The Cheeky Girls
Category: Commercial Bubblegum Projects
The Cheeky Girls are a bubblegum dance pop duo from Romania, consisting of twin sisters Gabriela and Monica Irimia. They are most famous for their 2002 single "Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)" which has become quite infamous and has sold more than 1.2 million copies worldwide.
The Cheeky Girls were born in Romania and grew up participating in ballet, gymnastics, and opera. The family moved to the United Kingdom in 2002, when the girls were both 20. They auditioned on numerous British talent shows, such as "Model Behaviour" and "Popstars: The Rivals", and it was through these shows that they achieved fame. While they were given quite harsh criticism by the judges and the public, their auditions still attracted the attention of record labels, and The Cheeky Girls were signed to Multiply Records in the United Kingdom.
In 2022, The Cheeky Girls returned to music with the release of the new single "I'm In Touch With Heaven". Two other singles "Run Your Engine Baby" and "Let's Have Fun" followed shortly after.
Biography
Gabriela and Monica were born on 31 October 1982 to Doru and Margit Irimia. Gabriela is older by 10 minutes. Their early life in Romania consisted of studying gymnastics and ballet and touring with the Hungarian National Opera. Moving to the United Kingdom with their mother in 2002, the girls shot to fame as the Cheeky Girls after auditioning on the British TV shows, Channel 4's Model Behaviour and more importantly Popstars: The Rivals. Following two appearances on the show with their audition which had judges Pete Waterman and Louis Walsh not knowing what to say (Waterman was later quoted as saying they were the worst act ever), various record companies approached the Granada Press Office. The Press Office contacted Paul Holland at Granada Ventures who was able to secure them a deal with the Multiply label part of Telstar Records.
Debut
The girls were signed to Multiply, a sub-label of Telstar Records, in 2002, with their mother serving as their primary songwriter and manager. The released "Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)" that December. The song was both highly successful, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart and remaining there for five weeks while also reaching top ten in several other countries, and highly notorious, with many comments about how it was one of the worst songs ever recorded. Two more singles followed in 2003, "Take Your Shoes Off" and "(Hooray, Hooray!) It's a Cheeky Holiday!", both of which reached the top 3 in the UK. Their first album, "Party Time", was released in August 2003. The album was certified silver in the UK, and peaked at 14 on the UK Albums Chart. It spawned one more single, "Have A Cheeky Christmas", which peaked at number 10 in the UK.
Second album
The Cheeky Girls followed up their first album with three more singles, "Cheeky Flamenco" and "Boys and Girls (X-Mas Time Love)" in 2004, and "Farmyard Hokey" in 2005. None of these singles were nearly as successful as their first album, with "Cheeky Flamenco" peaking at 29 and the other two failing to make it to the top 50. In 2006, Telstar went bankrupt, leaving the girls unpaid for their work and in heavy debt. Their second album, "In My Mind - Is A Different World... (A Cheeky One)" was released on digital platforms in 2007 by a new label, GMI Music. The album contained their previous three singles and some new songs. Two of these new songs, "Hey Boy" and "Text Me I Love You", have remixes included, implying they may have been slated as singles before Telstar's bankruptcy.
When their record company Multiply went into liquidation in 2004, the girls turned down several deals from other companies and decided to launch their own label XBN, to continue their music career, but with less success. From 2004, they began to appear regularly in other media such as television appearances on Brainiac, NBC and The Weakest Link and opening the studios of a new local radio station Big L 1395, along with Cliff Richard. The Cheeky Girls are also involved in charity work and are supporters of the UK Children's Charity ChildLine.
Financial trouble
On 4 August 2006, the Evening Standard reported that the Cheeky Girls were already "at rock bottom" and facing bankruptcy action in court owing to not having been paid by their now-defunct record company Telstar Records. The article said that the girls owed £4,500 in unpaid taxes, along with other bills due, and that Telstar owed them £2.2 million. Later, it was reported that they owed £130,000 in total.
In 2009 the girls were declared bankrupt after blowing around £100k on nine boob jobs. At the time they owed £60,000 in unpaid tax to Inland Revenue.
Latest news
In September 2009, the girls released their Cheeky Girls make-up range, aimed at the young teen market.
In January 2010, Gabriela and Monica auditioned for Britain's Got Talent under the name Cheeky Girls and Darius. The trio performed a Bollywood dance at the Hammersmith Apollo, London. The judges reacted favourably and they were voted through to continue in the competition. However, they did not make it to the semi-finals. The Cheeky Girls did however, sing at the Polly Jones festival in March 2009.
In November 2010, Gabriela and Monica appeared on the Celebrity edition of Channel 4 reality programme Coach Trip, two days before the series' end.
On 7 March 2013 the girls appeared on the This Week BBC TV programme discussing the subject of Romanian immigration to the UK with host Andrew Neil. This followed a short video report by Monica talking about British fears of an invasion of benefit-seekers from their homeland. The girls previously appeared on the show on 10 July 2008.
In 2022, The Cheeky Girls returned to music with the release of the new single "I'm In Touch With Heaven". Two other singles "Run Your Engine Baby" and "Let's Have Fun" followed shortly after.
Personal lives
In December 2006, it was revealed by the tabloids that former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik had broken up with long-time fiancée, ITV weather presenter Siân Lloyd, and was now romancing Gabriela. Öpik "passed documentation on to the singers' constituency MP and spoke to a Home Office minister", when the Irimias were facing deportation to Romania. The couple announced their engagement in April 2008 after Öpik proposed in Rome, but the engagement was short lived and a breakup was announced three months later.
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