Jo O'Meara

Joanne Valda O'Meara (born 29 April 1979) is an English

singer, songwriter, actress and television personality.

Their first album, S Club, had a strong 1990s pop sound, similar to many artists of their time.

However, through the course of their career, their musical approach changed to a more dance and R&B sound which is heard mostly in their final album, Seeing Double.

The concept and brand of the group was created by Simon Fuller, also their manager through 19 Entertainment; they were signed to Polydor Records.

Their television series went on to last four series, seeing the group travel across the United States and eventually ending up in Barcelona, Spain.

It became popular in 100 different countries where the show was watched by over 90 million viewers.

The show, which was a children's sitcom, often mirrored real life events which had occurred in S Club, including the relationship of Hannah Spearritt and Paul Cattermole, as well as the eventual departure from the group of the latter.

Prior O'Meara was also a member of a German rap/hip hop group 2 - 4 Family which was formed in 1998.

She has been a member of the pop group S Club between 1999 and 2003, which has currently reformed since 2023.

The group rose to public prominence by appearing in their own BBC television series, Miami 7, in 1999.

Over the five years they were together, S Club 7 had four UK No.1 singles, one UK No.1 album, a string of hits throughout Europe, including a top-ten single in the United States, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

They recorded a total of four studio albums, released eleven singles and went on to sell over fourteen million albums worldwide.

As well as the popularity of their television series, S Club 7 won two Brit Awards—in 2000 for British breakthrough act and in 2002, for best British single.

In 2001, the group earned the Record of Year.

S Club's second last single reached number-five in the UK charts and their final studio album failed to make the top ten.

However, on 21 April 2003, during a live onstage performance, S Club announced that they were to disband.

In 2004, O'Meara signed with Simon Fuller as her artist manager and began recording her debut solo album, planned to be released between September and December.

The album would be focused on R&B sound and Fuller described O'Meara as "the next Christina Aguilera".

In December 2004 Simon dropped O'Meara when they failed to sign with Polydor Records and had creative conflicts – he proposed that she record music from famous songwriters as Xenomania, but she wanted an authorial album.

In 2005, O'Meara returned to studio as an independent artist to record a new material, focused on pop rock style and produced by Richard Carpenter, and recorded songs like "Taxi Cab", "Lovely" or "Don't Wanna Let You Down".

In July 2005, O'Meara signed with Sanctuary Records and on 26 September was released her debut solo single, "What Hurts the Most", a version of Mark Wills's 2003 song.

The song peaked at number 13 on the United Kingdom and 26 in Ireland.

On 3 October she released her debut album, Relentless; the album peaked at number 48 in UK and it was described by music critics as "polished", "well constructed" and "better than other former boy/girl band" albums and O'Meara's Voice as "strong".

In November, Sanctuary planned to release "Relentless" as the second single, but O'Meara decided to leave the label.

In February 2006, O'Meara took part in the BBC reality show Just the Two of Us.

Her singing partner was Chris Fountain, actor on the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks.

The pair came third in the competition, failing to attract enough votes to make the final after their performance of "Never Had a Dream Come True".

O'Meara was a contestant on the Channel 4 reality show Celebrity Big Brother in 2007, where she was involved in the Big Brother racism controversy.

O'Meara was born in Romford, Greater London, to parents Dave and Barbara.

She has a brother and sister, Shane and Julie.

She grew up in Collier Row, a suburban housing estate in the north of Romford in the London Borough of Havering.

She was educated at Clockhouse Junior School and Bower Park School.

O'Meara was given a full scholarship to attend the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, where she excelled in music, acting and dance – receiving a standing ovation by the heads and principals for her rendition of the song "Summertime".

At age 16, O'Meara joined the earliest incarnation of girl group Solid HarmoniE and flew out to Sweden to work with record producer Max Martin.

She'd return to Essex and performed open mic nights until she was spotted by the S Club 7 team in a country and western bar.

In January 2007, O'Meara appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.

Along with Jade Goody and Danielle Lloyd, O'Meara was accused of racist and bullying behaviour toward fellow contestant Indian actress Shilpa Shetty, resulting in a record number of complaints to Ofcom, national and international media coverage, and condemnatory statements from the British and Indian governments.

In November 2008, O'Meara, Bradley McIntosh, and Paul Cattermole formed the spin-off group S Club 3 and had been performing in nightclubs, universities and Butlins holiday camps around the United Kingdom.

On 12 November 2008 a bottle was thrown during their performance in Bradford.