The Rise and Fall of Girlfriend

The United Kingdom in the 1990’s had the Spice Girls while over in Australia we had Girlfriend.

Both groups had five members and it could be said that both groups did not last very long in the studio with the Spice Girls making three albums and Girlfriend making two with a third scrapped.

Robyn Loau, Melanie Alexander, Lorinda (Rindy) Noble, Siobhánn Heidenreich and Jacqueline (Jacqui) Cowel were the five members of the group who scored a record deal in 1991 with RCA Records Australia.

While most artists looked to be successful in the United Kingdom or the United States, Girlfriend aimed to be the #1 girl group in Asia as well as Australia.

RCA’s decision to sign the group proved to be wise in 1992 as Girlfriend had three songs in the Top 100 singles of that year including ‘Take It From Me’ which reached No.16 for the year overall.

‘Take It From Me’ had a two week stay at No. 1 on the ARIA chart and was one of three Australian groups or artists to get there with Euphoria (twice) and The 12th Man featuring ‘MCG Hammer’ also making it.

Follow up singles ‘Girl’s Life’ and ‘Without You’ both peaked in the Top 20 and ‘Bad Attitude’  reached No. 28 before the year was out.

Their album ‘Make It Come True’ was released in September of that year and it peaked at No. 6 on the ARIA chart plus it was a Platinum selling album.

The song ‘Love’s On My Mind’ was the fourth and last single from the ‘Make It Come True’ album and it had peaked at No. 65 in 1993.

Girlfriend also had a crack at the Japanese market by releasing the album ‘Girl’s Life’ plus the EP ‘Magic’, the album was noted for its songs being in Japanese and it had songs from ‘Make It Come True’.

Just thirteen months after ‘Make It Come True’ came their second album ‘It’s Up To You’ and it peaked at No. 29 and while it was lower than their debut album, it had achieved Gold status.

Only two singles came from ‘It’s Up To You’ with the first single ‘Heartbeat’ peaking at No. 36 and the second single ‘Wishing on the same Star’ peaking at No. 44.

Robyn Loau left the group in 1994 and the group did not get a replacement for the popular singer who had sang lead for the bulk of the high selling songs.

The group was renamed GF4 that year and they released the single’Sooner or Later’, the group had not only changed their sound for the single but also their looks which was more attention grabbing than before.

‘Sooner or Later’ peaked at #11 on the ARIA chart which was their best result since ‘Take it from Me’ but their new run of success did not last long.

Jacqui Cowell left the group in 1995 and the new single ‘Need Love (To Make the Sex Right)’ only made it to No. 101 on the ARIA chart, the music video is notable for featuring future Bardot member Belinda Chapple.

A planned third album was not released and it was all over in 1996 when the group split up and they weren’t heard from again until they appeared on the Channel 7 show ‘Where Are They Now?’ more than a decade later.

Their TV appearance did not lead to a reformation and a planned compilation album did not eventuate in 2010.

All nine Girlfriend singles plus their two albums between 1992 and 1995 charted by peaking between No. 1 and No. 101 which is something most groups could not achieve.

That is the story of Girlfriend’s rise and fall.