Lucy Pargeter is part of the best-loved family in Emmerdale and is well known for pulling pints as Chas in the Woolpack.
But things could have been very different for Lucy Pargeter – she could have been a pop star!
The actress has a secret showbiz past: back in the 1990s she was in a girl band called Paperdolls.
And this wasn’t just three pals singing into hairbrushes in their bedroom – the group actually landed a record deal and toured with Boyzone!
Read more: Emmerdale slammed as soap tries to redeem Chas character
Lucy Pargeter on Paperdolls
“I was once in a pop band supporting Boyzone,” Lucy Pargeter revealed, in a previous interview with Woman magazine.
It was back in the late 90s and we were called Paperdolls.
“It was a laugh. We went from thinking we were just a few girls getting together and doing a few songs, to getting signed by a record label and touring.
‘It was a great time.”
But soap fans can be thankful that Paperdolls never really hit the big time.
While the Spice Girls were flying high and taking girl power across the globe, Lucy and her two friends had more limited success.
Their debut single Gonna Make You Blush hit the world in 1998 but failed to make a dent in the charts and never reached the Top 40.
In the video, Lucy – the group’s main vocalist – is sporting a severe fringe and a red PVC dress.
She drives a dodgem car and performs a dodgy disco dance routine in front of a load of white-suited male backing dancers.
Despite touring with Boyzone, one of the decade’s biggest groups, Paperdolls didn’t pick up many fans of their own.
The band kept going for a couple of years before splitting and going their separate ways.
You can listen to Lucy singing on the Paperdolls single Blush.
But the music world’s loss was Soapland’s gain.
It was not long after that – in 2002 – that Lucy auditioned for Emmerdale.
Soap star nearly superstar
The 43-year-old mum of three has played the iconic Chas Dingle ever since then, bringing plenty of drama to the Dales.
And eagle-eyed viewers may remember that Lucy did get to showcase her singing talents to a wider audience in 2006, when she came a very respectable third in ITV’s talent show Soapstar Superstar.
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.
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