Girls On Top
26 December 1999 - Sunday Times

All Saints are far hipper than the Spice Girls, and we're likely to see a lot more of them in the next century, says KATE THORNTON

Saints alive: from left, Mel wears shirt and trousers by Owen Gaster, embroidered bracelet by Whistles. Nat wears top by Amaya Arzuaga, trousers by Agnès b, cuff by Copperwheat Blundell. Shaznay wears vest by Kostus Mudurkos, trousers by Maharishi. Nic wears top by DKNY Jeans, trousers by Maharish
Photographs: Tim Bret-Day
Hair: Alex Price; Make-up: Ellie Wakamitsu

Girls On Top
Three years ago, the British charts were somewhat lacking in inspiration. Bland boybands and faceless dance acts gridlocked the Top 40, and the cartoonlike Spice Girls provided the only distraction. Then along came four scruffy girls, drenched in attitude, who appeared to be the real thing: an authentic, non-manufactured pop group who wrote material that was as sassy, cool and compulsive as they were.
As timing goes, All Saints couldn't have got it more right. With Pete Tong and Nellee Hooper to beef up their sound, they encapsulated everything 16- to 24-year-old Brits aspired to. More important, they earned the respect

of their fans with their refusal to compromise: no scantily clad photo shoots for lad rags, no cringy product endorsements, and instead of singing about never-ending friendships, All Saints rapped and harmonised about one-night stands and being dumped by lovers. Unwittingly, they became the blueprint for the perfect 1990s pop stars: they pioneered the decade's must-have fashion garment (the combat trouser) and dated hip, celebrity boyfriends (Jamie Theakston for Natalie, Robbie Williams for Nicole, and former Jamiroquai bass player Stuart Zender for Melanie).

On the face of it, the group had it all. But by the end of two years promoting their debut album, a very different picture emerged. Shaznay Lewis, Melanie Blatt and Nicole and Natalie Appleton suddenly found themselves caught up in the kind of worldwide success they had only dreamt of, but the experience and the workload left them feeling burnt-out and jaded. They were also at loggerheads with their manager, John Benson, and, to a degree, with one another. All four agree that there was a big question mark over the future of the band.

"I couldn't think straight. I knew I wanted to continue with All Saints, but I was worried that I wouldn't have the strength," says Natalie, 26, the quick- witted worrier of the group, who juggles her band duties with raising her seven-year-old daughter, Rachel. "I used to look forward to flights because it meant I could sleep and nobody could contact me on my mobile."

"This time last year, I was hating it," admits 25-year-old Nicole. "There was so much going on that you just get to the point where you think you can't take it any more. I was rumoured to have quit All Saints, but the truth was I'd had a fight with the girls and I went to stay with Rob and his mum for a few days. The bottom line was we didn't know what was going to happen to us. I was unhappy and scared that Mel would leave because she was pregnant. It was a very draining experience, but we all agreed that we'd worked too hard to let other people mess things up for us."

Taking control meant assigning a new management team and making sure they had more say in every element of their careers, starting with some time out to reflect and recharge their batteries.

"To a degree, our success turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax," says Mel, the 24-year-old mother of Lilyella, now one. "It wasn't everything we'd thought it would be, and it left me without any goals. Taking some time off has sorted a lot of that out and I'm excited about work again."

While Mel, Nat and Nic believe that they remained unchanged at the peak of their fame, the songwriter, Shaznay, 24, the quieter, more considered of the four, takes a slightly different view.

"I think it did change us, because none of us, not even the record company, was prepared for how quickly All Saints took off. We didn't turn into monsters, we were just overwhelmed and exhausted. This past year has

been good for us because we've had a base, a place to call home, and we've been able to do things for ourselves again, like food shopping and laundry. For a while all of that was done for us. When we came off the road, it was like

I didn't know how to take care of myself any more."

Although it has been more than a year since the release of their last single, All Saints haven't exactly been resting on their laurels. While Shaznay has been writing for the second album, the others made their film debut in Honest, an East End tale about three bank-robbing sisters, set in the 1960s. It was directed by the Eurythmics star Dave Stewart.

"We're really happy with the film. It's a romp, it's not to be taken too seriously," says Natalie, who is currently "totally loved up" with the Trainspotting actor Jonny Lee Miller. "Because of a sex scene I do in it, they are now saying it might have to have an 18 certificate, which I'm quite pleased about. It's a film for adults, and I don't want our young fans seeing us with our clothes off. I don't even want my father at the premiere. Nic and I have banned him because we are too embarrassed about him seeing us topless and having sex."

For the foreseeable future, All Saints have two sets of priorities, which they plan to treat with equal importance. Professionally, the year 2000 is already eaten up with the release of the new album in the spring, the movie in May, and a new single, Pure Shores, in early February. It's on the soundtrack for Leonardo DiCaprio's next film, The Beach, and has been produced by William Orbit and Shaznay.

Personally, all four girls have boyfriends they want to concentrate on. Nicole, who is no longer seeing Robbie Williams, has just started dating someone new.

"He's just a guy, and it's very early days. But I'm very happy with the way that side of my life stands," she says. Shaznay, meanwhile, is in a long- standing relationship with the former All Saints dancer Christian Storm. This, she reveals, has proved to be a source of anxiety to her A&R men, concerned that such domestic bliss will prevent her churning out another classic ballad like Never Ever.

"The record company want another Never Ever, but I haven't just broken up with my boyfriend, and I'm not feeling like that just now," she says. Happy Ever After just doesn't have quite the same ring, but that's the way things are looking for All Saints at the break of the next century

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