[eDen's crUsh]

the creation of a pop phenomenon, an idea that began with the monkees and continued with artists such as exposé, en vogue and the spice girls, reached epic proportions in 2000 with the wb series popstars, in which five young women were selected from open auditions to participate in a reality television program that would, undoubtedly, turn them into just what the name implies. spearheaded by 143 records executives david foster and jaymes foster-levy, the concept of popstars follows closely upon the heels of the abc series making of the band which chronicled the creation of a n'sync-like vocal group from auditions to the release of their first album. for the member's of eden's crush, as the popstars group would eventually come to be called, the road to fame was no less grueling or frought with emotional pitfalls.

born in medellin, colombia, ana maria lombo followed musical path similar to that of the pointer sisters, perrí, the judds and selena, performing with her family throughout her childhood. needless to say, this served to hone the skills that would later earn her a spot in eden's crush, as well as making her one of the more seasoned performers of the group. having begun her professional career at the age of three, lombo has been fortunate to have worked alongside such notable artists as julio iglesias, jr..

born to domincan parents, rosanna tavarez spent her early years in new york and miami, resulting in a very diverse musical upbringing. like lombo, tavarez began honing her skills at the tender age of three by taking dance lessons and picking up moves from televisions solid gold dancers. after graduating from miami's new world school of arts, tavarez went on to study dance at ohio state university before auditioning for popstarts.

fellow latina, ivette sosa, is the daughter of puerto rican parents who was raised in edison, new jersey. she, too, began dancing at age three, which lead her to earn a b.f.a. in dance at marymount manhattan college. spending her summers performing in local theater productions such as fiddler on the roof, godspell and funny girl and dreaming of larger roles on the broadway stage, sosa responded to the popstars audition, unaware that it would forever change the course of her life. since the group's split, in 2002, sosa has rechanneled her energies towards acting with appearances on even stevens, sabrina, the teenage witch and a role in the feature film chasing papi.

nicole scherzinger, who was born in honolulu, hawaii, moved with her family to louisville, kentucky, when she was just a child. her mother an expert hula dancer, scherzinger began learning the art of her culture and preparing for a professional career in entertaining at an early age. scherzinger entered wright state university in dayton, ohio, after graduating from the local theater arts high school in louisville. like lombo, scherzinger has experience performing with a group, as she has toured extensively with rock outfit, days of the new. in 2005, scherzinger resurfaced as the frontperson of robin antin's pussycat dolls, a burleque dance troupe that broke into music with the release of their 2005 single "don't cha". their first full-length album, pcd, features lead and background vocals by scherzinger on every track.

last, but not least, fellow hawaiian maile misajon was raised in long beach california. as a member of the internatoinal children's choir, she performed for the likes of former president ronald reagan, before entering orange county's high school of the arts. after graduating, misajon went on to ucla to earn a b.a. in theater arts before heeding the popstars call and starting off on the road to stardom.

after being selected from hundreds of girls who responded to the popstars audition, the young women who would become eden's crush began a rigorous schedule of vocal and dance rehearsals, in preparation for the release of their debut album, popstars. living together in one house, they were given the opportunity to get to know one another and bond as a group, while simultaneously avoiding the ever-curious eye of the media in anticipation of their public debut. perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the formation of eden's crush is the timing. at a time when frequent threats of strikes in the entertainment industry led to the proliferation of reality-based programming to obviate dependency upon actors and writers, and sound-alike pop groups dominated the music charts, it could not have been easier to formulate the ascent of a teen pop sensation. this is, of course, in no way meant to detract from the talent of five women who have trained hard from an early age to acheive their dreams. one can't deny, however, that though the were the first female group to ever have their debut single premiere at number one on the charts, they were also the first female group to have had weekly commercials in the form of a television program airing consistently during the months leading up to that debut. still, popstars, the album, is a decidedly consistent and enjoyable effort for a debut album, in spite of the involvement of a dizzying number of producers.

whether discovered by a record label executive while singing in the church choir or selected from a pool of hopefuls who responded to pop music's most recent cattle call, the road to success within the music industry is paved with an unfortunate amount of pitfalls for the female artist. because of their sex, their talent, knowledge and intelligence are constantly questioned, and they are held to a different and more stringent standard of beauty than their male counterparts. in addition to the hardships faced by any female artist, the women of eden's crush must also endure the disadvantages of youth and having received a inordinate amount of publicity so early in their career. thus far, ana maria, rosanna, ivette, nicole and maile have persevered with poise and strength becoming true divas.