Mother of Australia’s music scene and Australian Idol icon, Ricki-Lee Coulter, has shattered my childhood after spilling some major tea about a potential feud in the Young Divas.
If you were a reality TV fiend in the early 2000s, you would know the gorilla grip choke hold the Young Divas had on the Aussie music scene.
The Young Divas was a girl group formed in 2006 that included a stellar lineup of Australian Idol stars, including Paulini Curuenavuli, Kate DeAraugo, Emily Williams, Ricki-Lee Coulter, and, later on, Jessica Mauboy, who joined the group after Ricki-Lee went on to pursue a solo career.
And while we’re here, let’s highlight two of my fave bangers from the group: their cover of Donna Summer‘s “This Time I Know It’s For Real” and “Turn Me Loose”.
UGH, WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE.
Despite churning out banger after banger, the group officially disbanded in 2008 after the girlies decided to follow Ricki-Lee in pursuing solo careers.
While the members have been quite hush-hush on any tea regarding Australia’s beloved 2000s girl group, the Australian Idol host recently hinted at a possible rift within the Young Divas collective.
During a segment of her Nova podcast, her co-hosts, Tim Blackwell and Joel Creasey, touched on the news that Sting was being sued by his former Police bandmates, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, over lost royalties from “Every Breath You Take”.
After dissecting the beef, her co-hosts then asked if Ricki had experienced any kind of feuds or issues with bandmates while working as a singer.
“Ricki, have you ever had fights with band members? dancers?”, her co-hosts asked before Ricki replied, “Um, Young Divas.”
Unfortunately, the Young Diva herself didn’t elaborate on any juicy deets surrounding this “fight”. However, in 2023, the “Do It Like That” singer opened up about a massive fight she had with an anonymous male boss during her time in Young Divas.
Speaking to the Chart Beats podcast, Ricki admitted that while it was a “wonderful” experience being a part of the group, the busy schedule took a massive toll on her health, especially her voice.
On a day the Young Divas had booked a gig, Ricki lost her voice. In hopes of being able to perform, the singer consulted a doctor for a steroid shot so she could continue on with the show. Instead, the doctor advised her to go on vocal rest.
“I had to have a sit-down with one of the guys in charge. I went into a room backstage by myself without the girls,” she revealed in the 2023 Chart Beats episode.
When she tried to explain the circumstances to an anonymous male boss — even providing a doctor’s certificate — her boss cracked the shits.
“He was so enraged. He lost his mind. I’m a 20-year-old girl, having an adult conversation with a grown-ass man. He was yelling, screaming, and then he threw a sandwich in my face. That is so wrong! Come on, dude,” she explained.
“That was very much the end of it for me. My voice is my career, and that’s how you’re going to react? I thought it was so embarrassing for him.”
When asked if there was beef amongst the women of the group, Ricki revealed they got along “for the most part”.
“I just felt like I was a bit different — I have an insane work ethic and I’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done. At times, I felt like other people weren’t taking it as serious as me and weren’t as respectful of time,” she revealed.
“But there was no real dirt — we had so much fun, like this little travelling family. We were very much in it together.”
While Ricki-Lee herself claimed “there was no real dirt”, fellow Aussie pop mother and her Young Divas replacement, Jessica Mauboy, revealed in a 2008 interview with news.com.au that the group “hated each other”. However, Ricki denied these claims at the time.
“When Ricki left, there was something crazy going on. They hated each other,” Mauboy claimed in the 2008 interview.
“They were upset. She left the three of them on their own.”
While the group didn’t last that long, I am yearning for all the tea and lore!!! Hopefully one day we get a short doco on what ~really~ happened to the Young Divas.
Fingers crossed!
Image source: Getty Images.
The post Ricki-Lee Hints That There Was A Young Divas Feud & I Simply Need More Of This Tea appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
