Cheeky Girls extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

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The Cheeky Girls
Origin	Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, Romania
Genres	Pop, dance, Europop
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Multiply (2002–2004) XBN (2004-2006) GMI Music (2006-Present)
Members
Monica Irimia Gabriela Irimia

The Cheeky Girls are a pop music duo consisting of twin sisters Gabriela and Monica Irimia, from Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania, Romania, but based in Britain. After appearing as auditionees in Popstars: The Rivals, they achieved success in the charts with four top ten hits between 2002 and 2004. They are best known for their debut single, "The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)", which has sold over 1.2 million copies worldwide.¹

Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal lives 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 Singles 4 References 5 External links

Biography

Gabriela and Monica were born on 31 October 1982 to Doru and Margit Irimia. Gabriela is older by 10 minutes. Their early life in Romania consisted of studying gymnastics and ballet and touring with the Michelle Cook (Oldham, UK) Hungarian National Opera. Moving to the United Kingdom with their mother in 2002, the girls shot to fame as the Cheeky Girls after auditions on the British TV shows, Channel 4's Model Behaviour and more importantly Popstars: The Rivals. Following two appearances on the show with their audition which had judges Pete Waterman and Louis Walsh not knowing what to say (Waterman was later quoted as saying they were the worst act ever), various record companies approached the Granada Press Office. The Press Office contacted Paul Holland at Granada Ventures who was able to secure them a deal with the Multiply label part of Telstar Records. "The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)" was swiftly recorded and released in the first week in December. Entering the chart at number two, the single remained in the top five for five consecutive weeks - four of them at number two.² In the week before Christmas this was one of three singles from the Popstars: The Rivals show to occupy the Top 3; One True Voice and Girls Aloud held the other two positions.

This was quickly followed up with two more top three hits, "Take Your Shoes Off" and "(Hooray, Hooray!) It's a Cheeky Holiday!". Their style of music is primarily disco-pop, aimed at the pre-teen market. Most of their songs are written by their mother, who also acts as their manager.^{citation needed} In January 2004, their first single, "The Cheeky Song (Touch my Bum)" was voted the worst pop record of all time in a Channel 4 poll.

When their record company Multiply went into liquidation in 2004 the girls turned down several deals from other companies and decided to launch their own label XBN, to continue their music career, but with lesser success. From 2004, they began to appear regularly in other media such as television appearances on Brainiac and The Weakest Link and opening the studios of a new local radio station Big L 1395, along with Cliff Richard. The Cheeky Girls are also involved in a lot of charity work and are very keen supporters of the UK Children's Charity ChildLine.

On 4 August 2006 London newspaper the Evening Standard reported that the Cheeky Girls were already "at rock bottom" and facing bankruptcy action in court owing to not having been paid by their now defunct record company Telstar Records. The article said that the girls owed £4,500 in unpaid taxes, along with other bills due, and that Telstar owes them £2.2 million.¹ Later it was reported that they owed £130,000 in total.³

In September 2009 the girls released their Cheeky Girls make-up range⁴, aimed at the young teen market.

In January 2010 Gabriela and Monica auditioned for Britain's Got Talent. They performed a Bollywood dance with a third partner, Darios, in the Hammersmith Apollo, London. The judges reacted favourably and they were voted through to continue in the competition.

Personal lives

In 2007 it was revealed that they had had breast implants to go up to a 34C.⁵

In December 2005 it was revealed by the tabloids that Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik had broken up with long time fiancée, ITV1 weather presenter Siân Lloyd, and was now romancing Gabriela.⁶ He was also involved in a case involving the girls' deportation to Romania.⁷ As of 21 April they were engaged,⁸ though news of Gabriela breaking up with Lembit was reported in July 2008.⁹ It was later reported that Gabriela had miscarried the Montgomeryshire MP's baby.¹⁰

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	Peak chart positions	Certifications	Sales
		UK
2004	PartyTime Debut studio album Released: 11 August 2004 Label: Multiply Records	14	UK: Silver11	UK: 1,000,000+
2007	In My Mind (Is A Different World - A Cheeky One) 2nd studio album Released: 2007 Label: GMI Music	—

Singles

Year	Title	Peak Chart Positions							Album
		UK	IRE	AUS	FRA	GER	JPN	CHI
2002	"The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)"	2	12	59	19	19	6	6	"PartyTime"
2003	"Take Your Shoes Off"	3	13	—	—	15	4	3
	"(Hooray, Hooray!) It's a Cheeky Holiday!"	3	5	—	—	40	11	10
	"Have a Cheeky Christmas"	10	46	—	—	60	27	15
2004	"Cheeky Flamenco"	29	31	—	—	—	85	50	"In My Mind (Is A Different World - A Cheeky One)"
	"Boys and Girls (Xmas Time Love)"	50	80	—	—	—	—	107
2005	"The Farmyard Hokey"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Cheeky Girls at rock bottom| Showbiz | This is London
2. ^ Chartstats - "The Cheeky Song" Chart details
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ http://www.cheekygirlsbeauty.com/
5. ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | 'Hello, that's me,' says Lembit
6. ^ BBC NEWS | Wales | Opik and presenter Lloyd separate
7. ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | MP intervened in Cheeky Girl case
8. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7359889.stm BBC News | Politics | Opik to wed Cheeky Girl Gabriela
9. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2299204/Lembit-Opik--andlsquodumped-by-his-Cheeky-Girl-fianc%C3%A9e-Gabriela-Irimia'.html
10. ^ "Cheeky Girl miscarriage 'personal'". The Press Association (The Press Association). 2008-07-20. http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijQm0yA_oFpIrz05g2TrQd06PfUA. Retrieved 2008-07-20. 
11. ^ http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx

External links

• Official Cheeky Girls Myspace

v â€¢ d â€¢ e Popstars (UK series) Series 1 Â· Popstars: The Rivals Presenters Davina McCall Judges Series 1 Paul Adam Â· Nicki Chapman Â· Nigel Lythgoe Series 2 Pete Waterman  Â· Louis Walsh Â· Geri Halliwell Winners Hear'Say Myleene Klass Â· Danny Foster Â· Suzanne Shaw Â· Noel Sullivan Â· Kym Marsh (2001-2002) Â· Johnny Shentall (2002) Girls Aloud Cheryl Tweedy Â· Nadine Coyle Â· Nicola Roberts Â· Sarah Harding Â· Kimberley Walsh One True Voice Daniel Pearce Â· Matt Johnson Â· Jamie Shaw Â· Anton Gordon Â· Keith Semple Winners' singles "Pure and Simple" Â· "Sound of the Underground"  Â· "Sacred Trust"/"After You're Gone" Other alumni Liberty X Â· The Cheeky Girls Â· Darius Danesh Â· Phixx Â· Clea Â· Javine Hylton Related articles Popstars Â· List of songs