'Let's Get Ready To Roar!'

In response to an overwhelming ticket demand, twenty new dates have been added to The Cheetah Girls (Adrienne Bailon, Sabrina Bryan and Kiely Williams) tour.

The Cheetah’s will embark on a 60-city concert tour beginning September 15th in Seattle, Washington. The tour comes in support of their new album, The Cheetah Girls 2, soundtrack to the hugely successful sequel to the blockbuster Disney Channel Original Movie.

The CD features 13 hip-hop, R&B, Latin and tango-influenced tracks performed by the tween superstars. The movie's anthem song and the soundtrack's lead single, "The Party's Just Begun," will be featured in The Cheetah Girls' set, along with favorites from the first movie and soundtrack including "Cinderella" and "Cheetah Sisters," plus all new Cheetah-inspired songs.

The Cheetah Girls began as a 2003 Disney Channel Original Movie based on the best-selling book series for kids and tweens. Within two years of the movie's debut, the group gained a large fan base, topped the soundtrack charts with a double-platinum soundtrack and enjoyed a highly-rated DVD release.

In 2005, The Cheetah Girls were signed to Walt Disney Records and embarked on their first sold-out concert tour supporting their hit album Cheetah-licious Christmas.

Chatting recently to Kiely Williams whilst the 26th date of the tour had stopped in Syracuse, NY, we talked about the show, the movie, and all about 3LW.

Does anything ever go wrong on these shows? "Well, we have two weeks of rehearsal to get the kinks out, but technical difficulties yeah. But, we have so much fun on stage that we just laugh it off. It's all good. There's always lighting problems, mic problems, but nothing huge has gone wrong yet."

"I did fall flat on my back though ... but I wasn't injured," she laughs. "We fall all the time. We had a routine in the show that we had to take out 'cause everyone was falling! We used wheelies and so I was skating across the stage and I lost my balance and fell flat on my back. But what's really funny is that I fell in sync with the music so I just stayed on the floor and danced! We have this thing called 'Save The Show' where you've just got to save the show, whatever it is. If anything goes wrong you have to keep the show going."

What can our readers expect to see on this tour that comes here to Detroit in early November? "Lots and lots of energy and dancing and singing ... we kind of do it all! It's very alive! Our show is not so much a concert but more a theatre show. We have a storyline and there's lots of acting, skits and stuff like that. There's lots of co-ordination. So, all the stage hands are all waiting in the back for something to go wrong."

"We all sing together as the Cheetah Girls, it's three acts and the first at is ... no, I can't tell you," she laughs. "But, it does have a story and a lot of audience participation where they have to help us figure out some of the clues we need to find. I just think it's very entertaining."

Please tell us more about the character you play in the Cheetah Girls movies "I play Aquanetta who is the Southern Belle of the Cheetah Girls. She finally realizes that she has a passion for fashion and wants to be a designer. The Cheetah Girls movies are all about realizing your dreams and realizing that just because your dreams may be separate from your friends doesn't mean that you still can't be friends. So, with the help of her friends she realizes that whilst in Barcelona she can still be a fashion designer and keep her friends ... because she can design clothes for the Cheetah Girls."

So, just how much of this movie was actually filmed in Spain? "The entire movie was shot on location in Barcelona. What was really cool was that we got to arrive there almost a month early to rehearse there. So, that really put us all in the mood to start shooting which you need. We found out ahead of time just how each of the musical numbers fitted in to the plot line of the movie."

Being that Raven is part of the Cheetah Girls movies but not the tour, why is that? "Yeah, Raven doesn't sing with us in the Cheetah Girls, she's just in the movies. She's actually doing her own show right now. I think it's great as she comes to our tours and we go to her shows. It's so great we're able to do the Cheetha Girls movies together but do the music things separately."

Will 3LW ever record again? "It's so hard trying to juggle the Cheetah Girls and 3LW. So, with the movie coming out this year Adrienne and I just thought it would be best if we focused all our energies in the one place. So, we decided to support the Cheetah Girls movie and tour and give them both our full out energy."

Growing up in a home where your mother had a recording studio in the house must have been very convenient for you?! "Actually, I wasn't very interested in being a singer at that time! No, I wasn't like creeping into the vocal booths at night," she laughs. "But I was very interested in the business side of it and I am very grateful that I grew up in an environment where I got a first hand look at the music industry - from the inside and as a business."

When did music begin to be your passion? "I think I began to serious think about it when I was 11 or 12. It wasn't that I didn't want to sing it's just that I was really shy when I was younger. I think I finally came out of my shell when I was about 12."

Interviewed by Russell A. Trunk

If you would like to win a Cheetah Girls 2 CD, and you think you know all there is to know about Kiely, just answer this easy question: Having named two of the three ladies from 3LW, who is the missing one we have yet to mention?!

Send me your answers and if you're correct you'll be in the running to win one of these great new CDs! Just send us an e:mail here before December 1st with your answer and the subject title 'CONTEST: CHEETAH GIRLS 2 CDs' to: exclusivemagazine@flash.net

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Catch The Cheetah Girls in the following cities near you: