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The 411 were a four-piece English female R&B group formed late in 2002. The band formed after a couple of the members sang backup vocals on Lemar's version of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together". The band took its name after the Mary J. Blige song "What's the 411?"
Between The Sheets (2003—2006)The group were first formed in 2003 as a 4-piece girl band with Tisha Martin a familiar face at the time after appearing in children's television shows Kerching and The Basil Brush Show.
The group's first single, "On My Knees," featured Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan and was a hit in the UK (reaching the top 5) and Australia (reaching the top 30). A second single, "Dumb," reached number 3 in the UK and also reached the top 30 in Australia. These singles appeared on their album Between The Sheets, featuring songs written by Diane Warren, Redeye, and The 411 themselves. A third single called "Teardrops" was also released, preceding the album by one week. However, despite sampling Portishead's "Sour Times", it only reached #23 in the UK. They also recorded a cover version of SWV's big hit "Weak." It can be seen on YouTube.
Between The Sheets was also released in France and Japan. The French edition featured two new versions of album tracks, recorded specifically for the French market: "Face À Toi Baby" featuring Mag (featuring the verses from "Dumb" with a special French chorus) and "Chance" featuring K'Maro (a new mix of "Chance" featuring a French language rap). The Japanese edition of the album featured the standard 12 tracks from the UK version, alongside two bonus tracks: "Drop Top Jeans" (which appeared as B-side to "Teardrops" in the UK) and "Soaking Wet," alongside an enhanced section featuring the videos to "On My Knees" and "Dumb."
Sunshyne and split (2007—2008)In 2005, The 411 officially split
. Martin and Boniface re-formed the band in 2007 with a new name, "Sunshyne," with two new members. They recorded four demos, planning to release an album titled Sunshyne, but after a period of a year they fizzled out and continued as the The 411 until their final split in 2008.
In 2007, Barratt and her husband Dean Barratt had a baby boy, Billy.
Furlonger performed as a backing vocalist with various artists during these years, including Take That, Leona Lewis, Julio Iglesias, Bonnie Tyler, James Ingram, Peabo Bryson (duetting with him on several occasions) and regularly with Candi Staton, and performed on shows such as CD:UK, GMTV, X Factor: Battle of the Stars, T4 on The Beach, The Royal Variety Performance and most recently, Glastonbury 2008 with Candi Staton. Furlonger also appeared on X Factor in 2008 as a solo singer in the Over 25s category, with Dannii Minogue as her mentor. She reached the final 6 but was eliminated from the show on 5 October 2008, having failed to reach the live finals. Since the show, she has signed to Mousse T's label, Peppermint Jam, and is currently recording an album in Germany which is due for release in February 2010, with the first single, 'All Nite Long' released in September. She continues to provide backing vocals while in the UK and has recently finished a 3 week tour with David Gest where, as well as providing BVs for many of the artists on the show, she also duetted with William Bell on his hit, Private Number.
In March 2008, the 411 reformed with the exception of Furlonger, who was replaced by Nuala Farelly. They did not manage to get a recording contract and decided to split in late 2008.
Tanya Boniface appeared in the identity parade the first episode of the twenty-third season of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, broadcasted on 1st October 2009. Boniface was not correctly identified, Ben Miller ruling her out as possibility as he thought she was "too young" to have been in a defunct girl band. Boniface was said to be "working on new material".
Discography Albums
Singles
Copyright Citations
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