Sasha Riley

Sasha Riley (23 November, 1989 - 2 August, 2006) is a now deceased former pop-rock singer, most famous for winning URAPS Idol 6.

Early life
Sasha Riley was born and raised in Grantham, England, by her parents, who own a small family-run chip shop together. Not much is known about her life growing up. Judging from the lyrics to her debut album, Riley was unlucky in love and was somewhat of a social outcast in general. She refers to smoking marijuana in one of her songs, "Glow". She attended public schooling until she was 16, when she dropped out before sixth form and auditioned for URAPS Idol 6.

Idol
Riley made it to the final rounds, after auditioning with "Californiacation" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. After making the final twelve, Sasha continued to go from strength to strength in the competition. Despite themes that weren't well suited to Sasha, like disco and Cher, her quirky vocals and faux-punk deliveries made her a favourite with the judges and also the British public. Sasha was eventually crowned the winner, beating Cleo Clarice, who would go on to be more successful.


 * 1) Madonna – Like A Prayer
 * 2) Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
 * 3) Gloria Gaynor - Never Can Say Goodbye
 * 4) The Eagles - Hotel California
 * 5) Traditional - Little Drummer Boy
 * 6) Cher - Heart of Stone
 * 7) Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains
 * 8) Elvis - Heartbreak Hotel / Always On My Mind
 * 9) Undertones - Teenage Kick / Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The U.K.
 * 10) Love Spit Love - How Soon Is Now? (Charmed) / No Doubt - New (Go)
 * 11) No Doubt - Running / Drop Me Down (winner's song)

My Generation
Sasha Riley chose not torelease her debut single until May. The song, "Sue", was a pop-punk anthem about a lover who had cheated on Riley with a girl named Sue. The song didn't receive a lot of radio and TV play. In addition to explicit lyrics that were too abundant to censor, the song was also too "hard" for channels like Disney and Smash Hits and the song was too fake for credible radio stations. Still, the song managed to reach number six and went on to sell 86,224 copies.

After a short hiatus, Sasha Riley returned in August with the follow-up to "Sue". Titled "Look Who's Laughing Now", the song took a more radio-friendly approach to Riley's pop-punk sound, with lyrics about vengeance and payback. The song scraped into the top ten and sold just 57,531 copies. The chart performance was disappointing to record label bosses, who thought she should have received a hit after winning Uraps Idol.

Sasha's third single "If You Fall" was another top ten hit, selling 86,030 copies. Her record label was still not pleased, but it was probably her most well-received single by the public. Sasha also released the album My Generation, which featured collaborations with her good friends Taylor Brookes and Russ Hooch. The album fared just as well as her single at first. However, after disappearing after the release, it didn't do well in the long run.

Death
According to reports, Sasha Riley started having memory lapses and black outs in the first quarter of 2006. This eventually grew to the point of mental retardation and epileptic fits. Sasha was admitted to an asylum in July 2006. Shortly afterwards, she slit her wrists with a rusty screw and died.

Albums

 * 1) Look Who's Laughing
 * 2) If You Fall
 * 3) Will the World Spin?
 * Sue
 * 1) My Generation (with Taylor Brookes
 * 2) Let Me Die
 * 3) Steppin' On My Shoes
 * 4) I Want a Lover (with Russ Hooch)
 * 5) He Is My Light
 * 6) Glow
 * 7) Stormy Weather (with Malena)
 * 8) (More Than) Merely Games
 * 9) Fairytales and Fantasies
 * 10) Chains