Solid Harmonie are a British-American pop girl group. The group was moderately successful, releasing five singles and a self-titled album, before disbanding in 2000. They had the most success in the Netherlands where their album went to No. 1 in the albums chart and was certified gold. Also the single "I Want You to Want Me" peaked at #4 in the Dutch singles chart. They sold over a million records worldwide.
History
1996–1997: Formation
Solid Harmonie formed in 1996 by Lou Pearlman as a female opposite of his earlier created boy bands such as N Sync and Backstreet Boys. They were signed to Jive Records in the United States. Initially, the band was made up of the trio Rebecca Onslow, Melissa Graham, who was playing in a popular Irish band called Calvary in 1996, and Mariama Goodman. They released their debut single "Got 2 Have Ya" in 1996, before Goodman left in 1997 to care for her ill mother.
1997–1998: Goodman's first departure and ''Solid HarmoniE''
Goodman was immediately replaced by American Elisa Cariera in 1997. However Goodman rejoined the band later in the year and the group became a four-piece. The group was successful, releasing the four singles "I'll Be There for You", "I Want You to Want Me", "I Wanna Love You" and "To Love Once Again" preceded by their self-titled debut album release "Solid Harmonie". The album includes all their hits except "Got 2 Have Ya", which only appears on a special edition of the album and the Christmas song "Give Love on Christmas Day", which can be found exclusively on a Christmas sampler.
1998–2000: Goodman's second departure, Graham's departure and disbandment
Mariama Goodman left once again and then joined R&B girl group Honeyz. Graham also left and pursued a solo career. After the departures of Goodman and Graham, Onslow and Cariera decided to stay with Solid Harmonie and went back to Orlando, Floridain 1999 where they had several successful tours. Soon Puerto RicanJenilca Giusti joined the band in 1999 after an audition held in Cariera's hometown Orlando, Florida and started briefly recording for the second studio album. The new Solid Harmonie trio was on the cover of TeenFaces magazine on its October issue. Their second album was never released as they could not come to an agreement with their record label, or find a new one once they were without a label. After legal issues, the group lost their recording contract and disbanded. The band eventually disbanded in the early 2000 to embark on solo careers.
2013–present: Reunion
In 2013, Solid HarmonIE announced to be working on a comeback. Their comeback single "Circus" was released in 2014.
Musical style
Solid Harmonie's debut album was heavy influenced by teen pop, which was made famous and popular by similar artists such as the more successful Spice Girls, credited for being the pioneers that paved the way for the commercial breakthrough of teen pop in the late 1990s, Backstreet Boys or N Sync. Teen pop songwriter pioneer Max Martin wrote the most songs of Solid Harmonie. The band's unreleased second album had more of R&B influence rather than their previous girlband scheme included songs produced by such heavyweights as Tony Battaglia, Billy Chapin and Andy Goldmark.
