Up Close & Personal with... NOBODY'S ANGEL

by Sarah Lounges

   This past summer I was thrilled to meet the rising pop group, Nobody's
Angel, who at that time had just signed to Hollywood Records, the musical
branch of the Disney entertainment empire.

 
   The deal also included their singing theme song to the hit Disney film,
"The Parent Trap," which was their first accomplishment as group.  Since
seeing them perform that day at the World Music Theatre on a double bill with
Youngstown, I have been dying for their album to finally be finished.

     Their self-titled debut CD hit the streets on January 25 and has 12
tracks of high energy pop, including the pumped up cover of the old Sister
Sledge disco anthem, "We Are Family", which they had closed their live show
with that day.

     I met the group on the back lot at the World Music Theatre in Tinley
Park, shortly before they were scheduled to perform.  It was a terribly hot
July afternoon, so we climbed on board their air-conditioned tour bus before
our makeup melted off. 

    Everyone - Stacy Harper, Sarah Smith, Ali Navarro and Amy Sue Hardy - was
real friendly and had lots of interesting stuff to talk about.  We laughed a
lot, talked about cute guys like N-Sync and Backstreet Boys, popped open a
few cold cans of Pepsi and finally got around to the business at hand...

BEAT ~  You all did a lot of individual stuff before forming Nobody's Angel,
from dancing in music video's to acting roles.  Tell me about those projects?

Sarah ~  I did mostly dancing stuff. I go-go danced in both Austin Powers
movies, I did a Greek monologue dance move thing in Scream 2 when Neve
Campbell was doing like a theater scene.  I danced with Britney Spears in her
first video ' Hit Me Baby, One More Time', and I went out with her for some
of her promotional tour.

   Let's see..  I also did the dance scene with the DJ in the film, 'She's
All That'.  Usher was the DJ and here were all the dancers, and it was fun
'cause it kinda took you back to the '80s with stuff like 'Footloose.  I did
a couple Toyota commercials and some other different commercials.  Then after
we got the group together, we all were on 'Boy Meets World'. We acted and
sang on an episode of the that, which was really a lot of fun!

BEAT ~ Was that a cameo appearance?

Amy Sue ~ No, they actually wrote the episode around us, so that we could be
in it.  The story was about us, Nobody's Angels.
 
Sarah ~ Yeah, it was all about us and we played ourselves with all our own
individual names and everything...it was pretty cool.

Ali ~ Primarily, my background came from singing and acting. I've been doing
lots of stuff since I was little. I started off in musical theater.  I did
episodes of shows like 'Sabrina, The Teenage Witch' and 'Blossom'.  I did
lots of commercials.      Eat your heart out, because I did a part in the
Backstreet Boys' video, 'Backstreet's Back'. I was the vampire girl next to
Howie.

Amy Sue ~ Actually, Ali and I first met in musical theater.  I've done lots
of musical theater too and lots of commercials.  I've done some independent
films here and there, and a little bit of television.  I've always been busy
with singing and dancing and acting.

Stacey ~  I started off as a dancer.  I've done video's for LL Cool J, The
Offspring, The Artist Formerly Known As Prince and Will Smith.  I did a dance
on the Grammy's with Ricky Martin.  I did some work in the 'Batman & Robin'
movie.

Sarah ~ Stacy and I did that together.

Stacey ~ Yeah, we both did that.  I did the 'Cinderella' movie with Brandy
too.

BEAT ~ Which Batman movie?

Stacey ~ 'Batman & Robin', the last one that was just out.  I've done some TV
shows, and I just did like that whole Gap commercial thing that is going on.

BEAT~ What were the factors that made the four of you get together?
Ali & Stacey ~  (answering together) Friendship!

Ali ~  I'm the only one originally from California, where we are based from
now.  Sarah's from Michigan originally, Stacy's from Virginia, and Amy Sue's
from St. Louis.  They all moved to L.A to pursue their individual careers,
either acting, singing, or dancing.  We all met in show business out in L.A
and we all became friends and we've been doing this group for the past two
and a half years.

BEAT ~  How'd you get involved with 'The Parent Trap'?

Stacey ~  Disney actually came to us for that, we were starting to record our
album and they were like - 'You know what?  We want to redo the song and we
want you guys to do it'
    So they let us like put it together, how we wanted to to it and put a
whole new twist on it.  We actually came up with three different versions, so
we gave them all three versions, which were  completely different from each
other, and we let them pick the one they liked best.  So they picked one. 

     'Parent Trap' was our first time going to a film premier.  It was so
cool, because we were like walking down the red carpet out of a limo. It was
a lot of fun, because that's the kind of stuff you dream about when you're a
little girl and you watch all those awards shows and stuff.  And here we were
doing it.

BEAT ~  What's the best lesson you learned by watching and working with other
artists that you have brought to your own careers?

Sarah ~ For me, it was being sure to treat everyone with the same kind of
respect.  Everyone plays a part in your career whether they hang the lights
or help  dress you, so everybody deserves the same kind of respect.

Ali ~ I'd agree with that too. Coming from TV where there are all the extras,
you learn that everything comes together to make a scene work. So you need to
treat everybody with the ultimate respect, because they have a job to do just
like you and that job is important.

Amy Sue ~ If you respect someone they'll give you respect back.

BEAT ~  How have things changed now that you're like celebrities?  What's the
best thing?

Sarah ~ I don't think we're celebrities yet.  Every once in a while something
will happen to us, but...

Stacey ~  (interrupting) Yeah...like when we got recognized yesterday outside
of Michael Jordan's restaurant in Chicago.  We were just sitting there
waiting for our car from the valet, and this group of kids from France
recognized us.  We were signing autographs and we were like - 'How cool is
this'?

BEAT ~  Your biggest influences?

Ali ~ Madonna, Gloria Estefan, and Selena.

Amy Sue ~ My father and my brothers.

Sarah  ~ Janet Jackson.

Stacey ~ I would have to say that my biggest influence...  this just sounds
weird... is a toss up between my mom and Prince.

BEAT ~ Do you guys write your own songs?

Ali ~  We're starting to.  We didn't have any songs on the first album
because everything came together so fast, but by the second album we
definitely want to start putting some of our own songs on there.

BEAT ~ The best advice you can offer someone wanting a career in music?

Sarah ~ Set high goals for yourself and never give up! And the most important
thing is to practice, practice, practice!

Stacey ~  Know your business... know everything you can about the
entertainment business, how things work and what kind of papers you sign.

BEAT ~  What do you guys listen to?

Stacey ~ Yesterday in the van, we went from Destiny's Child, to Tim McGraw,
to Christina Aguilera, to us.
Ali ~ We listen to everything.

Stacey ~ Elvis rocks!  Elvis is the king!

BEAT ~ How do you pick who sings lead on which song?

Sarah ~ Basically everybody gets a fair amount to sing.  We divide it up
equally.

BEAT ~ What do you usually do in your spare time?

Ali ~ (laughing) We read gossipy tabloids like The Star magazine, The
Enquirer, The Globe.  We make jewelry.

Stacey ~  I'm a romance novel addict.

Amy Sue ~ Long walks. I also read and do arts and crafts.

Sarah ~ I'm learning to play guitar and I love movies.
BEAT ~ Are special men in your lives?

Ali ~  Nope...we're all happily single.

Stacey ~ Hey now!  I have a special man in my life. His name is Kevin
Richardson and he's in Backstreet Boys. He doesn't know it yet but, oh yeah,
that boy is mine!  Other than that, my teddy bear and my dog are the only
things in my life right now.

BEAT ~ What do you look for in a guy?

Ali ~ A great sense of humor, a great personality. Be loyal, and trustworthy,
with great eyes and a great smile.

Amy Sue ~ Great personality, sense of humor, and has to be cute.

Stacey ~ Has to be funny, has to have a nice body, and absolutely has to be
6'4 or taller.

Sarah ~ Personality is number one on my list and fun to be with. No really
physical restrictions. Basically with me its what's inside that counts.

    Well, there you have it. Nobody's Angel up close and personal.

    If you have any comments or questions on the group that maybe I didn't
answer in this article, you can e-mail them to me at:  sarah@midwestbeat.com