Vanilla (band)

The band members were sisters Frances Potter (born 17 October 1974 in London) and Alison Potter (born 29 January 1980 in London), plus their friends Alida Swart (born 4 February 1975 in London) and Sharon Selby (born 28 March 1976 in London). They released two singles for EMI in the late 1990s.

The band's first single was "No Way, No Way," released on 15 December 1997 and based on Piero Umiliani's "Mah Nà Mah Nà." The song peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart and number 24 in New Zealand. It was later featured on several compilations, including Now That's What I Call Music!'s thirty-ninth issue and Dancemania's eighth issue, both released in 1998. The accompanying music video was filmed at Brockwell Lido in Brixton, South London. The clip won the dubious title of "Worst Music Video Ever" on the 1997 ITV Chart Show end-of-year special and was voted number 26 on Channel 4's "100 Worst Pop Records". The follow-up was "True to Us", released on 6 April 1998, which rose to number 36 in the UK Top 40. Although mocked on Channel 4's morning programme The Big Breakfast, the group regularly took part in the show's "Vanilla's Thrillers" feature; including making a return for Johnny and Denise's final week hosting the show.

While promoting their two singles with EMI, Vanilla made media appearances, including a performance of "No Way, No Way" on Top of the Pops, and performing a spoof version of "True to Us" on Blue Peter with Mabel the Blue Peter dog. They also obtained a feature on Men & Motors. They embarked on a tour of schools around the UK and were a minor act on the 1998 Disney Channel UK tour. Vanilla utilized a Mr. Whippy ice cream van as a tour bus, handing out ice cream cones post-performance. It was reported in Smash Hits magazine that the band's ice cream van had experienced a minor crash while on tour. After only two years, record label EMI released the group from their contract. A cover version of the Bananarama hit "Love In the First Degree" was rumoured to have been recorded by Vanilla for their third single if their EMI contract was extended. Despite losing their contract with EMI, Vanilla continued to record and perform. They made various appearances at London's PopShow Party events where they played a cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", that they had intended to release as a single with new member "Ashley". The girls won a public vote on PopShow Party's website to have one of their original tracks made available to stream. The track that was chosen was "Realise", produced by The Next Room Productions, with whom Vanilla had previously worked on the original versions of "No Way, No Way" and "True to Us".

In 2003, according to a now-defunct Vanilla website, members Alison and Sharon were to continue as a duo performing under the name Vanilla, while Frances formed a new performance group called Northbound. In 2011, Frances appeared on the identity parade segment in Episode No. 25.8 of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, hosted by James Blunt. It was indicated that Frances was working on a dance track with TNR productions.

In 2014, Swart was interviewed for an article in The Guardian about the pitfalls of having a hit novelty record.[2]