Bachelor Girl

Bachelor Girl
Origin Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genres Pop, pop rock, indie
Years active 1992–2003
Labels Gotham, BMG, Arista
Website www.bachelorgirl.com
Past members
Tania Doko
James Roche

Bachelor Girl were an Australian pop duo, formed in 1992 by Tania Doko as vocalist and James Roche as musician, producer and arranger. Their 1998 debut single, "Buses and Trains", was a top 10 hit in Australia and New Zealand; it peaked in the top 30 in Sweden and charted in the United Kingdom. The follow up single, "Treat Me Good" reached the top 40 in Australia and New Zealand. The related album, Waiting for the Day (November 1999) appeared in the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart and achieved platinum certification from ARIA.

Contents

History

Bachelor Girl formed in December 1992 when songwriter and record producer, James Roche, met vocalist Tania Doko.[1][2] Roche had previously worked, on keyboards or producing, with Tommy Emmanuel, John Farnham and Jack Jones (aka Irwin Thomas).[1][2] Doko was a classically trained university student.[1] Roche was crafting a demonstration tape of a song he had written for an Australian girl group, Girlfriend, and when the original singer cancelled, he recruited Doko. They began writing songs and recording other demos together. In December 1997 Bachelor Girl signed with Gotham Records, distributed by BMG, after being rejected by Sony.[2]

Bachelor Girl's debut single, "Buses and Trains", was released in July 1998, which peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Singles Chart and No. 6 on the New Zealand Singles Chart.[3][4] In 1999 it appeared in the top 30 on the Swedish Singles Chart and reached the top 100 in United Kingdom.[5][6] Their second single, "Treat Me Good", was issued in November 1998 and reached the top 40 in Australia and New Zealand.[3][4] The related album, Waiting for the Day, also appeared in November and peaked at No. 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart.[3] In May 1999 their third single, "Lucky Me" reached the top 50 in Australia and New Zealand.[3][4] It reached the top 20 on the Finnish Singles Chart.[7] In August the album was issued internationally as Breaking Through from Down Under on Arista Records.[2]

In July 2002 Bachelor Girl released "I'm Just a Girl" as a single, which reached the Australian top 30.[3] Their second album, Dysfunctional, appeared in August and peaked in the top 30.[3] It was followed, in October by "Drowning Not Waving". The band split in 2003.

A third studio album had been recorded, but it was not released. Four tracks from that abandoned project were released in April 2011 on the compilation album Loved & Lost: The Best Of Bachelor Girl by Sony. Doko stated in interviews that the band did not feel there was enough material from their two albums to fill a greatest hits album, and they decided to use cuts from the unreleased third studio album. In May and June, Bachelor Girl preformed three gigs to promote the album.[8][9]

Discography

Bachelor Girl discography
Releases
↙Studio albums 2
↙Compilation albums 1
↙Singles 5
↙Music videos 5

Albums

Year Title Chart positions Sales and certifications
AUS[3] JPN US
1998 Waiting for the Day
  • Released: 9 November 1998
  • Label: Gotham (GOTH98092)
  • Format: CD
 20 — —
  • ARIA certification: platinum (70,000+).[10]
  • 88th highest selling album in Australia for 1999.[11]
  • 99th highest selling album in Australia for 2000.[12]
2002 Dysfunctional
  • Released: 5 August 2002
  • Label: Gotham (GOTH02062)
  • Format: CD
 28 — —
2011 Loved & Lost: The Best of Bachelor Girl
  • Released: 14 April 2011
  • Label: Sony Music
  • Format: CD
 — — —
"—" denotes release that did not chart or was not released in that country

Singles

Year Song AUS[3] FIN[7] NZ[4] SWE[5] UK[6] Album
1998 "Buses and Trains" 4 6 29 84 Waiting for the Day
"Treat Me Good" 34 26
1999 "Lucky Me" 42 19 40
"Blown Away" 79
"Permission to Shine" promo
2002 "I'm Just A Girl" 25 Dysfunctional
"Drowning Not Waving" 69
"Rollercoaster" promo

Awards

Year Award-giving Body Award[13] Result
1998 ARIA Award Best New Talent ("Buses and Trains") Nominated
1999 ARIA Award Highest Selling Single ("Buses and Trains") Nominated
1999 ARIA Award Breakthrough Artist - Album (Waiting for the Day) Nominated
1999 ARIA Award Best Pop Release (Waiting for the Day) Nominated
1999 ARIA Award Producer of the Year (Waiting for the Day) Won

References

  1. ^ a b c McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Bachelor Girl'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865080721. http://web.archive.org/web/20040803192125/www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=1040. Retrieved 26 November 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c d Phares, Heather. "Bachelor Girl > Biography". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p358610/biography. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Hung, Steffen. "Discography Bachelor Girl". Australian Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung). http://australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Bachelor+Girl. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  4. ^ a b c d Hung, Steffen. "Discography Bachelor Girl". New Zealand Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung). http://charts.org.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Bachelor+Girl. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  5. ^ a b Hung, Steffen. "Discography Bachelor Girl". Swedish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung). http://swedishcharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Bachelor+Girl. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  6. ^ a b Zywietz, Tobias (7 May 2011). "Chart Log UK: Darren B – David Byrne". www.zobbel.de (Tobias Zywietz). http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_B.HTM. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  7. ^ a b Hung, Steffen. "Discography Bachelor Girl". Finnish Charts. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung). http://finnishcharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Bachelor+Girl. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  8. ^ Jimmy (18 March 2011). "Blast from the Past: Bachelor Girl Re-forming!". RipItUp (Rip It Up Publishing). http://www.ripitup.com.au/article/3054#. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  9. ^ Cashmere, Paul (13 April 2011). "Bachelor Girl Reform". Undercover (Paul Cashmere, Ros O’Gorman). http://www.undercover.fm/news/14380-bachelor-girl-reform. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  10. ^ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 1999 Albums". ARIA Charts. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
  11. ^ "ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 50 Albums 1998". ARIA Charts. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
  12. ^ "ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 50 Albums 2000". ARIA Charts. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
  13. ^ "Artist: Bachelor Girl ARIA Awards information". ARIA Awards. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
Bachelor Girl
Studio albums
Singles
Related topics
Discography · Arista Records · 1998 in music