entertainment

From Shania to Dido: Here's where all your favourite '90s pop icons are now.

Oh, the ’90s.

It was a heady, heady time of hot halter tops, rhinestones and women singing their souls out on commercial pop television. It was the best of times, it was the worst seriously, the best of times.

Now, almost three decades on, we take a look back at six of the most iconic ’90s popstars and try to figure out where they are now.

Leann Rimes

iconic 90s popstars
Leann Rimes in Coyote Ugly. Source: Youtube.

Breaking into the music industry when she was just 14 years old, Leann Rimes not only topped the Billboard charts throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s with hits like 'Can't Fight the Moonlight' but also tried her hand at acting, appearing in Days of our Lives, American Dreams, and more recently, Anger Management.

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In 2017, Rimes is out touring her latest album, Remnants, and recently celebrated her six-year wedding anniversary to actor and father-of-two Eddie Cibriani.

Dido

iconic 90s popstars
Dido in the White Flag video. Source: Youtube.

Okay, okay, we know you've spent a good 10 years trying to get the ultra-catchy tunes of Dido out of your head, and I'm sorry (not sorry) that you're almost definitely going to have 'Here With Me' or 'White Flag' and that one scene from Love Actually in which it plays now stuck back on repeat in your head for days, but Dido was big '90s news.

So big, in fact, that Eminem sampled one of her songs in his insanely dark track, 'Stan'.

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Listen: We meet another beloved woman of pop, Kasey Chambers. (Post continues after audio.)

Since the golden years of her first few albums, Dido has continued to write and record music and gig around her hometown of London.

She currently lives with her husband Rohan Gavin and their young son, Stanley.

Bic Runga

iconic 90s popstars
Bic Runga. Source: Getty.

If you are currently reading this and don't remember Kiwi singer-songwriter Bic Runga's 1997 hit 'Sway', just... just stop reading this right now. It's too late for you; there is no hope.

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Shooting to stardom at 21, Runga spent years releasing albums and touring the world, but no tracks ever reached the stratospheric success of 'Sway'. The now 41-year-old Runga was inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame in 2016 and lives in New Zealand with her partner and three young kids.

Brandy

iconic 90s popstars
Brandy in The Boy is Mine. Source: Youtube.

Throughout the 1990s, Brandy Norwood - more commonly known as just Brandy - was everywhere. From starring in sitcoms Thea and Moesha to her hit songs 'I Wanna Be Down' and 'The Boy Is Mine', Brandy was truly an icon of the times.

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Not slowing down with time, Brandy went on to star in her own reality TV series in 2002, continued releasing albums and starring on the debut season of America's Got Talent. In 2016, the mum-of-one completed a gruelling world tour, and now she is currently competing with her brother Ray J (of Kim Kardashian sex tape fame) on the US version of My Kitchen Rules. 

Jewel

iconic 90s popstars
Jewel in 1994. Source: Getty.

Beginning life as a Morman living in the remote wilderness of Alaska, Jewel learned yodelling while performing in bars alongside her father as a young girl, and as a teenager in the early 1990s, received a scholarship to a classical school to learn opera.

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It was during this time that she began songwriting and the songs for her seminal debut album, Pieces of You were born. Her songs, 'You Were Meant For Me', 'Who Will Save Your Soul,' and 'Foolish Games' are still stuck in our heads 23 years after being released.

After dating Sean Penn briefly in the height of her fame, Jewel married her boyfriend of 10 years, cowboy Ty Murray. The pair welcomed a son before eventually separating, and in 2015, Jewel released Picking up the Pieces, a follow-up response album to her iconic debut.

Shania Twain

Oh, Shania, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1) 'Man! I Feel Like A Woman.'

2) 'That Don't Impress Me Much.'

3) 'From This Moment On',

4) and perhaps most importantly:

So, what happened to Ms Twain, you ask?

Well, after relentlessly touring her globally successful third album (which sold a cool 40 million copies) Twain and her husband announced they were splitting due to him cheating on her with her best friend. And then in an epic twist of daytime TV proportions, she then fell in love with - and married - said best friend's ex-husband. It was like Wife Swap before Wife Swap began, really.

As of last week, Twain announced we can expect new music from her come June. So get your cowgirl boots ready, girls.

Um, also, not to burst your bubble or anything, but Shania Twain isn't even Shania Twain's real name. It's Eileen Edwards. WHAT?

Who are your favourite 90s pop stars?