Post by unga on Nov 25, 2004 2:20:44 GMT 2
Okay, I've done alot of research about this subject that still boggles my mind after all these years - how and when Stacy left the group. Here it goes: WO went on tour from May to July 2001 to promote Fire. I believe that their very last show as a trio was at Sea World in San Diego, CA on July 19, 2001. They filmed Season 4 of Great Pretenders from July 7-14, 2001. That means that at least for the better half of July 2001, the group was still together. However, early signs of trouble started brewing in June. According to a concert review (of WO's show at House of Blues in Orlando) written by Stefanie Allman from Teen Web Online dated June 16, 2001 (3 days before Fire was supposed to be released), "Wild Orchid is currently shopping for a new label and the release of the album 'Fire,' much to fans dismay has been delayed". Which means that RCA may have considered dropping WO well before the release date of Fire, and probably never had any intention of releasing the album at all! During the month of August, all of WO's scheduled concerts with O-Town, N'Sync and others were cancelled without explanation. However, Stef and Renee appeared on a radio show in mid-August 2001 (which Jamie Bucher had posted on his site in 2001) and although they were introduced as "two-thirds of the group Wild Orchid", there was no mention of the album Fire or Stacy. On Sept 21, 2001 Jamie posted on his website that the group had been dropped by RCA and Stacy had left the group, and that Stacy had working on a solo project for several months by then! So here's my long-winded conclusion: the group was slated to be dropped by RCA in May 2001 as soon as the Stuttering single was released and didn't sell enough copies or get enough airplay. Stacy considered leaving the group back then, but due to contractual obligations and concerts already scheduled, the three went ahead with their tour from May to July 2001. Then they filmed Great Pretenders, but 10 days after the last show was taped on July 24, 2001 it was announced that Fox Family was bought out by ABC, and Great Pretenders was probably going to be axed along with all the other original Fox Family shows. I'm estimating that sometime between mid-July to early August, the group was officially dropped by RCA. One could speculate that during this period, Stacy pondered the bleak outcome of the group (no record label, no tv show) and decided to bolt. There has been plenty of discussion as to when exactly did she seek therapy, leave the group, and start working on her solo project (in that order, since Stacy herself referred to getting therapy first before leaving WO). I would guess that Stacy had been doing drugs sometime between the end of the Cher tour in 1999 and early 2001, during the making of Fire (unless any of you spotted her in concert with Cher and noticed any drug-related behavior). Perhaps by Spring 2001, she got clean, got therapy, and had mentally prepared that she was going to leave the group sometime soon, but she was contractually bound to finishing Fire and promoting it, so she went through the motions. As soon as the release of Fire was cancelled, then they lost the Great Pretenders, and then they were dropped by RCA, she finally made her exit. In terms of when she joined BEP, the liner notes in the Elephunk album should give that away. It was stated in the CD booklet that Shut Up was made between Dec 31, 2001 and Feb 2002, so we'll have to assume that Stacy joined during that period. However, my outstanding question is this: when and how did Stacy manage to co-write 5 songs from Hypnotic in the midst of everything that happened?
