as the Popstars: The Rivals arena tour was cancelled. Still, the label’s investment didn’t pay off and the single flopped. He was last seen bitterly criticising former friend Cheryl Cole’s singing skills.