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 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 had planned to break up and released a low-key greatest hits album, Dead and Buried: The Greatest Hits. However, he band reunited later in the year to give themselves a "proper goodbye". The greatest hits was re-released and thanks to the massive success of its singles, "Cherry Lips" and the Arwyn Knight collaboration "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 their final single "Mending Hearts" on 29 December, 2008.

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

2003&mdash;2005: Formation and rise to fame
Innocent was originally comprised of four members &mdash; Holly Marie Combs, Linda Applewood, Suzy Dougherty, and Sally Matthews. They had formed at the beginning of 2003 and developed a small fanbase in the Manchester scene. Their songs were very pop-oriented, but Combs and Applewood favoured a rockier direction, which led to the departure of Dougherty and Matthews.



Holly and Linda asked their good friend Phoebe Halliwell to join the band to make up the numbers. They became even more popular with their new pop-rock sound, eventually 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 didn't know what to do until 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 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 and another top ten. The band also released a one-off single, "Messiah Bitch", for Ivy's soundtrack to The Entertainer.

2006&mdash;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&mdash;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.

Personal lives
Phoebe has had a number of high-profile boyfriends. At one point she was engaged to Josh of flop band X Factor. She has had flings with various actors and musicians but no serious relationships since she broke off her engagement. She also went to rehab in the summer of 2004 to be treated for bulimia. She participated in the 2007 Uravision contest for Luxembourg, the country that runs Alesha and Neyssa's lesbian empire. Her song, "Suffer In Silence", came in thirteenth place.

Elizabeth has had many affairs but shockingly married Boris in 2006. It is suspected they married because of their love for sex and so Boris could gain UK citizenship. The pair don't have any children but Liz often brings home children for Boris to molest and rape. Liz has also starred in a bukkake porn video and loves bukkakes in general. In 2010, Elizabeth appeared on the reality television programme URAPS Idol: Second Chance, coming in second place behind Sienna Martinez.

Holly, despite being fat, has settled down with a TV cameraman, David Donaho. They have yet to get married but have a baby son called Alfie Tarzan Donaho-Combs.

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)