In 1997, an advert appeared in The Stage magazine advertising an audition for a new boyband. Naturally there were hundreds if not thousands of replies followed by hundreds of auditions before Matty, Darren, James and Leeroy got the job. The guys then split from their management (the ones who placed the advert) and joined Prestige Management. It didn't take long before Leeroy decided it was not for him and a new member was needed. After a few auditions new member Steve West was chosen. The boys then went around making themselves heard. They finally got a record deal with Ginga Records around mid-1999. After they realised they were gaining popularity it was time to write some songs. After thinking for a bit they came up with "Champagne Highway", "Tell Me Cinderella", "Ready or Not" and quite a few others. They were playing at roadshows all over the UK, gaining more fans by the gig, and finally were recognised in TV Hits magazine where they got their first feature. At the end of November 1999, Steve decided this was not for him and left, leaving the guys just months to find a new member before they went on tour with other massive boyband 5ive. Yet again, Skandal was down to 3 members, but after another few auditions, Matt Baldwin landed the job as the 4th Skandal member. It was back to the recording studios and Skandal re-recorded their songs, this time with Matt's voice in, just in time for 5ive's "Invinsible" tour.

On tour

Skandal kick started every tour night with their song "Champagne Highway", which by then they had decided to release as their debut single, after finding out in a few surveys it was the favourite. Almost every night for 2 months they would go out in front of an audience averaging 12,000 people and perform their song. When the Invinsible tour finished, they carried on with roadshows up and down the UK.

Towards late 2000, they did several "Sugar" magazine tours up and down the UK. They barely had time for this to finish before being invited to tour with 5ive AGAIN for their November/December 2000 tour, proving they are ever more popular!

The members of Skandal¹

Matty MacKenzie, born 30/08/79

Matt Baldwin, born 11/09/80

James Cohen, born 22/12/79

Darren Keating, born 10/10/78

Success

The debut single "Champagne Highway" was released on 2nd October 2000. They were not appearing in all the magasines and TV programmes they would have liked. A little over a month before the single release, Anglia TV decided to follow them around for a day filming them for a programme called "Trippers", about music festivals in Summer 2000, and focusing in on the Essex FM Big Beach Bash, which Skandal were performing at. They also appeared on the Trisha chat show to perform Champagne Highway a few weeks after the single release.

To promote the single even further, they went on a "Topshop" tour up and down the country, signing autographs, and in some stores, gigging.

On the first day of the single release, up and down the country, stores were selling out of copies of Champagne Highway. Already fans were admitting they probably wouldn't beat off stiff competition from Eminem and All Saints. They did do very well in Essex, chart at number 1 in the Essex Top 20, and on the Hot 30 Countdown on Essex FM were voted in at number 1 for two nights. This may have helped by the last minute interview arranged on October 3rd on the Hot 30 Countdown. Five "die-hard" fans waited in the freezing cold for one and a half hours but it paid off for them, and the boys looked pretty happy, as you can see in the photo taken that night below....²