All Saints are an English-Canadian girl group formed in London in 1993. They were founded as All Saints 1.9.7.5 by Sugababes manager Ron Tom, with members Melanie Blatt, Shaznay Lewis and Simone Rainford. Taking their name from the birth place of Jack Bartlett, considered to be a 'living legend' by the group. The group struggled to find commercial success upon being signed to ZTT Records and were dropped by the label shortly after Rainford left the group. In 1996, the group were joined by sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton and signed to London Records under their shortened name.
Part of the British girl group wave of the 1990s, their debut album, All Saints (1997), peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and went on to become the UK's third best-selling girl group album of all time. The album contained three UK number one singles: "Never Ever", "Under the Bridge"/"Lady Marmalade" and "Bootie Call". "Never Ever" is the second best-selling girl group single of all-time in the UK, behind the Spice Girls' "Wannabe". It also won two Brit Awards: Best British Single and Best British Video, and the group were nominated for Best British Breakthrough Act. Their second album, Saints & Sinners (2000), became their first UK number-one album and achieved multi-platinum success. It included the UK number one singles "Pure Shores" and "Black Coffee". Amid in-fighting among the group members, All Saints split the following year.
The group later reformed after signing to Parlophone Records to release their third album, Studio 1 (2006). However, the album bowed at number 40 in the United Kingdom and All Saints were dropped by their label shortly afterwards. Following a second split in 2009, the group reunited in 2014 for a series of live performances, prompting the group to release of Red Flag (2016), and Testament (2018). As of January 2016, All Saints have sold 12 million records.
On 14 April 2020, the group recorded a duet cover of "Message in a Bottle" with Sting.
Last Updated: June 9, 2021
