Myleene Klass (born Myleene Angela Klass on April 6, 1978, in Norfolk)
is a classically-trained pianist, and former member of the British
manufactured pop group Hear'Say, who achieved four top 10 singles, two
of which were UK Number 1s. They also released two albums Popstars,
and Everybody. She is of Spanish and Filipino descent.
Almost a year after the Hear'say break-up on 13 May 2003, Myleene
signed a 5 album deal with Universal Classics and Jazz which was
estimated to be worth "millions". The first promotional single for the
album had been recorded, and Myleene stated that she would be going
into the studio to finish the album off for release in October.
Promotion started with the release of the main promotional single
Toccata and Fugue to TV channels and was the first ever classical
piece to appear on British music television channel The Box. The video
was a huge success with large numbers of requests and showings on TV
channels especially Classical FMTV.
Myleene's album, titled 'Moving On', was launched on the 20th October
at Harrods, London. The launch included two performances (Toccata and
Fugue and Moonlight Sonata), as well as a press photoshoot and a
signing for fans who had come along. The album was described as "a
refreshing collection of beautiful classical pieces" and included
reworked versions of popular classical pieces such as Faure's
'Pavane', 'Now We Are Free' (from Gladiator), the theme from 'The
Piano' by Michael Nyman, Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' and Satie's
'Gymnopedie No.2'. It also included new arrangements for piano of more
contemporary works including Daniel Bedingfield's recent chart-topping
hit ' If You're Not The One', and 'Crawling' by Linkin Park. After a
week of release it peaked at the No. 2 spot in the Classical charts
being beaten by Hayley Westenra, and by mid-December 2003 it had been
certified Silver and has since gone Gold.
Things went a little quiet over the next few months, with little
further promotion for the album and no new promotional videos made.
Myleene continued to perform at various events, many of which
corporate and some not. Come 15th May 2004, 'Moving On' was nominated
as 'Peoples Album of the year' in the Classical Brit Awards. Myleene
was ecstatic but very nervous of the result and stated she did not
expect to win. Come the awards night, dressed in a stunning white
dress designed by her stylist and long time friend Kyri, Myleene was
even more nervous as she was up against some many talented musicians.
As she predicted, Myleene lost out on the Classical Brit award for
'Album of the Year' to Bryn Terfel, whose platinum-selling record,
simply titled 'Bryn' won the peoples vote.
Rumours started appearing of a re-release of 'Moving On' with a
predicted 5 new tracks. This was later confirmed by Myleene herself,
although no new information was given. It was later revealed that the
re-release had been pushed back due to conflicts between Myleene's new
management company (Mel Bush Organisation) and her previous (Safe
Management) regarding royaltees. Finally the plan was scrapped and the
only reminisce of the plans is the Asian release of Moving On, which
includes three new tracks namely Trouble (Coldplay cover, with
Myleene's vocals), Sahara and Le Onde. It was then revealed by Myleene
herself that she would be working on a new album, which would include
a number of tracks in which her vocals appeared. However, on 23rd
October 2004 it was announced that Myleene would not be releasing any
further material through her current label Universal Classics and
Jazz. In a statement through her official fansite she revealed that
she had plans to move toward a pop career, as many people had been
wondering why she was not singing. However little information has been
heard about such an album.
As Myleene's then current management company (Mel Bush Organisation)
specialised only in classical artists, Myleene moved to a new
management company Shalit Global, who continue to manage her today.
Since Myleene has made various appearances at premieres, store
openings as well as an appearance on Queen Mania performing the Queen
classic Too Much Love Will Kill You. She has also been the face of
various charity campaigns such as stop text bully and ChildLine, and
most recently help aid the Niger famine appeal by manning the
phonelines.
In August 2005, Myleene was signed as a host for the ITV1 music show
CD:UK alongside Lauren Laverne and Johny P, with her first appearance
shown on 17 September 2005. Four months on, and since her debut on
CD:UK Myleene and co-presenters have doubled the viewing figures and
have been offered further 3 month contracts for the show. Myleene also
helped present coverage of the Channel 4 hoax television show Space
Cadets.
In December 2005, Myleene was attacked by a group of teenagers in a
newsagent in Bermondsey. She had a bag of chips dropped on her head,
and was pushed to the ground. The teenagers attempted to take photos
of her on their mobile phones. Source
In December 2005, it was reported that CD:UK is to be axed in March
2006 by ITV, because of "poor ratings".