Una Healy

Una Foden
Foden in 2010
Background information
Born	(1981-10-10) October 10, 1981 Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland
Genres	Pop, dance, pop rock
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, guitarist, dancer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	2004—present
Labels	Polydor, Fascination
Associated acts	The Saturdays, Declan Nerney

Una Theresa Imogene Foden (née Healy; born 10 October 1981)^[1] is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician, best known for being a member of girl group The Saturdays.

Early life

Foden was born in Thurles,^[2] Ireland, to Anne, a nurse, and John Healy, a GP. She has a sister who is named Deirdre.^[3] Foden comes from a musical background and is the niece of country singer Declan Nerney.^[4] She is also a cousin of Irish athlete Paul Hession.^[5] At the age of 13, she gave up swimming (she was an All-Ireland champion swimmer at nine)^[6] and decided to teach herself to play using her mother's guitar and from then on began to write songs of her own.

After finishing school at 18, she decided to take a year out and became a medical secretary, and from then went on to study nursing and then primary teaching at Mary Immaculate College, but decided finally to go ahead and pursue her music passion at 23 years old.^[7] She began her music career playing guitar and singing in pubs and clubs around Ireland, solo and in bands.^[8][9] Whilst she was slowly finding success in her native Ireland as an indie solo artist, she felt she didn't have a firm direction in her career. Therefore, in the summer of 2007 she flew over to London to gain more exposure and experience and landed an audition for The Saturdays, which was her first audition for a major label and abroad.^[10]

Career

Early work

Foden won Ireland's Glinsk Song Contest in both 2004 and 2006.^[11] She represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 as a backing singer for Brian Kennedy on "Every Song Is a Cry for Love".

The Saturdays

The Saturdays from left-right:Mollie King, Una Foden, Rochelle Humes, Frankie Sandford and Vanessa White.

Foden is a member of the girl group The Saturdays who have enjoyed eight top ten hits and four top ten albums. The group released their first single "If This Is Love" in July 2008. It peaked at number 8 in the UK. The Saturdays released a second single, "Up", where it charted at number five in the UK, and later the song enjoyed a certification of Silver in the United Kingdom. In late October 2008, the band released their first studio album, Chasing Lights, where it charted at number nine in the UK, and also achieved a certification of Platinum by BBI.^[12] The band released a third single from the album, "Issues", which also received a silver certificate by the BBI. The Saturdays released a cover of "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode; the song debuted at number 2 in the UK, behind Flo Rida's "Right Round". The fifth and final single from the album was "Work", which was the first single by the girls to not reach the top 20. The Saturdays later went on a tour titled "The Work Tour."

In October 2009, the group released a second studio album, Wordshaker, which charted at number nine in United Kingdom and was given a silver certification by the BBI. The first single, "Forever Is Over", charted at number two in the UK.^[13] The Saturdays appeared in advertisements for several products including a brand of deodorant, tampons, mobile phones, an operating system, and hair removal products. But in early 2010, the Saturdays released a second and final single from their second debut album, "Ego", which charted at number nine. Although the song became their second lowest single to chart, it became one of their highest selling singles, after getting a certification of silver by the BBI.

In summer 2010, the Saturdays released their first mini album, their third album overall, Headlines!, which charted at number 3 in the UK and number 10 in Ireland. The band released their eighth single, "Missing You", which charted at number three in the UK and number six in Ireland. Rochelle Humes confirmed that the second single from the album would be "Higher". After Flo Rida beat the group to number one for the second time, the American rapper offered to do a collaboration with the band. It was later confirmed by the group's official website that Flo Rida had recorded vocals for "Higher". In November 2011, The Saturdays released 'On Your Radar'.^[14]

In 2009, The Saturdays appeared in an episode of BBC TV series "Myths" which was their first acting role as a band. They played a singing group called "The Syrens" in a modern version of The Odyssey, with Una Healy (as she was then) in a lead role as "Peisone".^[15][16]

Foden stared in a reality series called Chasing The Saturdays which premiered on E! on 20 January 2013. The show features the group trying to make it in America. Upon its premiere in the United Kingdom, Chasing The Saturdays became that week's #1 most watched show with 72,000 viewers.^[17] Living for the Weekend was released by the group on 14 October 2013, and charted at number 10 on the UK album charts, making it their fourth top ten album to date.^[18]

Solo work

Foden was a judge on sport/talent ITV show, Let's Get Gold with former EastEnders star Martine McCutcheon and cricketer Andrew Flintoff. Una also released an extended play called Sorry^[19] produced by herself in 2006. She has also been picked to present a new programme on RTÉ called Una's Dream Ticket.^[20]

In January 2014 she was a contestant in series 2 of celebrity diving TV Show Splash!.^[21]

Discography

Extended plays

Personal life

While engaged to England international rugby player Ben Foden, Healy gave birth to the couple's first child, a girl, Aoife Belle Foden, on 13 March 2012.^[23][24] The couple married on 30 June 2012 in her native Ireland.^[25][26][27] On 17 October 2013, Una announced that she had changed her surname to Foden. Foden won "Hottest Female 2009" in the Virgin Media Music Awards.^[28] Una appeared in the January 2010 edition of FHM along with the other members of the Saturdays.^[29] She was ranked number 19 and number 41 in FHM's Sexiest Women poll in 2010 and 2011, respectively.^[30][31] In FHM's 2012 poll, she had dropped down to 66th place.^[32]

References

External links

• Profile The Saturdays Website
• Una Healy at the Internet Movie Database