Just Ginger

Just Ginger (Also known as Ginger, G and G-Sus) is a Uraps Award winning recording artist, actress, television personality, entrepreneur and president of Saturdays Records. After performing in the music group Gingers+Jesus and releasing an album with the band she released her debut album in 2010. She accompanied this with a series of singles which pushed her to the forefront of popular music and culture. She is best known for her #1 album Not Just a Pretty Face and the #1 singles Don't B J, Glamour on the Run, God's Greatest Creation and Tarotist. Ginger has been critically appraised as a child prodigy but has also found herself at the centre of numerous controversies. She began her foray into film with a lead role in the Halloween blockbuster The Dreidel Room which despite mixed to negative commentary was commercially succesful. Ginger's other ventures include judging URAPS Idol and The G Factor which she also produces, presenting at the Urapopstar Awards, releasing a fashion range, writing an autobiography, writing and producing for other artists and charity work. Ginger is arguably the youngest artist to top the Urapopstar singles charts, has links to the legendary Albaquerque clan and helped Hailey to achieve the feat of longest gap between #1 singles with their joint release with Morris David Cat, Don't B J/Shoot The Sky. She has received two Uraps awards, both for best promotion.

Early Life
Little is known of Ginger's early life, though she has claimed to be of multi-ethnic origin and is not a natural red-head. Dakota Rain has claimed on numerous occasions that Ginger is her sister and that they are the daughters of Edna Albaquerque, which Ginger has denied and ignored at different stages of her career. She was adopted, and she has claimed that they were extremely abusive, this led to her being Fingered by a Snowman. Before embarking on a pop career Ginger worked as a model, as well as a waitress in a latex nurse outfit in Hyde park. She had an IQ of 212 on her fifth birthday, but she hasn't checked since as she "Doesn't feel it is anything special" and graduated both Oxford and Cambridge at different stages of her prodigious childhood.

2009-2010: Gingers+Jesus and Solo Breakthrough
Main Article: Gingers+Jesus Ginger first found fame in Gingers+Jesus, a group formed around Ginger and Jesus. Ginger was initially reluctant due to solo opportunities, but after being told a girlband made up of four red-heads and the son of God wouldn't work she decided to prove people wrong. While the group failed to find great commercial success during Ginger's tenure in the band, the singles "Fingered by a Snowman", based on a traumatic experience in Ginger's early life, and the later hit "Our Moment Like Now" have become some of the group's most recognisable work amongst other singles from the top ten album Ghetto Cornetto. During her time in the band Ginger's profile overshadowed those of her bandmates. She gained unprecedented attention in 2009 when she announced her pregnancy with deceased popstar Carl Reeves, allegedly ensuring Ginger a 6 figure sum from the Daily Star for her story, while an appearance in the video for Moodring's A Dangerous Liaison made her an even bigger name.

Following the group's first mainstream success with "Our Moment Like Now" Ginger put the band on hiatus as she attempted to pursue a solo career. She made her first performance as a solo artist on Women Who Rock where she performed a track called "Lay The Beat Down". While she promoted Don't B J/Shoot The Sky with Hailey and Morris David Cat the band made moves to kick Ginger out and returned with "Sunday Roast", replacing Ginger with Edna Albaquerque. "Don't B J" charted at #1 in March 2010, making Ginger one of a number of artists that year to have their debut single chart at #1. The single remains Ginger's best selling to date, and marked Hailey's first #1 in 6 years. Shortly before the release of the single, Ginger signed a major deal with Elite Records. Despite leaving the group, Ginger still owns 50% of the band's name and has made a large sum of money from the band's musical output without her involvement. In 2011 when the members of Gingers+Jesus were slaughtered on stage, Ginger refused to perform in tribute and threatened legal action against former bandmates who did- despite this Ginger did record a medley of hits for the I Want to be in Gingers+Jesus album.

2010-2011: Not Just a Pretty Face era, Fashion and Film Career Launch
Main Article: Not Just a Pretty Face Signed to Elite Records and in the wake of the phenominal success "Don't B J", Ginger began working on her debut solo album full time and on tracks for other artists such as Moodring, Butterscotch and Hailey. Days after her Women Who Rock performance Ginger was approached by Alesha and Putanovska to support them on their The Reckoning world tour. Ginger toured the world with the two iconic singers and fellow newcomer Butterscotch for two months, from 3 April to 11 June. Problems arose when fans continuously confused Just Ginger for Putanovska and flattened a nursery while chasing Ginger through Mexico City. The tour grossed US$251 million after just 45 shows and was universally acclaimed by music critics, due to her role in the tour Ginger made a small but notable appearance in one of the highest grossing documentaries of all time, Ragnarök.

Ginger released her second single as a solo artist, the riverdance tinged pop-rock track "In Ginger's World" on 21st June, just ten days after the end of the world tour. The track was initially promoted by Radio Disney to help Ginger break America, but after an X-rated version leaked, Ginger was banned from the US Radio station and a pilot starring Ginger as a teen witch spy in a christian rock band was dropped. The single debuted and peaked at #4 in the official UK singles charts and charted outside the top 40 in the US, which Ginger was notably unhappy about. She announced her retirement from the music industry to focus on other areas of her career weeks after, but promised to release her album first. Despite the closure of Elite Records, Ginger signed a deal with Saturdays Records to release her album, changing the intended title from "Ginger's World" to "Not Just a Pretty Face". "Not Just a Pretty Face" was released in August alongside the single "Sunshine 'n' Showers" which charted at #1 and #3 respectively upon their release.

During her "retirement" from music Ginger announced her clothing range, Londonderry Girls at Morrisons. A supermarket exclusive clothes range taking inspiration from Ireland and haute-couture. Despite it's affordable prices, the range proved popular with fellow popstars such as Emily Henning, Danelle Becker, Kazimiera, Lindsay Belle, Lily Clarke and TWISTED DISCO!. Morrisons bosses pressed Ginger to release "Glamour on the Run", as Morrisons only single to accompany her range. The single became her first #1 solo single and Ginger has since cited the single as being her favourite song, it is widely regarded as Ginger's signature song. The week of "Glamour on the Run"'s launch became the most succesful week for Morrisons in the company's history. The single has been seen as a turning point in the music industry, with Bella-May and Bichastasia later signing deals with supermarket giant ASDA.

Ginger also launched her film career in 2010, with a role in the major motion picture The Dreidel Room, based on a screen-play co-written with close friend and Friends star David Schwimmer. In the film Ginger plays Candy Rayne, a role which received moderate praise despite lukewarm reviews of the film as a whole. The film proved to be a major box office draw, and Ginger released a soundtrack EP, The Dreidel Room EP featuring collaborations with co-stars Hailey, Sexy Star, L.E.X and Ximena, as well as the "Not Just a Pretty Face" track Spin the Dreidel which was released a download-only single in the UK. The EP charted at #4, during the promotion of the film and soundtrack, Ginger appeared in a cameo role as a popstar in Australian soap opera Neighbours.

Ginger also branched out into television. Her larger than life personality won her a place on the judging panel of URAPS Idol: Second Chance. She was criticised for "Judging popstars who were creating smashes before she was even born" and for not being at the same iconic level as fellow judges Emily Henning, Paulo Araujo, China and host Putanovska, but she received the most amount of negative attention when she had a public breakdown live on the show, with many calling for her to be axed. Show bosses defended her place on the show due to her humour and young eye for talent. Ginger offered an apology on the next show. Before URAPS Idol 12 all judges except China were sacked by new producers in favour of a new line-up. In December 2010, Ginger launched a second assault on the christmas chart, despite the disappointing reception of Gingers+Jesus' "Fingered by a Snowman" a year earlier. Ginger teamed up with idol Ellen Fitzpatrick for a double a-side of "Cranberry Sauce", a tale of childhood abuse, and Ellen's "I Love Myself". The single debuted at #6 but later rose to #4, it became the first single of Ellen's career to chart within the top 5. Around this time Ginger announced her return to music full-time, headlining her first tour, the Not Just a Tour, which was described as a pop-opera with support acts playing "roles" in the narrative. In january Ginger also starred alongside Paulo Araujo and a number of other popstars in the film The Hunger, the film was critically and commercially succesful and earned Ginger a MTV Movie Award nomination for her role as "peppy fag-hag" Gloria. A soundtrack for the movie was not released. She hosted the 2010 Video Music Awards with friend and frequent collaborator Hailey and also appeared as a backstage presenter during the 19th Urapopstar Awards where she won an award for Best Promotion.

In 2011 Ginger set up her own charity and released "God's Greatest Creation", a track originally penned for the "Fall From Grace" soundtrack. All benefits from the single went towards Ginger's charity which helped the track to become Ginger's 3rd #1 single upon it's release. Ginger also featured on Zara Dynamite's controversial single "Shoe", which charted at #2, while Ginger reunited with Hailey for a double a-side of "Feet Through The Ceiling" and "More Fool You (No, No, No)". The singles failed to live up to the success of "Don't B J" more than a year earlier and saw Ginger and Hailey's friendship fall apart when it became the lowest selling single of Ginger's career and Hailey's comeback. The disastrous double A-side was followed up with experimental occult themed "Tarotist" which surprised many when it charted at #1 ahead of Alesha's "Sister" upon release.

In June Ginger released "Lay The Beat Down", the first track written for "Not Just a Pretty Face" with plans to make it a "gay anthem" and a club smash, the single charted at #5 before rising to #3 the next week. Despite the low debut, the single went on to be the highest selling of Ginger's career thus far. In July 2011 Ginger became the president of Saturdays Records after girlfriend Alesha brought the company. She also starred in movie Prime Cut alongside Putanovska and Alesha as child prostitute Cinnamon Buns, as promotion for the movie and it's soundtrack, Ginger released "Come" a touching torch song from the album alongside "Rock My Boat", a fun, summery track from Not Just a Pretty Face. Released as a double-a-side, the tracks charted at #2 upon release with almost 110,000 singles sold in the first week alone. Around this time Ginger launched The G Factor, a reality TV singing competition which saw Ginger take on the roles of judge, mentor and producer. She was joined on the panel by Alesha, L'mondrea and Paulo Araujo and the show was praised for it's fresh format and mix of light-hearted family entertainment with melodrama.

Ginger also announced the release of her first perfume Glamour... Sur Le Pouce, and announced the track "Heartbreak City" would be released as a single to promote the fragrance.

Personal Life
In October 2009, Ginger revealed to the press that she was pregnant with the baby of the then recently deceased pop star Carl Reeves- the announcement caused controversy due to Carl's relationship with Emily Henning prior to his death. She later stated that the pregnancy was through immaculate conception. The pregnancy was notoriously rocky, with the unborn child developing a heroin addiction from within the womb and Ginger not showing for much of her nine month pregnancy, causing speculation it was a hoax. On May 28th 2010, Ginger gave birth to a daughter, Sunkissed-Ryvita Reeves. Days after giving birth Ginger declared the children's Godparents as L.E.X and Kirby L. Avalon, with close friends Hailey, Butterscotch and Dakota Rain serving as "fairy guardians". Godfather L.E.X offered Ginger and Sunkissed-Ryvita a room in his LA home, where she could stay while they filmed The Dreidel Room together. They began dating on set but their relationship was short-lived as L.E.X' ex-girlfriend Becca Hayworth fell pregnant and Ginger came out as bisexual. The pair split inamicably in December, just months into their relationship. L.E.X later supported Ginger on her tour, where she reportedly refused to give him a changing room. Later that month Ginger was linked to God, with the former being blamed for the latter's divorce from black singer Neyssa. On New Year's Eve the pair were spotted kissing publicly and they announced their relationship officially following weeks of speculation in late January. Despite quickly rising to the level of power-couple, Alger, as they were dubbed by the press spent much of the year separately due to their own busy schedules. Alesha reportedly cancelled a string of dates of her Heathen Tour to see Ginger. The age gap between the two singers has often been criticized by the press, with Ginger dubbed G-sus as a reference to Alesha's iconic status as God. In the summer of 2011, the pair starred together in the blockbuster Prime Cut, while they later collaborated professionally on a new reality TV show The G Factor. As of 2011, Alesha has retired from the music industry. Ginger has numerous close friends in the industry including Emily Henning, Becca Hayworth, Flaming SteffY, Morris David Cat and Putanovska. Ginger and Hailey were once best friends but had a public falling out around the time of their second double a-side single release.

Discography
Main article: Just Ginger discography


 * #1 Don't B J (March 2010)
 * #4 In Ginger's World (June 2010)
 * #3 Sunshine 'n' Showers (August 2010)
 * #1 Glamour on the Run (September 2010)
 * #4 The Dreidel Room EP (November 2010)
 * #4 I Love Myself/Cranberry Sauce (December 2010)
 * #1 God's Greatest Creation (January 2011)
 * #4 Feet Through The Ceiling/More Fool You (No, No, No) (March 2011)
 * #1 Tarotist (May 2011)
 * #3 Lay The Beat Down (June 2011)
 * #2 Rock My Boat/Come (August 2011)
 * #2 Rock My Boat/Come (August 2011)