Hear'Say and Liberty X, the two bands formed from the original Popstars TV show, have reunited for a 25th anniversary arena tour. The tour, titled Popstars: The Originals, kicks off on April 17 in Dublin and will play to over 150,000 fans across 13 dates. Myleene Klass is the only member not participating.
Reunion after 25 years
The original Popstars final drew 12 million viewers and paved the way for later talent shows like Pop Idol and The X Factor. Hear'Say sold 1.5 million copies of their debut single "Pure & Simple" but split after just 20 months due to public scrutiny and internal pressures.
Singer Danny Foster recalled the intensity: "If you think about sleeping, eating, all the basic needs that you need to even function in life, we weren't doing any of those. So, you're gonna reach burn out at some point. I think what we needed to do as a band was to actually take a pause and digest what had just happened. We just didn't know it was gonna be 25 years!"
Noel Sullivan revealed previous attempts to reunite had failed: "We'd approached this idea five years ago, and it didn't quite work out for us, timing wise - COVID! Now it kind of felt like at the right time for us. It hasn't felt like a push at any point. It feels like a natural thing to be doing."
Myleene Klass's absence
Myleene Klass is the only absentee from the lineup. She confirmed this week: "They did include me in the discussions but it's not something I can commit to at the moment, I just really can't."
Danny Foster explained: "Hear'Say's a family, and even though that sounds twee, we've got a WhatsApp group and we started discussing it and it's only right that everybody took their time to go away and reflect whether they wanted to be part of the project or not. And long story short, Myleene had commitments there where she couldn't be part of the project. But she will always be part of the Hear'Say family."
He added: "She's already said that she's cheering us on for the sidelines. She's very much included. It was like a bingo card you know what I mean? Nine people came back and said, 'yeah, we wanna do it'. So how can we not do this for the fans? So we're doing it. We support and love her. She supports in love us, and that's it, you know, she said it for herself."
From 'flopstars' to chart success
Liberty X, initially dubbed 'flopstars' after finishing runners-up to Hear'Say, were eventually signed by Richard Branson. They enjoyed a longer chart career, including the hit "Just A Little". Michelle Heaton recalled: "The first single was released on white label to make sure people didn't know it was us, because we thought it had a better rate of success back then. Richard Branson got in touch after seeing us on a TV show, and pretty much said that he wanted to sign us and liked what we were saying and what we were about."
Popstars judge Nigel Lythgoe, dubbed Mr Nasty, famously told a young Kym Marsh to lose weight on national TV. Kym recalls: "I was very famously called 'fat' by Nigel on TV. (You'd) think you wouldn't get away with saying that now. I think we live in a different world thankfully."
Tony Lundon explained that Simon Cowell was originally approached to judge but was too busy with Westlife. Danny Foster added: "It's one of his regrets that he didn't actually get involved, and that's why Pop Idol came afterwards, he was like, 'I was meant to be a judge, but I didn't think it would work'. But the success had been amazing."
Tour details and fan expectations
Kym Marsh teased: "There's a lot of chats to be had at the moment. I think there's ideas where there will be chunks of Hear'Say and chunks of Liberty X and maybe collaborations between the two. But it's definitely going to be something that everyone's going to love, for sure. It's got a lot of nostalgia."
Danny Foster added: "Pure & Simple and Just A Little on the same bill in an arena - two cracking songs, right?" Asked if the Hear'Say members would wear Liberty X's signature PVC leathers for a joint performance, Kelli Young smiled: "Yes." Noel Sullivan laughed: "Get me that cane!"
Tickets for the 13-date tour go on sale Friday October 16.
