Jo O'Meara
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| Jo O'Meara | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joanne Valda O'Meara |
| Born | 29 April 1979 Rush Green, Greater London, United Kingdom |
| Genre(s) | Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Voice |
| Years active | 1999-2003 (band) 2005-2006; 2007-present(solo) |
| Label(s) | Innocent Records |
| Associated acts | S Club |
| Website | IMDB Profile |
Joanne Valda O'Meara (born 29 April 1979 in Rush Green) is an English singer, dancer and actress. Formerly the lead singer of pop group S Club (7), she launched a solo career after the group's split in 2003, which was cut short following an appearance on Celebrity Big Brother where she was embroiled in a racial bullying controversy.
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[edit] Life and career
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]
[edit] 2-4 Family
In 1998, O'Meara started off her music career in the hip hop/rap group, 2-4 Family. She was however, only a part of the group for the duration of one track release, before deciding to leave to pursue other projects and aids.
[edit] S Club 7
In her teenage years, 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 British group, singing most of the group's lead vocals, as well as acting with the group in their own TV series (shot in Miami, LA, Hollywood and Spain), the group also had two reality television shows "S Club 7 Go Wild" and "S Club 7 Don't Stop Movin'", an as well as S Club's own movie, "Seeing Double".
During the filming of the movie, O'Meara hurt her back, limiting S Club's dance routines and leaving her out of the group for a brief period. O'Meara's voice remained; however, her vocals were re-recorded by Rachel Stevens for use during live television performances. O'Meara eventually returned to continue performing with S Club and to promote the movie. She remained with the band until their ultimate split in 2003.
[edit] Solo career
Many speculated as to when O'Meara 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. O'Meara 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 O'Meara, 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, she 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, quickly fell out of the chart and sold poorly peaking at #47. It also charted and sold poorly throughout Europe reaching #82 in the Republic of Ireland. O'Meara abruptly left the record label while they were still planning to release a second single.
In February 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".
[edit] 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, O'Meara entered the show to pay off her £34,000 debt and relaunch her singing career, with a plan to launch her new single shortly after her exit from the house.[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]
[edit] Accusations of racial bullying
More than 45,500 complaints were received by broadcasting regulator Ofcom about racial bullying directed towards Indian housemate Shilpa Shetty by Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jack Tweed and Jo O'Meara.
The basis of racist accusations against O'Meara were as follows:
- On Days 11 and 12, Danielle Lloyd and O'Meara poked fun at Shilpa's accent.[5]
- O'Meara implied that all Indians were thin because they were always ill as a result of undercooking their food because she believed Shilpa undercooked a chicken meal.[5]
- After a 9 minute verbal attack on Shilpa by Jade, over Oxo Cubes, witnessed by a giggling O'Meara and Lloyd, O'Meara said that the verbal attack had made her day and that she felt a lot better for it. [6]
[edit] Reaction and aftermath
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".[7]
O'Meara 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, O'Meara did not 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. O'Meara also claimed that imitating her accent wasn't necessarily racist as Shilpa herself had laughed at O'Meara's imitation of her accent.
Her former housemate, Jade, disagreed with O'Meara's statement that she had done nothing wrong: "She's done everything wrong. She's made big mistakes." Jo's sister Julie admitted: "Jo should be very disappointed with herself."[8]
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, "I couldn't use those words. My cousins are actually of a different race and to use those sort of words, it would make me sick. I haven't got a racist bone in my body and I'm not a bully". 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 and was suffering from nervous exhaustion. She also revealed that her reason for entering the house was to help save her home, which had been threatened with repossession.[9]
In February 2007, the News of the World reported that O'Meara attempted to commit suicide and was "rushed to hospital" by friends.[10] 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.[11][12]
In May 2007, Endemol released a transcript of an unshown conversation in which O'Meara, Tweed and Goody (with Danielle Lloyd and Cleo Rocos also present) constructed a limerick which was based around, although it did not use the word "paki", instead replacing the racist slur for the word "tacky" at Tweed's suggestion.[13]
There have been some signs of rehabilitation recently. The 2007 X-Factor finalists Same Difference cited her as a positive influence while former bandmate Hannah Spearritt belatedly said she'd been harshly treated in an interview with the Sunday Mirror (January 2008).
[edit] 2008–present
In January 2008, an article in the Daily Mail said that O'Meara was well on the way to recovery, she had rediscovered her passion for rescuing animals and horses and also revealed that she is six months pregnant "To be honest, it wasn't planned, but it's a very nice surprise. I'm nervous at the thought of a little person calling me mum, but it's a very happy way to begin 2008". She is considering an invitiation to take part in a charity show next month, which is being organised by celebrity voice coach Zoe Tyler. While she admits that the prospect of returning to the stage is daunting, she is considering an offer to work with former Celebrity Big Brother 2007 housemate, Jermaine Jackson.[14] .[15]
In February 2008 Now magazine reported that she had sold her house for £560,000. Also in recent interviews she said that she has been in the process of writing songs for her second album although other than that she has not given any other info on the album.
On Monday 12th May 2008, Jo gave birth to a son called Lenny weighing 7lb 15oz by Caeserian section.
[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | IE | ||||||
| 2005 | "What Hurts The Most" | 13 "Relentless" | 2 | ||||
[edit] Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | ||||
| 2005 | Relentless (Jo O'Meara album) | 47 | ||
[edit] Selected filmography
[edit] Films
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Seeing Double | Jo (herself) |
[edit] Television
| Year | Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Miami 7 | Jo (herself) |
| 2000 | LA 7 | Jo (herself) |
| 2001 | Hollywood 7 | Jo (herself) |
| 2002 | Viva S Club | Jo (herself) |
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Essex girls battle it out in Celebrity Big Brother", Essex Chronicle, Essex Chronicle Series Ltd, 2007-01-11, p. 27. Retrieved on 2007-01-27. (English) "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."
- ^ Exposed: Gambling habit of S Club Jo. The Sun Online. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
- ^ "Unknown", Daily Mirror, Trinity Mirror, 2007-06-01.
- ^ Celebrity Big Brother UK Betting. Gambling911. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
- ^ a b "How the Big Brother row erupted", BBC, URL last accessed on 2007-01-17
- ^ http://youtube.com/watch?v=BRykP0wiEtw Video of the incident on YouTube
- ^ Race equality chief: Shilpa comments were racist. Daily Mail. Associated Press (2007-01-19). Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
- ^ Lynsey, Haywood. "Celeb BB Jo: No apologies", The Sun, 2007-01-27. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
- ^ "Big Brother backlash - Jo's anguish", GMTV, 2007-01-30. Retrieved on 2007-02-04.
- ^ "Jo O'Meara makes suicide attempt", Digital Spy, 2007-02-25. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ "Celeb Big Brother's Jo Victim Of £200k Swindle", Entertainmentwise, 2007-02-26. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
- ^ "S-Club Star Victim of £400,000 thefts", PR Inside, 2007-02-26. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
- ^ "Big Brother: the missing footage", Asians In Media, 2007-05-25. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
- ^ Laura Collins (2008-01-19). Reviled BB star Jo O'Meara tells how she found refuge among animals she once saved. Daily Mail. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
- ^ Jo O'Meara gives birth to son. Now magazine (2008-05-15). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
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