Lisa Scott-Lee
Lisa Scott-Lee |
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Lisa Michelle Scott-Lee (born 5 November 1975 in St Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales) is a Welsh singer and a graduate of the Italia Conti Academy stage school, who is best known for her five years with one of the most successful UK pop groups of all time, Steps.
Career story
Steps (1997-2001)
Scott-Lee is best known for her five years with one of the most successful UK pop groups of all time, Steps. The group, which came together in 1997 and had 14 top 10 singles in the UK, split up on Boxing Day 2001.
Early solo projects and career (2002-2004)
She spent a short time managing her three younger brothers, including Andy, in a group of their own called 3SL. After little success they were dropped from their label, and split up.
Deciding she would go solo, Lisa was signed to Mercury Records and stepped back into the limelight in April 2003 with her debut single, "Lately", a song which she co-wrote. The single was released on 12 May 2003 and pulled into the singles chart at a respectable number 6.
On 8 September 2003 she released her second single (also co-written by Lisa), "Too Far Gone", which entered the charts at number 11.
Mercury parted company with Lisa when they feared her success may be limited. She was left without a record company. As a result her album, "Unleashed", was cancelled, although promotional samplers had already been released.
Scott-Lee went on to be featured in the Girls of FHM music video for "Do You Think I'm Sexy?" in the summer of 2004, all the while preparing to release a new single.
The single, "Get It On", was a collaboration between Intenso Project and herself. At the time the song was created they had yet to score a record deal for the song and were forced to self-fund the video. Eventually Ministry of Sound picked the song (just the song, not them as a group or Scott-Lee as a solo act) up and it was released on 28 November 2004. Despite numerous personal appearances and various promotional events, the song charted at number 23.
Totally Scott-Lee (2005)
In the summer of 2005, it was revealed that a camera crew from MTV had been following Scott-Lee for nearly a year, tracking her life, and those of her husband (Johnny Shentall of Hear'Say), her brother (Andy Scott-Lee), manager (Nathan Moore), and her brother's girlfriend Michelle Heaton (of Liberty X). The show was to be the UK version of Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.
As time passed more information was revealed. The show, penned Totally Scott-Lee, originally Scott-Lee Unlimited, was to follow Scott-Lee on her effort to put her career back on track. The challenge of the show was that she had to score a top ten hit with her next single, or she would be forced to quit the music industry.[1]
She was signed to a small record label, Concept Records, and began recording songs for her next single. Concept chose "Electric" and starting making plans for its release. The single had to be released on 10 October 2005 in order to meet with deadlines for the MTV show.
The female head of Concept Records has gone on record (on the show and in private) several times saying that she was against the record being released on this date.[2] One of the main reasons for this was that it would have very little promotion time (5 weeks as opposed to the usual 8-10 weeks).
The song was released and, despite a television show backing her, it failed to reach the top ten, as "Electric" charted at number 13.
Other "highlights" of the show include Scott-Lee's brother Andy proposing to his then-girlfriend Michelle Heaton in a restaurant, the constant arguments between her and her family. The show was controversial and attracted widespread criticisms[citation needed]. The show has recently started screening in foreign markets.
Further solo career plans (2005-present)
Following the failure of Electric to achieve its targeted top 10 position (by only around 500 or so, after selling well over 8000), plans were announced to release "Electric" in Japan, Australia, Germany and South Africa.
In Australia, "Electric" spent two weeks in the Top 100, but failed to chart in the Top 40. She went to South Africa and Germany to promote the single, but did not go to Australia. Despite the failure to chart, the album will be released in Australia.[3]
She released Boy on the Dancefloor, a song from her unreleased album, on her website as a Christmas gift to her fans in 2005. The MP3 download came with a note which read "Merry Xmas from Lisa and all of the LSL team, we hope you love this free Xmas gift and have a great time singing and dancing along."
Lisa Scott-Lee won three Naomi Awards in 2006: Worst British Female Solo Artist, Worst Pop Act and Worst British Single (Electric).
In April 2006, it was announced that her first full length solo album would be called Never Or Now, and that the UK version would be different to the international version. It's not known which countries have decided to release Never or Now. [3]
In May 2006 Lisa and Nathan parted ways. Scott-Lee also parted ways with her Australian management, Williamson Management[citation needed].
On 28 November 2006, release dates were announced of Never And Now around the world. The UK digital release date was supposed to be March 26th, presumably to capitalise on her success in Dancing On Ice. However, following her defeat in the sixth episode, Lisa's debut album was delayed again.[4]
Dancing On Ice (2006-2007)
On 1 October 2006, it was announced that she would "film a great new TV show for mainstream TV" on her official website. It later emerged that the TV show in question was the second series of ITV's Dancing On Ice, although this was not officially confirmed until late December 2006.
Lisa's participation in "Dancing On Ice" began on January 20, 2007. On Saturday 24 February 2007, Lisa lost in the dance off on the Dancing on Ice TV Show finishing in 6th place.
Her association with Dancing On Ice continued between March and May 2007, when she took part in Dancing On Ice: The Tour which toured across the UK.
Never Or Now (2007-present)
Her first solo album Never Or Now was released in South Africa by Sheer Music on 26th March, 2007.
'Never Or Now' was released in the UK as a music download on the 18th June, 2007. A CD version has also been released in Belgium and the Netherlands. On 16th of July - The album shall have an import release and has been confired by Play.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Discography
Albums
- 2007: Never Or Now - Concept Records
Singles
| Year | Single | UK | IRE | BEL | AUS | GER | AUT | FRA | ISR | CHN | JAP | SUA | HOL | LUX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Lately | 6 | 24 | — | — | 80 | — | — | — | — | — | 52 | — | — |
| Too Far Gone | 11 | 39 | 36 | — | 80 | 102 | 98 | 52 | 80 | 64 | — | 20 | 15 | |
| 2004 | Get It On (Intenso Project feat. Lisa Scott-Lee) |
23 | 57 | 20 | 56 | 60 | 75 | 63 | 40 | 39 | 29 | 40 | 18 | 10 |
| 2005 | Electric | 13 | 60 | 20 | 60 | 50 | 88 | 78 | 39 | 90 | 58 | 39 | 27 | 20 |
Personal life
- She is a quarter Chinese by her grandfather.
- Her husband is the former Steps dancer and Hear'Say singer, Johnny Shentall.
- Lisa's 'Get It On' music video was ranked in the FHM top 100 sexiest music videos.
References
- ^ Lisascottlee.com Official page for Totally Scott-Lee. Accessed: September 3, 2006
- ^ Generationsteps.co.uk Episode 4 of Totally Scott-Lee. (Accessed: September 3, 2006)
- ^ a b Lisascottlee.com Official forum message. Posted: 21 April 2006. Accessed: 3 September 2006
- ^ http://www.lisascottlee.com