The 411

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The 411 were an English female R&B group formed in late 2003. The band formed after a couple of the members sang backing vocals on Lemar's version of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together". The band took its name after the 1992 Mary J. Blige album What's the 411?.^[1] During their time together as a group, they released one studio album Between the Sheets and three top-forty singles before disbanding in 2008.

The band reformed in 2007 under new name Sunshyne, with two new members due to Furlonger quitting a few months before; the band soon changed back to their original name and Furlonger was replaced by Nuala Farrelly, who was a member of Sunshyne. Martin announced in 2008 via her own personal Myspace account that the band had yet again split but still remained friends and that they would possibly release new material in the near future.

History[]

2003–2005: Formation and Between the Sheets[]

The group was first formed in 2003 as a four-piece girl band with Tisha Martin a familiar face at the time after appearing in children's television shows Kerching and The Basil Brush Show.

The group's first single, "On My Knees", was a hit in the UK (reaching the top 5) and Australia (reaching the top 30). A second single, "Dumb," reached number 3 in the UK and also reached the top 30 in Australia. These singles appeared on their album Between the Sheets, featuring songs written by Diane Warren, Redeye, and The 411 themselves. They also recorded a cover version of SWV's big hit "Weak".

Between the Sheets was also released in France and Japan. The French edition featured two new versions of album tracks, recorded specifically for the French market: "Face À Toi Baby" featuring Mag (featuring the verses from "Dumb" with a special French chorus) and "Chance" featuring K'Maro (a new mix of "Chance" featuring a French language rap). The Japanese edition of the album featured the standard 12 tracks from the UK version, alongside two bonus tracks: "Drop Top Jeans" (which appeared as B-side to "Teardrops" in the UK) and "Soaking Wet," alongside an enhanced section featuring the videos to "On My Knees" and "Dumb".

The album was certified silver on 10 December 2004.^[2]

2005–2007: Split and reformation as Sunshyne[]

After third single "Teardrops" missed the UK top 20 and Between the Sheets failed to make the top 40, the 411 were dropped by Sony. In a 2009 interview, Furlonger said, "When the album missed out on the top 40, I think our label just decided that it wasn't worth keeping us anymore." She went on to say, "[Sony] were in the middle of a merger at the time so they were clearing out a lot of their less successful groups and singers. I think if we'd gone to them and literally begged, they might have given us another chance. We could have tried to bring it all back with a fourth single, but I don't think there was anything on the album strong enough to be honest. I think another problem was that we didn't have much publicity. When you look at Girls Aloud or The Saturdays, they're always in the paper. We never had that kind of exposure."^[3]

Since the band's break-up in 2005 Furlonger has worked as backing vocalist for various artists, including Paloma Faith, Kevin Rowland, Percy Sledge, Sheila Ferguson, Deniece Williams, Freda Payne, Billy Paul, William Bell, Russell Thompkins Jr., Leon Ware, Take That, Leona Lewis, Julio Iglesias, Bonnie Tyler, James Ingram, Peabo Bryson (duetting with him on several occasions) and regularly with Candi Staton and Cliff Richard (who also uses her as his duet partner on tour). She also performed on shows such as CD:UK, GMTV, The X Factor: Battle of the Stars, T4 on the Beach, the Royal Variety Performance and Glastonbury 2008 and 2010 with Candi Staton.^[4] Furlonger also appeared on The X Factor in 2008 as a solo singer in the Over 25s category, with Dannii Minogue as her mentor.^[5] She reached the final 6 but was eliminated from the show on 5 October, having failed to reach the live finals.^[6] Since the show, she has signed to Mousse T.'s label, Peppermint Jam, and recorded an album in Germany.^[4] She continues to provide backing vocals while in the UK previously and regularly toured with David Gest, duetting with some of the artists, as well as providing backing vocals for the other artists on The X Factor.^[7]

Tanya Boniface appeared in the identity parade in the first episode of the twenty-third season of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, broadcast on 1 October 2009. Boniface was not correctly identified, Ben Miller ruling her out as a possibility as he thought she was "too young" to have been in a defunct girl band.

In September 2007, former members Tanya Boniface and Tisha Martin announced that they were forming a new group called Sunshyne and would be joined by Daizy Agnew and Nuala Farrelly. Daizy soon left and was replaced by Stephanie Barnes.

Sunshyne subsequently split up and Tanya and Tisha decided to reform The 411, with the new line-up also including Carolyn Owlett, who had not been involved in the formation of Sunshyne. Original member Suzie Furlonger was not involved, having decided to pursue other avenues, her place was filled by Nuala Farrelly. However, in 2008, The 411 split up once again.

2021-present: Unreleased Material and second album[]

The band reformed in 2007, and started recording songs for their second album and with the new lineup. The track listing below shows six previously unreleased songs from MySpace: https://myspace.com/sunshyneuk

"LoveFool" was the 4th single by The 411 with 2 new members but the single was later cancelled alongside the album.

Track Listing[]

1. "Call Me"
2. "Give Him Up"
3. "Caught Up In The Heat"
4. "Love Fool"
5. "Curves"
6. "Superstar"

Discography[]

Albums[]

Singles[]

References[]

External links[]

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