BBC News Online: Entertainment

Pop goes childhood

The launch of Best Frenz, who are quite literally a girl band, comes just days after a storm over the equally precocious quartet BreZe.

BreZe, made up of nine to 11-year-olds plucked from a London stage school, were signed to record company Warner in a deal worth £500,000.

The band's debut single, My Heart Goes Boom, is being tipped by some to become the Christmas number one.

The move to sign young girls, so-called tweenies, follows on from the chart success of such teenage stars as Billie, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera - the 16-year-old who scored a US number one this month.

Some suggest bands like BreZe and Best Frenz are calculated to cash-in on the desire of pre-teen record buyers to become pop stars themselves.

Critics have many reservations about the trend, particularly if young music fans reject their pop star peers.

"This is the most difficult job in the world," says Pete Waterman, the producer behind countless chart hits.

The downside of pop

"Nothing can prepare them for the downside of this business. You cannot teach a child about the feeling of a record only reaching 31 in the charts."

Waterman, who shaped the careers of Kylie Minogue, Bananarama and more recently Steps, also stewarded the youthful 80s band Musical Youth.

The members of the Birmingham group were propelled to stardom with their hit Pass The Dutchie and then faded into obscurity.

Bass player Patrick Waite died of a head injury aged 24. He had already served time in prison and was facing drugs charges at the time of his death.

"I have to live with what happened when they went out of the limelight," says Waterman.

Les Molloy, promoter of Best Frenz, defends his decision to give the girls a shot at pop stardom.

"This is what these children want to do. We're just helping them enjoy it a little bit more."

The concern over bands like Best Frenz and BreZe extends beyond the girls themselves.

"The clothes and attitude that are being represented are those of adulthood," reckons child psychologist Dr Richard Woolfson.

"I think we are going to see nine and 10-year-old girls pressurised to play more mature roles than they are emotionally ready for."

Relevant Stories

Christina's mouse magic (11 Oct 99 | Entertainment)