TrueBliss was the first manufactured pop group of the reality TV era. The series Popstars plucked Erika Takacs, Joe Cotton, Megan Alatini, Carly Binding and Keri Harper out of obscurity, chronicled their development and briefly turned them into chart toppers and household names. Debut album Dream and single 'Tonight' were both number ones with platinum sales, and there was a sold out tour. But TrueBliss faded once the momentum of the 1999 TV series had gone. Binding went on to a solo career while Cotton became a radio announcer and Takacs a TV Presenter.
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Popstars - First Episode
The search for a New Zealand Spice Girls is underway in the first episode of this pioneering reality series. Manager Peter Urlich (formerly of Th' Dudes) and record company executive Mark Tierney (ex-Strawpeople) hold public auditions to find an all-female pop group for their record deal and TV series. The good, the bad and the unfortunate are out in full force. After an exhaustive selection process, Urlich and Tierney whittle down the talent to 15 hopefuls. The format for the show sold to multiple countries.
Tonight
This dance pop anthem was a number one for the reality TV series-generated act TrueBliss — and the biggest selling single by a New Zealand artist in 1999. It was written (like most of the TrueBliss album) by Anthony Ioasa, an APRA Silver Scroll winning co-writer for Strawpeople's 'Sweet Disorder'. The video features a girls' night in slumber party, complete with home movies, hairbrush microphones, pillow fights, dress-ups, American Indian head-dresses and hula dancing. There is also quite a lot of moody introspection for what is essentially an unabashed love song.