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Young Divas
Young Divas performing at Kmart Australia's wishing tree appeal launch on 8 November 2006.
Background information
Origin	Australia
Genre(s)	Pop, Dance, Disco
Years active	2006–Present
Label(s)	Sony BMG (2006–present)
Website	YoungDivas.com.au
Members
Kate DeAraugo (2006 – present) Emily Williams (2006 – present)
Former members
Ricki-Lee Coulter (2006 – 2007) Jessica Mauboy (2007 – 2008) Paulini Curuenavuli (2006 – 2008)

Young Divas are a multi-platinum selling Australian girl group currently consisting of previous Australian Idol contestants. The original line up consisted of Season 1 finalist Paulini Curuenavuli, Season 2 finalist Ricki-Lee Coulter, Season 3 winner Kate DeAraugo and Season 3 runner up Emily Williams. After their first album Coulter left the group and was replaced by Season 4 runner up Jessica Mauboy. Since their recent release of their second album both Mauboy and Curuenavuli have left the group. Their places are yet to be filled.

Career

2006-2007: Young Divas

Young Divas (2006) saw the band success.

In early 2006, Paulini Curuenavuli, Ricki-Lee Coulter, Kate DeAraugo and Emily Williams recorded a cover version of the Donna Summer song "This Time I Know It's for Real". This demo recording was originally intended only as an experiment to see how the girls voices worked together. This proved to be a successful session so a follow up recording session was planned and a version of Mousse T single "Right About Now" was recorded. The song was planned and commissioned for a Network Ten promotion. This was the first time they were referred to as the 'Young Divas'.

Positive response came from the Network 10 promotion and Sony BMG decided to release "This Time I Know It's For Real" as a single under the 'Young Divas' banner. This release was intended to be a promotion of the four individual singers and the Young Divas as a group was not meant to be permanent. The single proved extremely successful and stayed in the Top 100 for almost a year peaking at number two. The single was eventually certified Platinum. Following the release of the single, the girls embarked on the Young Divas Live! tour around Australia to promote the single and their solo music. Originally planned for only a two week period, the tour was so successful that extra dates were added and it ran for three months to sell out audiences, causing band member Ricki-Lee to postpone her wedding.

As the Divas' tour went from strength to strength, fans were eager for the girls to release a second Young Divas single. In the wake of this hugely positive public reaction, Sony BMG decided that the Young Divas would not only release a cover of Lonnie Gordon's classic "Happenin' All Over Again", they would also record a full album of classic disco and pop covers.

Happenin' All Over Again was released in early November 2006, debuting at number twelve on the ARIA charts. It eventually reached number nine, was certified Gold and became a massive dance hit. Their self-titled debut album Young Divas was released on November 18, peaked at number four in the Album Charts and rapidly achieved double platinum Certification for the sale of 140,000 copies.

The third and final single from the album, "Searchin'" was released on March 17, 2007. Mainly due to limited promotion, the single was not as successful as its two predecessors, peaking at a mere forty on the singles chart. Despite the limited success of the third single, Sony BMG continued with the Young Divas project and would release the groups second album in late 2007.

2007-2008: New Attitude and new members

New Attitude (2007)

By early 2007 rumours were spreading that band member Coulter was not getting along with other members of the band and was planning to leave the group.^[1] However, these rumours were denied by Sony BMG, Coulter and her management.^[2]

In February 2007 Sony BMG announced that the Young Divas had pulled out of their scheduled national tour with visiting band Westlife. The official announcement stated that the cancellation was due to a "scheduling clash" with band member Ricki Lee Coulter. Rumours again circulated that this cancellation was in fact due to the rift that had been developing for months between Coulter and certain other band members but Coulter insisted she would be back with the Young Divas in time for a national tour in April 2007.^[3]

At this time Coulter headed overseas for a few weeks and was temporarily replaced for live gigs by Emily Williams' older sister and another ex-Idol contestant, Lavina Williams.

On June 22, 2007 the rumours were finally proven to be correct and it was announced that band member Ricki-Lee Coulter was leaving the group to concentrate on her solo career^[4]. She stated "I will not be appearing any more with the Young Divas. I just couldn't do it all - I really had to get back to doing what I love doing, and that's my solo career"^[4].

On 26 September 2007, the Young Divas performed as guests on Season 5 of Australian Idol and used this event to introduce Season 4 runner-up Jessica Mauboy as their newest band member.^[5].

On 9 October 2007, the Young Divas performed on the Australian Idol special, 'Doing It For the Kids ', and announced that their second album New Attitude was scheduled for release in November.

The group also performed a selection of songs including Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston's "When You Believe" at the fortieth anniversary of Channel 7's Telethon Western Australia.

On November 17, the Young Divas released their fourth single, "Turn Me Loose" (featuring NZ rapper Savage), which debuted at number 21 on the Australian ARIA singles chart and peaked at number 15. The song failed to match the success of their first two singles, but was still a huge hit on the Dance Chart, where it peaked at number 2. On November 24, 2007, a week after the release of their fourth single, the Divas released their sophomore album "New Attitude" which debuted and peaked at number 10 and was certified Gold for the sale of 35,000 copies. Both the single and album were heavily promoted on the nation's top shows such as "Dancing with the Stars" and particularly "Australian Idol", where they performed "Turn Me Loose" twice.

On March 28, 2008, after six months of inactivity, the Divas' record label, Sony BMG announced in The Daily Telegraph that due to the underperformance of "Turn Me Loose", a second single would not be released from New Attitude. However, it was also stated that the group were not being dropped from the record label's line-up of artists and would continue to record music.^[6]

2008-Present: Third Incarnation and Third Album

On August 24, 2008 it was officially announced that founding member Paulini Curuenavuli and newest Diva Jessica Mauboy had both decided to leave the group in order to concentrate more solidly on their solo careers. Paulini's manager, Nicole Hart stated that Paulini's decision to leave was "totally amicable" with "no animosity" toward the other girls and that Paulini "just wants to continue on with her solo career.^[7]

At the time of Paulini's announcement, the Young Divas' manager, David Campion, stated that the girl group would continue in a new "incarnation" and would be releasing a third album once the new line-up was finalised.

But in recent times it seems that the group has disbanded completely. Mauboy alluded to the fact in an interview that the group had split and Emily Williams recently stated in an interview that the group would one day reunite. With these comments made by members of the group and no activity from the group in twelve months it seems that they may be taking a more permanent break from the music scene.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Other

• "2000 Miles" on Home: Songs of Hope & Journey
• "Amazing Grace" on The Spirit of Christmas 2006

Band members

• Kate DeAraugo - vocals (2006–present)
• Emily Williams - vocals (2006–present)

Former members

• Paulini Curuenavuli - vocals (2006–2008)
• Ricki-Lee Coulter - vocals (2006–2007)
• Jessica Mauboy - vocals (2007–2008)

External links

• Official Young Divas Website
• Official Young Divas Forum
• Sony BMG, Young Divas Biography

References

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