The Cheetah Girls (recording artists)

Infobox Musical artist
Name = The Cheetah Girls


Logo =
Img_capt = At the Cheetah-licious Christmas Tour.
Img_capt = The Cheetah Girls performing on their "Cheetah-licious Christmas Tour" in 2005.
Background = group_or_band
Alias = TCG
Origin = United States
Instrument = Vocal
Genre = Pop
Years_active = 2003 — Present
Label = Walt Disney (2003—)
Hollywood (2006—)
Associated_acts =Raven-Symoné
3LW
Current_members =Adrienne Bailon
Sabrina Bryan
Kiely Williams
Past_members =
Raven-Symoné
URL = [http://disneymusic.disney.go.com/artists/cheetahgirls.html disneymusic.disney.go.com/]

The Cheetah Girls are an American girl group created by The Walt Disney Company, and made famous by the successful eponymous Disney Channel original film and its sequels, "The Cheetah Girls 2" and '. The group has released three studio albums, "Cheetah-licious Christmas", ' and "TCG" and several successful RIAA certified Platinum albums including, "The Cheetah Girls ", "The Cheetah Girls 2" and "". All of their albums and soundtracks have debuted in the Billboard 200. Their first album sold over 2 million copies. The group has launched a clothing line, several perfume collections, doll lines, room decor, a book series and a successful video games line. The group has had two successful nationwide tours, Cheetah-licious Christmas Tour and The Party's Just Begun Tour. The Cheetah Girls grossed over USD $26 million from touring, [http://www.usmagazine.com/power_girls_012408?slideshow_id=505&o=5 2007 Most Powerful Girls list] ] and their merchandise has grossed over USD $17 million in revenue. [http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2006/0CH2D.php] ] The group has won seven Radio Disney awards and one 'Communications Award'.

Career

The Cheetah Girls' television movie, based on a bestselling series of young adult books of the same name by Deborah Gregory, was debuted on August 15, 2003. The film won several awards including Black Reel awards, a Image Award. The movie's DVD sold over 800,000 copies. [ [http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6363935.html] ] The film received over 84 million viewers worldwide and remained Disney Channel's top rated movie for two years.

The Cheetah Girls were supposed to be a TV series for ABC in their 2004-2005 season. [ [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1480888/20031202/3lw.jhtml 3LW To Star In TV 'Cheetah Girls' - News Story Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News ] ] The show was to begin production in early 2004, according to an article on the MTV news site, but according to another article on MTV News website in February 2004, it said "The Cheetah Girls" sitcom had been delayed, due to the success of "That's So Raven". [ [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1484867/story.jhtml 3LW's Adrienne Bailon In 'Coach Carter' - Movie News Story MTV Movie News ] ] Therefore, Raven would not be able to do the series. Although a pilot was shot in late 2003, ABC decided not to pick up the series.

In early 2005, Disney decided to turn the girls into a recording act outside of the movies. However, due to her busy schedule as well as already being signed to the label as a solo act, Raven Symoné decided not be a part of the actual group, leaving the trio of just Bailon, Bryan and Williams. In January 2005, the girls recorded for the first time as a trio and recording act for the 2005 "DisneyMania" soundtrack, remaking the song I Won't Say (I'm in Love) from the "Hercules" soundtrack.

The girls released their first recording in October, 2005 under Walt Disney Records, "Cheetah-licious Christmas," the holiday album included classic Christmas songs, as well as several original songs, one of which was co-written by all three girls. The album peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The lead single, "Cheetah-licious Christmas", was rotated on Radio Disney and a music video for the song was shown on Disney Channel. A second single from the album, "Five More Days 'Til Christmas" was released as a Radio Disney-only single. The girls went on tour to support the album that fall. Along with Aly & AJ as the opening act, the tour was successful.

The Cheetah Girls began work on their debut album in January 2006. However, when filming and recording for "The Cheetah Girls 2" came up, the album was put on hold. "We'll be making a real album, not a soundtrack", Adrienne Bailon says. "Some of the music on there will be produced by will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas", she says. "It's important for people to see us as a real musical group. We have all this great marketing around us, with the movies and other things. But we are a musical group."

"The Cheetah Girls 2" premiere received a total of over 8.1 million viewers, making it the highest rated premiere for a Disney Channel Original Movie at the time.

In an interview with Billboard about the postponed album, Sabrina Bryan stated that the girls worked on writing for the album on their Party's Just Begun tour and that they hoped to gather an audience of older fans while simultaneously staying true to their younger fan base. [http://billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003316020 Sabrina Bryan Interview with Billboard] ] . Bryan also stated that the girls would work with producers they've worked with in the past as well as exploring new producers, such as Timbaland.

The album was originally titled "Who We Are", [ [http://www.cybertlcforums.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1016421#1016421 Adrienne in Hip-Hop Weekly] ] , and set to be released on June 19, 2007 [http://www.tommy2.net www.tommy2.net] ] [ [http://www.miley5.net www.miley5.net] ] but this was postponed to September 25, 2007, with a release name of "TCG".

The track So Bring It On was released as the album's first single. Fuego was released as the second single from the albumKiely Williams via Radio Disney Uncut Interview Podcast recorded 2007-07-10] . The Girls recorded their own version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas for the holiday compilation album, A Disney Channel Holiday, which was released on October 16, 2007.

The girls began filming their third "Cheetah Girls" movie, entitled , in January 2008. It is the only movie to not feature Raven-Symone and premiered on August 22 with its soundtrack released on August 19.

Outside of the group, the girls are also pursuing solo projects. Bailon is currently recording a solo album, Bryan will release a book titled "Princess of Gossip" later this year and has filmed another fitness DVD called "Byou 2", while Williams will have a role in the 2008 film The House Bunny.

Filmography

Television

Discography

"For further information see: The Cheetah Girls discography"

Merchandise

There are Cheetah Girl based clothing lines, toys, and video games. The clothing line was made available in Sears stores, and its launch was the most successful in Sears history.

Videos games have been produced for GBA and Nintendo DS, as well as a dancemat game. Toy instruments have been produced for the children's market.

The Cheetah Girls also have a doll line, released in 2007, inspired by the Disney Channel Original Movies. There are several versions of the dolls and the four members. The dolls are currently available at Sears stores nationwide and several other retailers.

Misc.

;Book Series"For further information see: The Cheetah Girls (book series)"
The Cheetah Girls started as a book series that was written by Deborah Gregory. There are two versions of the Cheetah Girls book series. The original, which was the inspiration for the first movie, and the other by Disney authors about characters from the movies, except for Angie, who was cut from the movies. The books are best sellers and Disney ordered several other book lines due to the first books success.

;DVDsThe Disney Channel Original Movies, and the concert DVD, are released with The Cheetah Girls 2 Special Edition Soundtrack. A 20 minute highlights DVD of the Girls' The Party's Just Begun Tour was released on July 10, 2007 along with a live audio CD of the tour. The furst DVD released has sold over 800,000 copies. [ [http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6363935.html Multi Channel] ] The Cheetah Girls have also released a Calirfornia Adventures DVD and two compilation DVDs, DisneyMania 3 In Concert and Radio Disney's Totally 15th Birthday.

;ToothbrushesIn 2006, The Cheetah Girls released a toothbrush modeled after them. The toothbrush features a picture of The Cheetah Girls and plays a clip of their single Shake A Tail Feather. It was one of the most popular toothbrushes for girls between ages 3-9 in 2006, only being beaten out by the spinning, singing Barbie toothbrushes.

Awards

*Radio Disney's Song Of The Year Award (2003, Cinderella)
*Radio Disney's best song from a TV-movie (2003, Cinderella)
*National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications Awards' Best Music Video Award (2007, Strut) [ [http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/mtm/popcorn.asp Scholastic News] Accessed 2007-04-13 ]
*Radio Disney's Best Dance Style Award (2007)
*Radio Disney's Best Group Award (2007)
*Radio Disney's Best Song To Wake Up To Award (2007, Step Up)
*Radio Disney's Best Song To Dance To Award (2007, Strut)

Tours

"See: The Cheetah Girls tours"

;Cheetah-licious Christmas Tour In the winter of 2005, The Cheetah Girls went on tour to support their Christmas album "Cheetah-licious Christmas". Aly & AJ went along with them, as the opening act, to support their own album "Into the Rush", although the Jonas Brothers preformed as surprise guests opening for both The Cheetah Girls and Aly & AJ for a total of 10 shows of the tour, promoting It's About Time, their first album. The holiday theme of the concert included giant presents (in which the Cheetah Girls performed in), Winter clothes, and even a tropical theme for their song "Christmas in California", which included surf boards with the girls' names on them. The Cheetah Girls also sang songs from the first Cheetah Girls soundtrack, their song "I Won't Say I'm In Love" (from DisneyMania 3), and their version of "Shake a Tailfeather" (from the Chicken Little soundtrack).

;The Party's Just Begun TourIn July 2006, The girls stated to Disney 365, a brief Disney Channel So Hot Summer news program, that they would be hitting the road again in September 2006, however they didn't state whether or not Raven-Symoné would be joining them. However, in a later interview they confirmed that Raven would not be going with them. An ad inside of the Cheetah Girls 2 soundtrack confirmed the name of the tour to be The Party's Just Begun Tour. The concert was released to a live CD and DVD combo on July 10, 2007. The opening acts for the tour were Miley Cyrus (as Hannah Montana) for the first 20 dates, Vanessa Hudgens for the next 20 dates, and Everlife for the last 40 dates. Jordan Pruitt was also a special guest on the tour for the first 40 cities. The preteen group T-Squad was also a special guest for 5 of the 58 dates. The concert tour was a successful one, selling out every date. For the tour's finale the group performed in Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas with Miley Cyrus as their opening act. Within 3 minutes, the concert had already sold 80,000 tickets.

References

External links

* [http://www.TCGmusic.com Official site]
*imdb name|id=1169619|name=Adrienne Bailon
*imdb name|id=1170124|name=Kiely Williams
*imdb name|id=0117009|name=Sabrina Bryan
*MySpace|thecheetahgirls