All Saints

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• Genre: Teen Beat
• Hometown: London

About

The unfortunate victims of that other British, five girl, Dance Pop outfit's meteoric rise to fame, All Saints were instantaneously identified as a manufactured, cut-rate version of the Spice Girls. To be sure, they certainly looked a lot like their record chart predecessors -- right down to their hair colors -- but their image as derivative knock-offs wasn't wholly deserved. For starters, unlike the Fab Five, All Saints actually wrote all their own songs and sang them with more than a modest display of talent. Furthermore, their music was less rooted in the fun-and-games sugar pop that made the Spice Girls club and teen favorites. They focused more on gleaning the soul, R&B, and even gospel cubes to add a little more, well...spice to their brand of Pop. Even with the weight of tireless comparisons cast about their necks, All Saints managed to score hit songs in both America and Europe.

- Kali Holloway