THE
STORY OF ECLYPSE Our story begins in a little high school in Florida. Five girls, with seemingly nothing in common, became friends by joining a C-squad cheerleading team. The girls discovered that they all had an interest in music and put together an all-girl band while in school. En route to California, two girls bowed out of the group, leaving founding members Kina Honda (On guitars and bass), Michelle Stefanakis (On drums), and Daisy Quintanilla (The keyboard player) to start anew. Rounding out the group was lead singer and bassist Felicia Adams, an aspiring singer from Detroit who had been in an R&B quartet previously. Together, the four acid jazz-performing ladies started the group "Q (Short for "queen") Force", taken from the C-squad cheerleading team. They released their first album, "Feel The Force", in the fall of 2000, with such hit singles as "Let Me Know" and "I Want Your Heart". This album went on to sell five million copies. During their first tour in early 2001, the group saw their first lineup change. Felicia fell ill and returned to Michigan to recouperate. While Kina took over lead vocals, replacing Felicia on bass was Kiara Avalon, the classically-trained violinist from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. During this time, Kina found her long-lost mother and discovered that she was related to Diamond from the R&B group "Hard Candy". They took home a VTV Hot Rocks Award for best Jazz Performance, and released the video and #1 single, "Get Up". Soon after, Felicia returned, and the group stayed at five members. Eventually, due to family tragedy, Michelle left the group. She managed to complete her tracks on the group's sophomore album, "A New Vibe" before she unexpectedy quit. Released in the fall of 2001, the album, while not as successful as the first (Only going double-platinum), did garner a smash hit with the double A-side, "Out Of My Life" and "A Long Walk", as well as the #1 single "Tell Me", which was performed at the World Jazz Fest in South Africa. Another shake-up nearly left the group in turmoil. The discovery of some revealing diary entries and a heated argument with Kina led to Daisy temporarily leaving the group. The two women reconciled, however, Kina soon left, reducing the group to a trio. They did one last performance as Q Force, performing some all-new material at the Black Forest Music Festival in Germany. Soon after, the group changed their musical style to hip-hop/R&B and, after signing on with Starlight Music and adding former British teen popstar Jasmine LeVert to the lineup, began the group, Eclypse. |