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S Club Juniors were formed in 2001, through an auditioning process. The auditions were aired on CBBC. The original concept was that the group would all be children and would perform at Wembley as a support act to S Club 7 on their Carnival tour. S Club Juniors` appearances at Wembley were considered a success and consequently 19 Entertainment, the management company that had created S Club 7 and auditioned S Club Juniors, decided they should perform as a support act at all of the venues on S Club 7`s carnival tour.

There were originally seven Juniors: Calvin, Jay, Daisy, Stacey,Rochelle, Frankie and Connor, but 19 management liked Aaron and Hannah and decided that they were going to be in the group as well but as the Juniors were rehearsing for the tour with S Club 7, Connor left the band to go back to school, according to an interview with Calvin "to complete a music diploma at one of the best music schools in the country".

By the end of the tour, S Club Juniors had created a following and, with the encouragement of 19, Polydor Records signed the group. Their first single was called "One Step Closer". The single was promoted by the TV series S Club Junior: The Story, which followed the group as they performed on S Club 7`s `The Carnival` tour and promoted the single. It was also heavily promoted on SMTV: Live, CD:UK and The Saturday Show. The single debuted and peaked at Number 2 in the UK Singles chart and sold 250,000 copies, gaining a Silver disc for sales. It was beaten to Number 1 by the Sugababes with their single Freak Like Me.

Their third release was "New Direction". After the cheesy first two singles, this was a more serious song and was praised by critics. It was released on 13 October 2002. It reached Number 2 in the charts.

A fortnight after "New Direction" was released they released their first album, "Together". The album hit Number 4 in the chart and eventually sold over 500,000 copies.

In the run up to Christmas 2002, S Club Juniors released a fourth single, "Puppy Love", to further promote their album. The single peaked at Number 6.

After the success of their album, S Club Juniors went on a joint tour of the country with S Club. The tour was called S Club United.

They are also believed to be the only act ever in the UK Singles Charts to have their first three singles go straight to Number 2.

It was during the S Club United tour that S Club decided they would split. 19, S Club Juniors management firm then decided to rebrand the Juniors as S Club 8.

After the failure of Sundown, 19 Management chose to send the group in a radical new direction. Consequently in 2004, S Club 8 returned as cast members in the BBC children`s television show I Dream. Unlike the S Club (7) shows which focused upon the band`s fictional exploits, I Dream saw S Club 8 as members of a larger ensemble cast (see side bar). I Dream revolved around the summer school Avalon Heights, run by Professor Toone (played by Christopher Lloyd), where the characters tried to improve on their talents in the performing arts. Not surprisingly, the show featured many songs and dances: normally two songs per episode.Additional Cast

On 15 November 2004, the shows theme tune, "Dreaming" was released as a single, and was sung by Frankie and Calvin. The single flopped charting at number 19, falling to 36 the next week then out of the UK Top 40. The album was released 2 weeks later and also failed charti

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