Blue Sky (group)

Blue Sky is an American girl group formed in in 1998 by  and originally introduced to  by. The group's most famous lineup consisted of of Janelle Mercer, Kelsey Pool, Lily De Vriendt, Gabby Abellon, and Kathie Beeks. The group achieved worldwide success with the internationally successful singles "Good Good Girl", "Alias" and "Destiny (Be With Me)". The group's self-titled first studio album was certified two times platinum by the RIAA in 2001. The group went on hiatus in 2005. In 2010, Mercer, Pool, Beeks, and Abellon reformed Blue Sky for a series of concerts in at. Since their comeback, they have released several new singles and three new albums (including one with De Vriendt after she rejoined the group in 2017).

Formation: 1998
Blue Sky were formed by in 1998, when 20-year old  native Janelle Mercer was joined by 17-year old Lily De Vriendt of,  and 21-year old Gabby Abellon of ,. Lily was the youngest of the group. Pearlman then brought in 19-year old Kelsey Pool of after several auditions. The group finally recruited a fifth member, 22-year old Kathie Beeks of, who had been working at while on a  scholarship. Beeks had been recommended to Pearlman by member  after being introduced to her by Beeks' older brother Masta Control.

After several weeks of rehearsals, the group signed with Pearlman's Trans-Continental Label, and had their first public performance at on May 19, 1998, before being sent to  to record their first few songs under producer. The band were signed to for the German market and /Trans-Continental for the international market. The group then moved to, to do European promotional work.

International breakthrough: 1999-2000
Their first European single "Destiny (Be With Me)" was introduced to American radio by DJs from in  after the program director heard it on radio in. It was eventually released in the U.S. as the debut single for the U.S. release of their debut album, Blue Sky.