The Cheeky Girls

The Cheeky Girls are a music duo, Monica and Gabriela Irimia, twin sisters from Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, Romania working in Britain. The sisters were born on October 31, 1982 to Doru and Margit Irimia. Gabriela is older by 10 minutes.

Biography

Their early life in Romania consisted of studying gymnastics and ballet and touring with the Hungarian National Opera. Moving to the United Kingdom with their mother in 2002, the girls shot to fame as the Cheeky Girls after auditions on the British TV shows, Channel Four's Model Behaviour and more importantly Popstars: The Rivals. Following two appearances on the show with their audition which had judges Pete Waterman and Louis Walsh not knowing what to say ("cheeky" Pete Waterman was later quoted as saying they were the worst act ever), various record companies approached the Granada Press Office. The Press Office contacted Paul Holland at Granada Ventures who was able to secure them a deal with the Multipy label part of Telstar Records. "The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)" was swiftly recorded and released in the first week in December. Entering the chart at number 3 the single peaked at number 2. In the week before Christmas this was one of three singles from the Popstars: The Rivals show to occupy the Top 3; One True Voice and Girls Aloud held the other two positions.

So although they failed to pass the auditions for either show, they received enough publicity to launch a pop career, releasing four singles and one album in the UK, and also touring Europe and Asia.

Their music is primarily disco-pop. All their songs are written by their mother, who acts as their manager.

In January 2004, their first single, "The Cheeky Song (Touch my Bum)" was voted the worst pop record of all time in a Channel 4 poll although it had spent 5 weeks in the top 5 in the UK singles chart, and peaking at Number 2 for 4 (non-consecutive) weeks.

The Cheeky Girls were famed at the start of their career for rarely singing live. Contrary to public belief, they have performed live on many occasions (performances during the publicity tour for "Cheeky Flamenco" were always live).

When their record company Multiply went into liquidation in 2004 the girls turned down several deals from other companies and decided to launch their own label XBN, and have already signed Hollyoaks star Andy Newton-Lee. In August 2004, they appeared as guests in a segment on the British science-related series Brainiac to analyse the effects of stress and relaxation on concentration related tasks, such as remembering series of numbers and singing the lyrics of their song "Cheeky Girls" backwards.

In November 2004, they appeared on a celebrity duo version of the Weakest Link, in which they held the place of Strongest Link in a number of rounds.

In May 2005, they helped to open the studios of new local radio station Big L 1395, along with Cliff Richard. They have also have specially recorded a new version of "We Love the Pirate Stations" for the station. The Cheeky Girls are also involved in a lot of charity work and are very keen supporters of the UK Children's Charity ChildLine.

In June 2006, the Cheeky Girls performed with dance act N-Trance in front of an audience of 1200 at 'Big D', the end-of-year event for students of Derwent College, University of York.

According to their MySpace page, the girls will release a new studio album in 2007^[1] to be titled 'In My Mind (Is A Different World - A Cheeky One)'. It will include many new songs including a cover of Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" and "The Farm Yard Hookey" and a song called "Cho-co-late". They recently appeared as guests on ITV's The Mint to promote the album.

On 4 August 2006 London newspaper the Evening Standard reported that the Cheeky Girls were already "at rock bottom" and facing bankruptcy action in court due to the fact they had not been paid by their now defunct record company Telstar Records. The article said that the girls owed £4,500 in unpaid taxes, along with other bills due, and that Telstar owes them £2.2 million.^[2]

Later it was reported that they owed £130000 in total[1]

Personal lives

In 2005 the girls stated that they were both a UK dress size 4. They have a waist measurement of 24". The girls also used to both have a bust size of 32C (UK). In the summer of 2007 it was revealed that their chests had enlarged considerably due to surgery- now they are 34C. [2]

In December 2006 it was revealed by the tabloids that Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik had broken up with long time fiancée, ITV1 weather presenter Siân Lloyd, and was now romancing Gabriela in his Westminster flat.^[3] He was also involved in a case involving the girls' deportation to Romania.^[4]

On December 20 2006 the BBC News website^[5] reported that the girls' mother, Mrs Irimia, had promised they would bounce back with a new cheeky girl, the twins' six-year-old niece Lory, singing a new version of the Hokey Cokey.

Discography

Albums

• Partytime — #14 UK
• Partytime (limited edition) — #34 UK
• In My Mind (Is A Different World - A Cheeky One) — Digital album to be released 2007

Singles

• "The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)" — #2 UK, #3 Ireland, #6 Japan, #6 China, #17 France, #19 Germany, #59 Australia
• "Take Your Shoes Off" — #3 UK, #3 China, #4 Ireland, #4 Japan, #10 France, #15 Germany
• "(Hooray, Hooray!) It's a Cheeky Holiday!" — #3 UK, #5 Ireland, #10 China, #11 Japan, #37 France, #40 Germany
• "Have a Cheeky Christmas" — #10 UK, #15 China, #27 Japan, #46 Ireland, #58 France, #60 Germany
• "Cheeky Flamenco" — #29 UK, #31 Ireland, #50 China, #85 Japan, #125 France
• "Boys and Girls (Xmas Time Love)" — #50 UK, #80 Ireland, #107 China
• "I'm Too Sexy" - To be released in 2007
• "Farmyard Hokey" — to be released in 2007
• "Cho-co-late" — to be released in 2007

References

1. ^ Cheeky Girls MySpace
2. ^ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/articles/23342609?source=Evening%20Standard
3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6188147.stm
4. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6196675.stm
5. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6192427.stm

External links

• Official Cheeky Girls Myspace

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