Have the Honeyz “Finally Found” what they were looking for? Remember them now?
The Honeyz were a British female trio of soul/R&B vocalists at the end of the 1990’s. There have been a number of line up changes, but the best known combination comprised Célena Cherry (b.1977), Heavenli Denton (b.1974) and Naima Belkhiati (b.1973), who performed their biggest and best known hits. They were signed to Mercury Records in 1997 as the UK’s alternative to Destiny’s Child and in August 1998, released their debut single, “Finally Found”. The song went to No.4 in the UK and received a Silver certification, as well as being a top ten hit across Europe and in Australia as well.
They released their debut album, “Wonder No.8” in November, which would eventually gain a Gold certification for sales of 100,000 copies in their home country. The following month, their second single. “End Of The Line”, followed “Finally Found” into the UK top five as well as being a big hit in Ireland and topping the UK R&B chart. 1999 saw two further UK top ten hits with “Love Of A Lifetime” (NO.9) and the double A sider “Never Let You Down/Won’t Take It Lying Down” (No.7), which reached No.2 on the R&B chart. But by the end of the year, Denton was gone, to be replaced by Mariama Goodman (b.1978).
Goodman recorded “Not Even Gonna Trip” for the film ‘Nutty Professor 2’ in 2000, which made No.24 on the UK chart before departing, only to see Denton return to the original line up! They recorded and released “I Don’t Know” (UK No.28) and “Talk To The Hand” in 2001, but following the lackluster success of the latter, the band were dropped by Mercury. Cherry and Denton reformed the group with Candace, Célena’s younger sister, in 2006, although after just twelve months, Denton was gone again and Goodman was back! Confusing? The three toured over the next two years and split in 2009. But, in 2012, a new combination of Cherry, Denton and Goodman reformed the The Big Reunion tour along with Five, 911, Atomic Kitten, Blue and Liberty X for a fourteen date arena tour of the UK, which sold out in no time.
But this wasn’t to last. In time honoured tradition, Denton was off again in 2014, leaving, for the first time, Honeyz as a duo of Cherry and Goodman. They wrote and recorded a new song, “Definitely Something” in 2015, but shortly after, gave up the ghost and went into ‘retirement’, again! in 2018, Célena Cherry auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent, telling Simon Cowell, “I used to be in a girl group called the Honeyz”. Now that really is the end of the line!
However…in 2022, Célena and Mariama DID regroup for a greatest hits tour of the UK! While 2023 has seen Heavenli rejoin the original line up as the Honeyz gear up to celebrate 25 years of the release of their first single. So could there be new material on the way…?
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