FanGirls

FanGirls are a Canadian girl group. Formed in 1997 by Barry Berlin and Second Beat Records with members from and, the group enjoyed success throughout the late 1990s, becoming a international act by 1998 with the release of their first U.S. album FanGirls. They scored several top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including "The Power", "No Stopping Now", "Your Personal Femme Fatale", and "Special Report". The group also recorded three multi-platinum albums, including Girl Power and For Sale or Lease.

Having sold 94 million records worldwide, FanGirls is the biggest-selling Canadian girl group. The group's accolades include several Grammy Award and Juno Award nominations.

Formation
Kåre Berrefjord gained interest in forming a girl group for Second Beat Records, after he first listened to the ' debut single "Wannabe". Despite considering it "annoying", he considered forming his own girl group that could potentially rival the Spice Girls. Taking inspiration from the glam metal and pop rock songs he grew up listening to in the 1980s, earlier British girl group, and American all-female vocal groups such as , and , he arranged with Barry Berlin to insert classified ads in the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen in Canada, reading "WANTED: Talent for a choreographed, singing/dancing, all-female pop act for recording deal with Second Beat Records (Canada) Inc. of Toronto, Ontario. Auditions February 22 at Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto. Bring backing track on cassette or CD." 300 hopefuls auditioned on February 22, 1997, where they were placed in groups of 10 and danced a routine to "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge. After several weeks of deliberation, Kylie Davenport, Aneisha Prime, Leah Amanda Shiller, Courtney De Nittis, and Cynthia Rolland were ultimately selected. Sammy Vue auditioned shortly after receiving a phone call from Shiller about a need for an additional member. Kylie suggested the name "FanGirls", which she claimed was an in-joke about "us just trying to piggyback off the Spice Girls' success."

FanGirls' first official performance was at in,  in September 1996. Second Beat assembled a management team chaired by Berlin and Ric Rykener for the group. The group was sent to the Norwegian capital to record some songs for their debut album, which were produced by Berrefjord, JE-Boy, Kurt Evang-Aasvold and Ryan Folk; with the rest of their debut album recorded in Toronto with Berlin and Jacek Fiedorowicz as producers. The girls first began touring in Canada and European countries while Second Beat looked for a record deal. A demo tape was sent to, receiving positive feedback. The group were soon sent to perform for BMG executives. Although the record company had some concerns with the group's name and glam metal-influenced pop rock sound (the latter at a time when glam metal and "mainstream rock" were not critically well-received), along with Shiller and Vue's dancing abilities (which improved later on), they agreed to sign the group to.

After being signed to BMG Ariola Hamburg, their album We're Gonna Meet Ya was released on September 27, 1997 in Europe and Canada, entering the top 40 in, , and. The debut single, "The Power", cracked the top 10 in Canada and several European countries. After time in arranging promotional work, the group were sent to  to build their live backing band with drummer Max Arbour of death 'n' roll band Sick Satisfaction. When they couldn't find a guitarist, Davenport recommended her friend Leni Larceny, who immediately flew out to Tampa to join the FanGirls backing band.

Breaking the American market
While popular in Canada and Europe, FanGirls were barely known in the United States. It was while studying on that an American exchange student from, Joshua Bernacki, heard "The Power" on local Top 40 station CJEI-FM. Interested in the song, he bought a copy of We're Gonna Meet Ya, taking it home with him during a break in his studies. He gave the CD to a Pittsburgh radio station, 93.7 FM. WBZZ started playing "The Power"; based on positive caller feedback, the song became very popular, and quickly spread to other radio stations. The song became a radio hit before any FanGirls product had been commercially released or promoted in the US market, leading to copies of We're Gonna Meet Ya and it's singles being widely imported to the US by record stores. The story was covered by radio, newspapers and TV in the US and in Canada. The group denied rumors that Bernacki was paid to bring the album to WBZZ.

BMG had previously considered FanGirls as unsuitable for the American market and they did not have a recording contract there, but after the popularity of "The Power" in the US, they were signed to for the U.S. market. The band released their self-titled U.S. album in 1998 around the same time of the release of their second European/Canadian album, Out to Party.

Albums

 * We're Gonna Meet Ya (1997) (Europe/Canada)
 * Out to Party (1998) (Europe/Canada)
 * FanGirls (1998) (U.S.)
 * Girl Power (2000) (U.S./Canada/Europe)
 * For Sale or Lease (2002) (U.S./Canada/Europe)
 * FanGirls VI/IV (2005) (U.S./Canada/Europe)
 * Stop (2008) (U.S./Canada/Europe)
 * Don't You Dare (2011) (U.S./Canada/Europe)
 * Van-Girls (2015) (U.S./Canada/Europe)
 * Passion, Power, Pride (2019) (U.S./Canada/Europe)
 * Vandalz (2021) (U.S./Canada/Europe)

EP

 * FanGirls - Édition Française (1999)
 * Ladylike and Boyish (2004)
 * The Destruction of Oshawa with a Ballpoint Pen (2012)

Compilations

 * Pop Goes Insane (1999) ("Don't You Want Me" (originally by The Human League) with )

Videos

 * FanGirls: The Power, Live in Bucharest (1998)