Lemonescent
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Lemonescent was a Scottish girl group which existed from 2002 until 2005. They claimed to be Scotland's first all vocal girl group.
Origins
Lemonescent was the brainchild of Johnny Hates Jazz founding member Iain MacDonald, who wrote for, produced and managed the band. The band's original members were:
- Nikki MacLachlan (born 17th May 1981, Irvine)
- Sarah Cassidy (born 14th May 1981, Glasgow)
- Shonagh Strachan (born 23rd February 1985, Irvine)
- Lisa Harrison (born 20th November 1981, Burnley)
Biography
Lemonescent came together through auditions for singers held by Iain Macdonald, he had chosen champion disco dancer and professional singer Sarah Cassidy as the first member followed by former waitress Nikki Maclachlan (who had previously made it to the final 200 on the first series of Popstars) and members Shonagh Strachan and Lisa Harrison. They signed to Supertone Records and came up with the name Lemonescent from Nikki's mum. They released their first single Beautiful (the first release on record label Supertone) on 17th June 2002. The video was filmed at Culzean Castle with a little help from the Scottish Tourist Board. It reached No.70 in the UK Charts, but the Terminalheads remix reached No.1 on the beat charts and was included on Fabriclive Vol.5, a selection of dance tracks chosen by Howie B. They released their second single Swing My Hips (Sex Dance) on 29th October 2002, accompanied by a raunchy video showing them in tight denim shorts washing a car. This performed slightly better peaking at No.48 in the UK charts. In between releases the band would perform at roadshows up and down Scotland and were about to start work on their first album. However, TV stations saw their act (which had them performing in tartan mini-kilts, designed by Shonagh's sister, who designed the band's outfits) as being a bit too raunchy and ordered them to tone it down if they wanted to make it in the mainstream.
Their next release, the uptempo Help Me Mama, a song about infidelity, was a big hit with Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles, played on MTV, The Box and The Chart Show and was released on 24th March 2003, in the week of Mothers' Day, and charted at No.36 giving them their first UK Top 40 hit. The Terminalheads remix on the b-side gave them another No.1 on the beat charts and was played on Annie Nightingale's late night show on Radio 1. The girls joined forces with The Scottish Sun newspaper for a promotional giveaway of a double-sided poster plus a free CD of a song called Bohemian Rain. However, all was not going well and Lisa Harrison left the band soon after to pursue a solo career. The album (original working title, Manipulated) was already scrapped soon after and the remaining three teamed up with Scottish newspaper Daily Record to hold auditions for a replacement member. They chose Miss Scotland finalist, singer and model Leona Skimming (from Cumbernauld) and Sarah's cousin, Emma Cassidy (from Fife). They carried on performing at roadshows and events in Glasgow and Edinburgh, alongside the likes of fellow Scots' pop acts Natalie James, No Reason (band) and David Sneddon.
Their fourth single, (the first to include new members Leona and Emma) Cinderella was released on 9th June without a video and charted at No.31, giving them their biggest hit. In August, they released their next single, Unconditional Love, a ballad sung by Sarah, which was a Top 20 hit in the midweek charts until controversy arose around accusations of chart-rigging and bulk-buying incited by the record company. The Official Charts Company couldn't understand how hundreds of copies had been sold from a few record stores in Glasgow. A headmaster had bought 200 copies for pupils at a school in Glasgow. Neither the band, nor the management could give a satisfactory explanation and the single was disqualified from the UK Charts. The message board on the band's website was quickly closed down for two weeks after this incident.
The band released their debut album, Unconditional Love in October 2003, it was a diverse range of pop, dance, rock and ballads, although most of the tracks were written by Iain Macdonald it featured the Sarah Cassidy self-penned ballad The Love We Had Before as well as Don't Be Afraid and You Have Stolen My Heart written by Sarah, Nikki and Shonagh and a dance track called Give Me The Beat which saw the girls give a memorable performance on stage with them lifting their skirts to reveal St-Andrews Cross knickers at the song's finale. It also featured a newly-recorded, orchestral version of Beautiful and a re-recorded version of Help Me Mama with Leona and Emma's vocals. However, it failed to chart in the top 100 albums chart. But the band continued on performing at charity events and roadshows as well as performing during half-time for Kilmarnock F.C. fans which didn't go down too well with the club's female supporters, and in February of 2004, landed support slots alongside Atomic Kitten and Blue on their tours, which were very successful and have been claimed by Lemonescent to be their "best moment". They gigged with Will Young,Mario,Girls Aloud and Liberty X to name a few. They also took part in campaigns to persuade children to say no to smoking, drinking and drugs and performed at primary schools in Scotland and England, performed at charity events like Cash For Kids in Glasgow and Free At The Dee in Aberdeen. They even went to the haunted Chillingham Castle, Northumberland for a programme on Newcastle-based station, Metro Radio. And they promoted Magic Tan at Ingliston's Highland Show, Edinburgh the day before Nikki's birthday. Sarah and Nikki also took part in a lingerie show, modelling lingerie and outfits by Pink Piranha in Merchant City, Glasgow.
The band flew to Cairo, Egypt to film the video for their next single, a cover of the Free rock classic, All Right Now (coupled with a newly-recorded Bohemian Rain) which they released on 23 June 2004. In the video they rob a bank, kidnap a man (played by Shonagh's boyfriend), drive around in a car in the desert and hang out in a mansion. The band started to appear on television to promote the track, on Box Talk, Nickelodeon and appeared on The Saturday Show on BBC1 and Trisha on ITV and performed at Glasgow's Live And Loud at Hampden Park. All Right Now even gained the unlikely honour of runner-up Best New Single in music magazine, New Musical Express and various music articles were predicting the song to be their biggest hit, but unfortunately the song only peaked at No.37 and soonafter Leona Skimming left the band.
The band continued to perform live with new songs Make My Fantasy Come True, and Model Girl, the latter of which was supposed to be the next single but these were never released. Shonagh Strachan left the band a few months later and the band were reduced to a trio. It has never been established why Leona and Shonagh had left although manager Iain has been reluctant to speak about it, prompting belief of a fall out between him and them. But he has explained his reasons for why original band member Lisa Harrison had left, saying that she thought she was bigger than the band. There were rumours going that the band were going to continue on under the name of Ladylush but nothing was materialised and the band decided to call it a day, splitting up in January 2005. Although they were a success in Scotland, reviews for the band and their singles were lukewarm especially outside of Scotland, and on websites like Popbitch who had been known to ridicule the band even after they had split. They still managed to achieve three Top 40 singles despite lack of radio airplay (Radio One wouldn't play any girl bands on their shows except for Girls Aloud and Sugababes, and Edinburgh's leading station Forth One FM refused to play All Right Now following an argument between the station's then boss and the band's manager). Iain MacDonald continued to work with another scottish girl group, Chocolate Monday, who have had two singles released in 2005 with no success and are now defunct. He also worked with Glasgow urban band ESB (Eratic Skeme Boiz), who later parted company with Iain, recruited Sarah Cassidy as vocalist and are now known as Empafy.
Debate
Despite Lemonescent's claim to be Scotland's first girlband, to this day it remains debatable as there had been claims that Glaswegian band Acoustic Love Experience may have been the first, despite being an all girl vocal instrumental trio, but Lemonescent can still lay claim to being the first Scottish all-vocal girl group.
After Lemonescent
- Sarah Cassidy started work on a solo career and came 3rd place in the Miss Scotland 2005 finals. She is now a member of Glaswegian rap act Empafy as vocalist. She also did a solo track called 'Missdameanin'
- Shonagh Strachan is now a DJ on 96.7 West FM, presenting her own show Monday-Friday from 9.30pm to 1am.
- Both Nikki and Emma had been working on new material but no other news has been heard. Emma's boyfriend was a member of Scottish boyband No Reason. Emma has now split up with her boyfriend and has no further plans to get involved again in the music industry. Nikki is at university studying languages.
- Leona Skimming is now a TV extra and has made appearances in River City and Still Game.She is also in a duo with her cousin, Scarlet Pearl, who are doing gigs around Scotland.