Jo O'Meara: Difference between revisions
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== Discography == |
== Discography == |
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=== Albums === |
=== Albums === |
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*"[[Relentless (Jo O'Meara Album)|Relentless]]", 3 October 2005, # |
*"[[Relentless (Jo O'Meara Album)|Relentless]]", 3 October 2005, #47 UK, |
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=== Singles === |
=== Singles === |
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Revision as of 18:27, 21 April 2007
Jo O'Meara |
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Joanne Valda O'Meara (born 29 April, 1979) is an English singer and actress. Formerly a key singer with the group S Club 7, she launched a solo career after the group's split in 2003. She has also appeared on two reality TV shows in the UK, Just the Two of Us and Celebrity Big Brother.
Biography
O'Meara was born in Rush Green[1] in east London to parents Dave and Barbara. She grew up in Collier Row, a suburban housing estate in the north of Romford in the London Borough of Havering. She was educated at Clockhouse Junior School and Bower Park School.[1]
S Club 7
In her teenage years, Jo O'Meara would serve food at her local pub in Ilford. It was there that someone from 19 Entertainment spotted her on stage and recruited her to join a new pop group S Club 7. She was a prominent member of the English group, singing most of the group's lead vocals, as well as acting with the group in TV series such as Miami 7, LA 7, Hollywood 7 and Viva S Club, as well as S Club's own movie, "Seeing Double".
During the filming of the movie, Jo hurt her back, limiting S Club's dance routines and leaving her out of the group for a brief period. Jo's voice remained, however, her vocals were re-recorded by Rachel Stevens for use during live television performances. Jo eventually returned to continue performing with S Club and to promote the movie. She remained with the band until their ultimate split in 2003.
Solo career
Many speculated as to when Jo would make her comeback, having been the most prominent vocalist in S Club 7, but it was Rachel Stevens who was the first member of the band to release solo material. Jo surprised many of her fans by taking a long hiatus from pop music, and it was speculated that she was healing her back injury. According to reports in a tabloid newspaper Jo, who was estimated to be worth £500,000 when she left S Club, became addicted to gambling when she was unable to perform in the band due to her back problems.[2]
In July 2005, Jo announced that she had signed a new solo recording deal with Sanctuary Records, the label behind acts such as Morrissey, KISS and Megadeth.
Her debut single, "What Hurts the Most", was released on 26 September, 2005, followed a week later by her album, Relentless. This, however, despite reaching number 20 in the UK, quickly fell out of the chart and sold poorly. It also charted and sold poorly throughout Europe reaching #82 in the Republic of Ireland.
In 2006 she took part in the BBC gameshow Just the Two of Us. Her singing partner was Chris Fountain, an actor in Hollyoaks, a British Soap opera. The pair came third in the competition, failing to attract enough votes to make the final after their performance of "Never Had a Dream Come True".
In March 2006, "What Hurts The Most" was recorded and released by country group Rascal Flatts. It reached #1 on the US Billboard Country Chart, and peaked on the Hot 100 at #6.
Jo then announced she was quitting her solo career and ending her record deal with Sanctuary Records due to artistic differences and feeling let down by some people whom she had put her trust in.[citation needed]
However, Jo said in a GM:TV interview on the 12th of March 2007 that she plans to release more solo material soon. It has since been announced she has signed a new solo deal with Innocent Records with a new single and album in the pipeline for late 2007.
Celebrity Big Brother 2007
O'Meara was the fourth person to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house on 3 January 2007. According to the Daily Mirror, Jo entered the show to pay off her £34,000 debt.[3]. She received a positive reaction from the crowd and admitted live that she had no idea what she was doing on the show. When betting opened, she was favourite to win.[4] O'Meara has been criticised for arguably racist comments made about (and behaviour towards) fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty[5] and for imitating her accent.[6] During the show, Jo remarked to Danielle Lloyd that all Indians were thin because they undercook their food based on the vegetarian Shilpa's supposed failure to cook a chicken properly,[7] resulting in a public outcry in India and contributing to the Carphone Warehouse decision to withdraw as the sponsor of the show.[8] Jo has yet to clarify whether or not she was joking in this instance.A large number of complaints were received by broadcasting regulator Ofcom about the allegedly racist behaviour of Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and O'Meara towards Shetty.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, said "What we are seeing is a noxious brew of old-fashioned class conflict, straightforward bullying, ignorance and quite vicious racial bigotry. It is outrageous, and it is unpleasant".[9]
Jo became the fourth housemate to be evicted from the show, leaving the house on Friday January 26 in a surprise double eviction, along with fellow contestant Cleo Rocos.
In her eviction interview with Davina McCall Jo failed to apologise for her comments and behaviour towards Shilpa Shetty, claiming she had done nothing wrong, a stance which she would continue to take in subsequent interviews. More specifically, in the eviction interview Jo was clearly shocked when shown clips of her comments. She quickly told the interviewer that the situations shown did not seem that bad from inside the house as they were happening. Jo claimed Shilpa herself laughed at Jo's imitation of her accent. She claimed no recollection of comments on Indian cooking habits, but admitted such comments would have looked bad to viewers. She claimed her laughter during Jade's tirade was not directed at Shilpa, but was partly a nervous laugh and partly because the conflict was a heated argument over "an oxo cube", and she wanted no part in it. She admitted she was suspicious of Shilpa at first, but said this was because Shilpa was gaurded and hid herself behind a "mask". Jo said that in the last few days Shilpa let the mask drop, was more natural, more herself, and Jo found this "great", and in fact liked Shilpa. She added that it was unreasonable to put a group of strangers together and expect everyone to bond immediately. Jo's choice to attempt to explain herself and insist she was neither a bully nor a racist did not reflect well given viewers had seen her actions on the programme. By defending, rather than apologising, she only enraged the viewers and commentators. Her former housemate, Jade, disagreed with Jo's statement that she had done nothing wrong: "She's done everything wrong. She's made big mistakes;" and Jo's sister Julie admitted: "Jo should be very disappointed with herself."[10] Unlike fellow housemate Jade she chose not to donate her fee for appearing on the show and for an interview with the Sunday Mirror to charity. According to the Mirror article: She also refused to apologise for bullying Shilpa Shetty... then attacked her for getting "special treatment" inside the house; She also defended her comments about Indians being skinny through their failure to handle food in a hygenic manner stating "They should take what I said as a compliment." Claiming the row surrounding the racist bullying of the Bollywood star has left her on the verge of a nervous breakdown.[11]
In a subsequent interview with GMTV which aired on Tuesday January 30, 2007 O'Meara apologised for her behaviour, but denied that she had been a bully or a racist while in the house. She blamed poor editing by the show's producers (although this claim is undermined by the fact that the show was shown as a live feed on sister channel E4) and misquotation in interviews by national newspapers (especially the Mirror article) following the Celebrity Big Brother final, for contributing to her already-ruined image. She revealed she has not returned home due to unspecified death threats and concerns over her safety. She also revealed that her reason for entering the house was to help save her home, which had been threatened with repossession.[12].
Following the chain of events that has hugely had an impacted on her life, her agent, Tony Fox, died of a heart attack on 28 January, 2007, just two days after leaving the Big Brother house & been branded as the most hated person in the UK.[citation needed]
In February 2007, the News of the World reported that O'Meara attempted to commit suicide and was "rushed to hospital" but the following week the same paper carried an interview with her in which she claimed to have been revived by her PA Cindy Lazarus with an ease suggesting that it was a gesture rather than a serious attempt to kill herself.[13]. In an interview with Heat magazine (3-9 March 2007)[citation needed] she denied any intention to commit suicide as it would hurt her family but admitted some weight loss due to stress. She was also reported to be facing bankruptcy after her home was remortgaged for £200,000 without her knowledge and £200,000 went missing from her savings after apparently being a victim of a con scam. Media reports at the time suggested her house was in imminent danger of being repossessed.[14][15]
The Daily Star reported that Jo was writing a book on the Celebrity Big Brother race row and that she hoped to obtain a £250,000 deal to help her clear her mounting debts and stop her home being repossessed.[16].However in an interview on GMTV the same morning Jo denied the story. She also revealed that she was putting her house up for sale and hoped that the public would allow her to resume her singing career.[citation needed]
Discography
Albums
- "Relentless", 3 October 2005, #47 UK,
Singles
- "What Hurts the Most", September 26, 2005, #13 UK,
Selected filmography
Films
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Seeing Double | Jo (herself) |
Television
| Year | Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Miami 7 | Jo (herself) |
| 2000 | S Club 7: Artistic Differences | Jo (herself) |
| 2000 | LA 7 | Jo (herself) |
| 2001 | Hollywood 7 | Jo (herself) |
| 2002 | Viva S Club | Jo (herself) |
References
- ^ a b "Essex girls battle it out in Celebrity Big Brother". Essex Chronicle. Essex Chronicle Series Ltd. 2007-01-11. p. 27.
Jo, 27, was born in Rush Green and grew up in Collier Row. She attended Clockhouse Junior School and Bower Park School in Havering North Road.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "Exposed: Gambling habit of S Club Jo". The Sun Online. Retrieved 2007-02-01.
- ^ "Unknown". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. 2007-06-01.
- ^ "Celebrity Big Brother UK Betting". Gambling911. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- ^ "Big Brother row reaches Commons". BBC News. 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- ^ "Anger over Big Brother 'racism'". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- ^ Haines, Leister (2007-01-17). "Carphone Warehouse reviews Big Brother sponsorship deal". The Register. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- ^ Taylor, Joel (2007-01-17). "Big Brother backlash". Metro. Associated Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
- ^ "Race equality chief: Shilpa comments were racist". Daily Mail. Associated Press. 2007-01-19. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
- ^ Lynsey, Haywood (2007-01-27). "Celeb BB Jo: No apologies". The Sun. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- ^ Hodgson, Grant (2007-01-28). "Exclusive BB: Jo I'm Not Sorry and I'd Do it Again". Sunday Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "Big Brother backlash - Jo's anguish". GMTV. 2007-01-30. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
- ^ "Jo O'Meara makes suicide attempt". Digital Spy. 2007-02-25. Retrieved 2007-02-25.
- ^ "Celeb Big Brother's Jo Victim Of £200k Swindle". Entertainmentwise. 2007-02-26. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
- ^ "S-Club Star Victim of £400,000 thefts". PR Inside. 2007-02-26. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
- ^ "Jo O'Meara hopes to cash in with book deal". Daily Star. 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2007-03-11.