Innocent

Innocent are an all-female rock band formed in Manchester, England in 2003. After signing a record deal with breathemusic, they released their first single "Come to Me" in 2004. The band's multi-platinum debut album Guilty as Charged and the number one single it spawned, "That's What a Man Should Be" (which featured Mars/Venus star Nadia Walker), led to mainstream popularity. The second album World Domination was released just eight months after the first, garnering even more recognition for the band. The lead single "Stupid Pathetic Love Song" became the group's second number one. Innocent's success continued into 2006, when their third album Something Wicked This Way Comes became their first to be certified diamond.

In 2007, Innocent released the greatest hits album, Dead and Buried: The Greatest Hits, with two new songs. Thanks to the massive success of "Better Left Unsaid", Innocent released a fourth studio album. The Filth and the Fury performed exceptionally well in the charts, considering the lack of promotion on Innocent's behalf. They released "Mending Hearts" before splitting up in December 2008. Six years later, Innocent reformed with the release of Stages, a covers album featuring Broadway classics and contemporary show tunes.

Innocent have sold over ten million records in the United Kingdom alone and fifty million records worldwide.

2003—2005: Formation and rise to fame
Innocent was originally comprised of four members — Holly Donaho, Linda Applewood, Sally Matthews, and Suzanne Schott. They formed in 2003 and developed a small local fan base. Their songs were very pop-oriented, but Donaho and Applewood favoured a rockier direction, which led to the departure of Matthews and Schott.



Holly and Linda asked their good friend Phoebe Hearst to join the band to make up the numbers. They became even more popular with their new pop-rock sound, earning a record deal with major label breathemusic. However, things were looking down again as Linda left the band when she learned she was pregnant. Holly and Phoebe were going to continue as a duo when they heard Elizabeth Stratten, who was a session singer at breathemusic. She agreed to join the band. Stratten's twin sister Ivy was also attempting to enter the music industry at the time; she released a number of hit singles between 2004 and 2008.

Innocent's debut single, "Come to Me", made the top ten on the singles chart in January 2004. Their second single, "Overload"/"Unleashed", was a surprise top five hit. It went on to sell over 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The album, Guilty as Charged, also fared well in the charts. It was the fourth single that would cement Innocent's place in the industry. Going against their roots, they teamed up with Nadia Walker of Mars/Venus fame for the R&B-pop collaboration "That's What a Man Should Be". It would be Innocent's first number one single, barely beating GirlSound's comeback. The album also rose to number one and ended up being certified triple platinum.

To build on the success, Innocent's new record label Vixenation rush released a new single. "Stupid Pathetic Love Song" returned the girls to their rock roots and proved to be just as successful as the last single when it also peaked at number one. In November, Innocent released their second album World Domination. While it never made it to the top, it still outsold the first album by tens of thousands of copies. The album spawned two more top three singles, "Tea Party" and "Waterfalls", and another top ten. The band also released a one-off single, "Messiah Bitch", for Ivy's soundtrack to The Entertainer.

2006—2007: Career development and artistic growth
Returning from a short hiatus, Innocent returned in January 2006 to release their third studio album Something Wicked This Way Comes. Despite being their only album not to spawn a number one single at the time, it was their best-selling yet. The number one album achieved a diamond certification. The lead single "Spread the Word" was another success for Innocent. The follow-up, "Post Secret/Stockholm Syndrome", paired an album track and the theme to Liz's first movie of the same name. Along with a re-issue of the album, they released a collaboration with CHRIS in July. The single, "Femme Fatale/I Beg of You" was a duology that told a story of deceit and murder.

The girls were scheduled to release the fan favourite "Madhouse" in October but just weeks before the release, it was cancelled. It still received radio airplay and fared well on the downloads chart. Some fans still consider it a single. In December, Innocent teamed up with Neyssa for a special project. They re-recorded a song from each of their current albums together and released it for Christmas. The result was "Dry/Lye". Despite it's dismal entry at #10, the single rose to #5 and ended up being certified silver. Another collaboration was on the cards in January 2007. They participated in the second Tango Challenge and ended up releasing with Sidonia Sinn.

Innocent released a low-key hits collection, Dead and Buried: The Greatest Hits, in May. It reached number one on the album charts despite no promotion, proving they have a solid fanbase. The girls announced their break-up. They have said the split was down to tensions within the band, thought by many fans to be the numerous fat jibes Holly receives.

2007—2008: Return to music and breakup
The band reunited to give themselves a proper goodbye. In October 2007, their greatest hits was repackaged and they released their supposedly final single "Cherry Lips". The song was their biggest hit since 2004. Due to the immense feedback and support, the girls rethought their plans to split up. They released "Better Left Unsaid", a collaboration with Arwyn Knight, which became an even bigger hit for them. The single became their first number one in three years and three months, and sold more than any of their previous singles. Innocent also began work on their fourth studio album and moved to Wired Records. They won Best Group at the 15th Urapopstar Awards.

Due to the success of the Greatest Hits and its respective singles, Wired rush-released Innocent's fourth album The Filth and the Fury. The lead single "Creatures of the Night" was released in April 2008. The promotion was rather low-key, as Liz and Pheebs refused to appear in the same place as Holly. However, both releases continued their impressive streak of top ten singles and top two albums. The promotion for the album's next two singles was actually non-existant, although they still managed to chart within the top five. The next single, "Urban Decay/Bleeding Suburbia", would actually become Innocent's lowest-charting single of all-time, as well as one of their worst-selling.

Innocent chose to release "Mending Hearts" on December 29 2008. The song was not only the final single from The Filth and the Fury, but their final single ever. The group embarked on an extensive promotional campaign for once. They made appearances at Rockin' Around: A Urapopstar Christmas and The Christmas Chart Countdown 2008. Additionally, Innocent performed a final show at London's The O2 Arena, Well and Truly Dead: Live at the O2. It was televised live on Channel 4 and syndicated worldwide on MTV the following day.

2016–present: Stages and Gold
Innocent reformed in 2016, eight years after their split, with the release of Stages. A shift in musical direction for the group, Stages featured covers of songs popularized by Broadway musicals. In addition to featuring songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber classics and the likes of Les Miserables, Innocent also highlighted contemporary hit musicals. Their covers of songs from Hedwig + the Angry Inch ("The Origin of Love") and Kinky Boots are among the earliest of such covers. Stages spawned four top-ten singles.

In July 2017, Innocent's record label, Legacy Recordings, released a new greatest hits album entitled Gold.

Personal lives and solo ventures
Phoebe Hearst is the stepsister of Alesha. In 2004, Hearst entered rehab to be treated for bulimia. Hearst participated in the 2007 Uravision contest on behalf of Luxembourg, but her song "Suffer in Silence" only came in thirteenth place. Hearst was connected to various actors and musicians, including Josh of flop boy band X Factor. In 2010, two years after Innocent's split, Phoebe married an American political consultant Jason Hearst.

Elizabeth Stratten is twin sister of Ivy. As children, Ivy was abused by their father while Elizabeth was spared. This has been the subject matter of songs by both artists. Elizabeth married Boris in 2006, reportedly so that he coud gain UK citizenship. Elizabeth is a self-confessed fan of bukakke porn. In 2010, Elizabeth appeared on the reality television programme URAPS Idol: Second Chance, coming in second place behind Sienna Martinez.

Holly married television cameraman David Donaho in 2009 after giving birth to son, Alfie Tarzan Donaho, three years earlier in 2006.

Discography
Main article: Innocent discography
 * Guilty as Charged (2004)
 * World Domination (2004)
 * Something Wicked This Way Comes (2006)
 * Dead and Buried: The Greatest Hits (2007)
 * The Filth and the Fury (2008)