Preluders

Yet another product of the talent-scouting behemoth Popstars, the Preluders were an all-female pop group who rose to stardom on the third season of the German version of the show, 2003's Popstars: Das Duell. A pool of 12,000 applicants applied to compete on the show, out of which only 27 were invited to Orlando, FL, to receive vocal and fitness training. Four women, Anh-Thu Doan, Miriam Cani, Rebecca Miro, and Tertia Botha, were eventually picked to form the Preluders, and the quartet went on to duke it out in the studio with their male counterparts, Overground. The two groups failed to produce adequate studio recordings, so each group was allotted one extra member in order to round things out. Anne Ross was brought into the Preluders on the basis of her vocal strength, and the group went back into the studio to record their first single, a cover of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion." The single, offered on a promotional basis at McDonalds restaurants throughout Germany, sold over 600,000 copies in its first week. It was arguably the most successful single the group would ever have. In spite of the popularity of "Losing My Religion," the Preluders were narrowly beaten by Overground in the finals, winning only 48 percent of the telephone vote. Though they lost the popular vote, the Preluders did well on the German charts in the first few months following their stint on the show. The first single from the group's debut album, "Everyday Girl," hit stores within a month after the show's finale and held the number one spot on the German charts in its first week. Everyday Girl came out soon after that; it debuted at an admirable number two in Germany, but failed to surpass the platinum sales of Overground's debut album, It's Done. The album's second single, 2004's "Bal Prive,"...