The Cheeky Girls

The Cheeky Girls are a Romanian singing duo consisting of identical twin sisters Gabriela and Monica Irimia. After appearing as auditionees on Popstars: The Rivals, they achieved success in the UK charts with four top 10 hits between 2002 and 2004. They are best known for their debut single, "Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)", which has sold more than 1.2 million units internationally.

This was quickly followed up with two more top three hits, "Take Your Shoes Off" and "(Hooray, Hooray!) It's a Cheeky Holiday!". Their style of music is primarily disco-pop, aimed at the pre-teen market. Most of their songs are written by their mother, who also acts as their manager.

On 4 August 2006, the Evening Standard reported that the Cheeky Girls were "at rock bottom" and facing bankruptcy action in court owing to not having been paid by their now-defunct record label, Telstar Records. The article said that the women owed £4,500 in unpaid taxes, along with other bills, and that Telstar owed them £2.2 million. Later, it was reported that they owed £130,000 in total.

In September 2009, the act released their Cheeky Girls make-up range, aimed at the young teen market.

On 7 March 2013, the women appeared on the This Week BBC TV programme discussing the subject of Romanian immigration to the UK with host Andrew Neil. This followed a short video report by Monica talking about British fears of an invasion of benefit-seekers from their homeland. They previously appeared on the show on 10 July 2008.

Personal lives

In December 2006, it was revealed by the tabloids that former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik had broken up with long-time fiancée, ITV weather presenter Siân Lloyd, and was now romantically involved with Gabriela. Öpik "passed documentation on to the singers' constituency MP and spoke to a Home Office minister," when the Irimias were facing deportation to Romania. The couple announced their engagement in April 2008 after Öpik proposed in Rome, but the engagement was short-lived and a break-up was announced three months later.

In 2016, Monica married her fiancé of four years, Shaun Taylor, who works as a building contractor.

Discography

Albums

{|class="wikitable"

!rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2" style="width:307px;"| Title

!| Peak chart positions

! rowspan=2| Certifications

! rowspan=2| Sales

!style="width:3em;"|UK

|2003

| PartyTime

| style="text-align:center;"|14

| align=left|

UK: Silver

| align=left|

UK: 60,000+

|2007

| In My Mind (Is a Different World – A Cheeky One)

| style="text-align:center;"| —

| align=left|

Singles

{| class="wikitable"

!rowspan="2"| Year

!rowspan="2"| Title

!colspan="9"| Peak chart positions

!rowspan="2"| Album

|- style=font-size:smaller

!width="40"|UK

!width="40"|FRA

!width="40"|GER

!width="40"|JPN

!width="40"|HUN

!width="40"|TUR

!width="40"|CHN

| style="text-align:center;"|2002

|"Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)"

| style="text-align:center;"|2

| style="text-align:center;"|12

| style="text-align:center;"|59

| style="text-align:center;"|19

| style="text-align:center;"|52

| style="text-align:center;"|6

| style="text-align:center;"|12

| style="text-align:center;"|15

| style="text-align:center;"|6

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4"| PartyTime

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|2003

|"Take Your Shoes Off"

| style="text-align:center;"|3

| style="text-align:center;"|13

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|4

| style="text-align:center;"|7

| style="text-align:center;"|13

| style="text-align:center;"|3

|"(Hooray, Hooray!) It's a Cheeky Holiday!"

| style="text-align:center;"|3

| style="text-align:center;"|5

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|-

| style="text-align:center;"|11

| style="text-align:center;"|7

| style="text-align:center;"|31

| style="text-align:center;"|10

|"Have a Cheeky Christmas"

| style="text-align:center;"|10

| style="text-align:center;"|46

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|-

| style="text-align:center;"|27

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|37

| style="text-align:center;"|15

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|2004

|"Cheeky Flamenco"

| style="text-align:center;"|29

| style="text-align:center;"|31

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|85

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|70

| style="text-align:center;"|50

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|In My Mind (Is a Different World – A Cheeky One)

|"Boys and Girls (Xmas Time Love)"

| style="text-align:center;"|50

| style="text-align:center;"|80

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|118

| style="text-align:center;"|107

| style="text-align:center;"|2005

|"Farmyard Hokey"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|-

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|56

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|2022

|"Lets Have Fun"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|-

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3”| Non-Album Single

|"I’m In Touch With Heaven"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|-

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|"Run Your Engine Baby"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|-

| style="text-align:center;"|—

References

External links

The Cheeky Girls on Myspace

Personal lives

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

References

External links