Girl Authority
Encyclopedia
Girl Authority is an American
pop girl group
from Massachusetts
.
The group consists of nine girls, ranging in ages 11 to 16. The group was established in the summer of 2005 by the group's vocal coach/executive producer Samantha Hammel
, Scott Billington
(a Grammy award-winning producer) and the CEO of Rounder Records
John Virant.
All of the girls attended musical theater together for five years before joining the group. The girls are also actresses, all acting in local theater throughout Greater Boston
.
Girl Authority's self-titled album was released on the Zoe Records
label in April 2006. The album reached #9 on Billboard
's Top Kid Audio chart and #17 on the Top Heatseekers
chart. On the album, the girls recorded past songs such as Madonna
's Material Girl
and Kelly Clarkson
's Breakaway
. The album ran several TV advertisements on Nickelodeon
.
In April 2006, the girls were invited to sing with The Dresden Dolls
at a show in Boston. The girls have also shared the stage with the Jonas Brothers
and Jesse McCartney
, and has appeared on CBS
' The Early Show
.
Their second album, Road Trip, was released on March 13, 2007. Featured on this album is a version of the early previously unreleased Depeche Mode
song called "Let's Get Together" that Vince Clarke
re-wrote for the band. 80s pop singer Cyndi Lauper
wrote a ballad for the group titled "Shine" and Tanya Donelly
wrote four tracks for the album, including "This Is My Day". The group recently recorded an EP
titled Girl Authority - Halloween Party Songs, a cover recording of Halloween
-themed songs. However, the EP
is only sold in iParty
stores.
" in June 2006 and also a theme song for the Club Libby Lu
store chain. They also released a Christmas single titled "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town". The single is only sold to listeners on Rhapsody
, URGE
, Zune
and iTunes
. They also made a guest appearance in the book series Beacon Street Girls
in July. The group held a songwriting contest for Beacon Street Girls readers. The group chose the song "I Am Me", a song written by a fourteen-year-old girl named Allison from Massachusetts. The song will then be available for free download on the Beacon Girls' website after the song is recorded. The group had also considered three other songs before choosing the winning song: Marissa from Ontario, Canada and her song "To Be the One to Find Me", Charlotte from Saskatchewan
, Canada with her song, "My Friends Bring Out the Best in Me" and Brook from Illinois
with her song, "We're Going Outside Tonight".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pop girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
from Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
The group consists of nine girls, ranging in ages 11 to 16. The group was established in the summer of 2005 by the group's vocal coach/executive producer Samantha Hammel
Samantha Hammel
Samantha Rose Hammel is an American actress, singer, theatre director, choreographer and record producer. She is from Sudbury, Massachusetts...
, Scott Billington
Scott Billington
Scott Billington is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, songwriter and blues musician.- Biography:...
(a Grammy award-winning producer) and the CEO of Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
John Virant.
All of the girls attended musical theater together for five years before joining the group. The girls are also actresses, all acting in local theater throughout Greater Boston
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston. Due to ambiguity in usage, the size of the area referred to can be anywhere between that of the metropolitan statistical area of Boston and that of the city's combined statistical area which includes...
.
Girl Authority's self-titled album was released on the Zoe Records
Zoë Records
Zoë Records is an independent record label in the United States. It is a part of the Rounder Records group.Zoë predominantly distributes albums by folk rock and alternative pop artists...
label in April 2006. The album reached #9 on Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
's Top Kid Audio chart and #17 on the Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
chart. On the album, the girls recorded past songs such as Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
's Material Girl
Material Girl
"Material Girl" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on January 30, 1985, by Sire Records, as the second single from her second album Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and in its...
and Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson is an American pop rock singer-songwriter and actress. Clarkson came into prominence after becoming the winner of the inaugural season of the television series American Idol in 2002 and would later become the runner-up in the television special World Idol in 2003.In 2003,...
's Breakaway
Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson song)
"Breakaway" is a 2004 song co-written by Avril Lavigne, Bridget Benenate and Matthew Gerrard and produced by John Shanks. It was recorded by pop rock singer Kelly Clarkson for the soundtrack to the film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement by Disney Records, where it quickly became a charting...
. The album ran several TV advertisements on Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
.
In April 2006, the girls were invited to sing with The Dresden Dolls
The Dresden Dolls
The Dresden Dolls are an American musical duo from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 2000, the group consists of Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione...
at a show in Boston. The girls have also shared the stage with the Jonas Brothers
Jonas Brothers
The Jonas Brothers are an American boy band. The band gained its popularity from the Disney Channel children's television network. From the shore region of New Jersey, the band consists of three brothers: Paul Kevin Jonas II , Joseph Adam Jonas , and Nicholas Jerry Jonas...
and Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney is an American singer-songwriter, actor and voice actor. McCartney achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama All My Children as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career...
, and has appeared on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
.
Their second album, Road Trip, was released on March 13, 2007. Featured on this album is a version of the early previously unreleased Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
song called "Let's Get Together" that Vince Clarke
Vince Clarke
Vince Clarke is an English synthpop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been involved with a number of successful groups, including Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure....
re-wrote for the band. 80s pop singer Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
wrote a ballad for the group titled "Shine" and Tanya Donelly
Tanya Donelly
Tanya Donelly is an American Grammy-nominated singer songwriter and guitarist based in New England who co-founded Throwing Muses with her stepsister Kristin Hersh. She then went on to work in The Breeders and Belly in the 1990s...
wrote four tracks for the album, including "This Is My Day". The group recently recorded an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
titled Girl Authority - Halloween Party Songs, a cover recording of Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
-themed songs. However, the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
is only sold in iParty
IParty
iParty is a chain of more than 52 retail stores in New England and the Tampa Bay Area of Florida that specialize in selling party-related merchandise as well as seasonal items such as Halloween costumes, Christmas garland, and Easter baskets during the appropriate time of year. In total, the number...
stores.
Side Projects
Girl Authority recorded "The Star-Spangled BannerThe Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
" in June 2006 and also a theme song for the Club Libby Lu
Club Libby Lu
Club Libby Lu was an experiential/experience-based retailer for preteen girls ages five through twelve. Founded by Mary Drolet, a former executive at Claire's and Montgomery Ward, in August 2000, the store chain operated 98 stores in 28 states in the United States before closing in early 2009.Club...
store chain. They also released a Christmas single titled "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town". The single is only sold to listeners on Rhapsody
Rhapsody (online music service)
Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...
, URGE
URGE
The URGE digital music store was an online music distribution service run by MTV Networks. URGE was integrated into Windows Media Player 11.URGE was opened on May 17, 2006. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Windows Media DRM, Microsoft's digital rights management...
, Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
and iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. They also made a guest appearance in the book series Beacon Street Girls
Beacon Street Girls
The Beacon Street Girls is a book series by Annie Bryant. The series, which is published by B*tween Productions, Inc., is designed for girls aged 9–14, and typically produced following consultations with various specialists in issues for girls...
in July. The group held a songwriting contest for Beacon Street Girls readers. The group chose the song "I Am Me", a song written by a fourteen-year-old girl named Allison from Massachusetts. The song will then be available for free download on the Beacon Girls' website after the song is recorded. The group had also considered three other songs before choosing the winning song: Marissa from Ontario, Canada and her song "To Be the One to Find Me", Charlotte from Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Canada with her song, "My Friends Bring Out the Best in Me" and Brook from Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
with her song, "We're Going Outside Tonight".
Albums
- Girl AuthorityGirl Authority (album)Girl Authority is the debut cover album by pop girl group Girl Authority. The album is a cover album of previous hit songs by other female solo singers and girl groups, with the exception of two songs, originally recorded by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles and ABBA...
(2006) - Road TripRoad Trip (album)Road Trip is the second album from Girl Authority. Unlike the first album, Road Trip is a mixture of cover songs and original songs performed by Girl Authority...
(2007)
Singles
- "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" (2006)
- "Let's Get Together" (2007)
- "I Am Me" (2008)
External links
- Official website
- Spice Girls For The Tween Set BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
.com - Katy Kroll - They think Top 40, and aren't even 14 Boston Globe - Bobby Hankinson