Mini Viva

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Mini Viva
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Years active2008–2010
Labels
Past members

Mini Viva were an English pop duo formed in 2008 by British songwriting and production team Xenomania. They were managed by 19 Entertainment and signed to Geffen and Polydor Records. Consisting of Frankee Connolly and Britt Love, the duo were due to release their debut album in 2010. Despite a successful first single and positive reviews, the group failed to gain further traction and confirmed their split in late 2010. They released three singles and toured in support of acts including the Saturdays and Diversity.

History[edit]

Frankee Connolly at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards 2015

Mini Viva were formed by Xenomania in 2008, when Frankee Connolly and Britt Love attended an audition held by a label called Select Music UK. Xenomania took the duo to their headquarters in Kent, and they spent a year working with the production team before their launch. They were signed to Universal Music Group in May 2009, after performing "Left My Heart in Tokyo" in the office of Universal chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge.[1]

Mini Viva supported The Saturdays on their The Work Tour in 2009.[2] The Guardian featured the duo as the "New Band of the Day" on 17 July 2009.[3] They released their debut single, "Left My Heart in Tokyo", in September 2009. Produced by Xenomania, the song was named "the catchiest single of 2009" by NME magazine.[4] It reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the highest-charting single of the duo's career.[5]

They have stated that they are inspired by Rihanna and Lady Gaga.[6] The duo's second single, "I Wish", was released in December 2009 and peaked at number seventy-three on the UK Singles Chart, spending one week on the chart.[5] In March 2010, Mini Viva debuted their interactive webcast reality show titled Viva Mini Viva. In one episode, they said that their debut album was to be released in late 2010 and confirmed the album was not titled Colloquial Obsession, as was rumoured at the time.[7] The third single "One Touch", released in May 2010, only managed to chart as high as number 124.[5] During this period, they supported dance troupe Diversity on their UK tour.

It was reported in July 2010 that although the duo's future was unclear, they were still signed to Geffen Records.[8] However, in November 2010, Mini Viva confirmed speculation that they were splitting up, explaining that "sometimes things just don't work out the way you would like them to".[9][10]

As of February 2012, Love and Connolly were both working on their own solo careers. Love was featured on "You Don't Want to Dance with Me" by English electronic duo Monarchy and auditioned for the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012 and was successful in getting to bootcamp, but failed to make it to judges' houses. Frankee later became a part of the all-female trio M.O, whose single "Who Do You Think Of?" reached number eighteen on the UK chart in August 2016. She left the group in June 2017, and was replaced by Chanal Benjilali.[11]

Discography[edit]

Extended plays[edit]

List of EPs, with selected details
Title Details
Engine Room Session[12]
  • Released: 14 December 2009
  • Label: Polydor
  • Format: Digital download

Singles[edit]

Title Year Peak chart positions
UK
[5] 		FIN
[13] 		IRE
[14]
"Left My Heart in Tokyo" 2009 7 7 23
"I Wish" 73 — 67
"One Touch" 2010 124 — —
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released
in that territory.

Tours[edit]

As supporting act

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2010 Viva Mini Viva Themselves Interactive online reality show

References[edit]

  1. ^ Davis, Johnny (October 2009). "Xenomania – The X Factor". Q (279). Retrieved 24 November 2009.
  2. ^ "Xenomania artists: Mini Viva". xenomania.freehostia.com. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  3. ^ Lester, Paul (17 July 2009). "New band of the day – No 587: Mini Viva". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  4. ^ Hodgson, Jaimie (25 July 2009). "Mini Viva Are About To Release The Catchiest Single of 2009". NME. Time Inc. UK. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d Peak chart positions for singles in the United Kingdom:
  6. ^ BBC Radio 1 interview, The Radio 1 Chart Show, 13 December 2009.
  7. ^ Copsey, Robert (29 March 2010). "Mini Viva release album, video news". Digital Spy. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  8. ^ Brooks, Laura (19 July 2010). "Mini Viva haven't been dropped. Hurray!". teentoday.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 August 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  9. ^ Love, Ryan (10 November 2010). "Mini Viva confirm split". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
  10. ^ "Pop band Mini Viva split saying 'time was up'". Newsbeat. BBC News Online. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  11. ^ "M O". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Mini Viva – Engine Room Session". Discogs. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Discography Mini Viva". finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  14. ^ "Discography Mini Viva". irish-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
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