Career
For a spell of two years, she played Nala in a production of The Lion King on London's West End. In a potentially risky move, she opted to channel this experience of live singing into an audition for the returning Popstars, a TV talent show in which young hopefuls sought to be picked for a place in a new band. For the second series, Popstars: The Rivals, the format had been altered to allow for the creation of two groups, one boy-band and one girl-band, that would, in theory at least, battle it out for chart dominance.
Javine's gamble paid off to some extent as she was one of the last six contenders for a place in the girl-band, but she fell at the final hurdle, and missed out on a spot in what became the chart-topping group Girls Aloud, and instead embarked on a solo singing career.
In the summer of 2003, Javine released her debut single "Real Things", which featured a sample of M.O.P.'s hit "Ante Up". The single charted inside the UK top 5 at #4 and remains her biggest hit to date. Three further top 20 hits from her debut album followed, "Surrender (Your Love)" (which sampled the Diana Ross hit "Surrender"), "Best Of My Love" and a cover of Jade's "Don't Walk Away", a double A-side with a cover of Carole King's "You've Got A Friend".
Javine's debut album, after being delayed from November 2003, was finally released after her third single, "Best Of My Love", in the summer of 2004. In spite of securing a songwriting partnership with the in demand Eg White, and well-known producers Stargate, along with the singles performing relatively well, her debut album Surrender only scraped into the UK top 75 [1] and as a result she was dropped by her record label in late 2004 [2].
Javine featured on Richard X's 2003 album Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1. Her collaboration with him, "You Used To" was due to be released as a single, but it was cancelled [3].
On March 5, 2005, she won Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up, [4] the British heat of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, with the ethnic romp "Touch My Fire", a track co-written by Hylton. The other contestants were the 1996 UK entrant Gina G, as well as Andy Scott-Lee, the group Tricolore, and Katie "Jordan" Price. Her appearance on the programme was noteworthy for two other reasons. During the performance 'tit tape' used to hold dress in place came loose causing a wardrobe malfunction [5]. Javine represented the United Kingdom in the final, finishing in 22nd place (with 18 points) in front of only France and Germany. She had been given pre-final odds of 33/1 [6], making her an outsider. When comparing her performance for the BBC to the performance she gave in Kiev at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, it is evident reports that she was suffering from a throat infection at the live final were indeed correct [7]. When "Touch My Fire" was released as a single in its own right, it became Javine's fifth consecutive top 20 hit, charting at #18 in the UK singles chart.
Javine has since appeared on the new series of the Channel 4 programme The Games which she went on to win. Javine is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches to her second album [8], with a title which is unknown as yet. She has confirmed through her official MySpace of collaborating with producers Timbaland, Wyclef Jean, Scott Storch, Richard X, Jonathan "JR" Rotem (Rihanna's SOS) and Tah Mac. The lead single is a mix of dance/R&B and is produced by Jonathan "JR" Rotem. Also on the album will be features from American rappers Papoose and Lil Wayne. A duet with Lemar will also appear, which will feature on his third album also released in September. [9].
Javine will make her comeback to the music scene on October 2nd when she releases new single "Don't Let The Morning Come" which is a collaboration with dance duo Soul Avengerz. The summer song is already getting heavily played in Ibiza and also by Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong. Javine signed a deal with dance label Positiva and will release all new material through this label. Her new album is expected to be released early 2007 and will be her second album, showcasing her new dance sound.
In 2006 she followed in the footsteps of renowned stars such as Barbara Windsor, Felicity Kendel and Charlotte Church by winning the prestigious "Rear of the Year Award"