A red letter day for girls; Music Five-piece target No.1 spot with Comic Relief single.

Byline: By Alison Dayani

IT has been a whirlwind of a year for new girl band The Saturdays but there is an air of anticipation that even greater things are in store when I speak to them after they announced their first headline tour to the Midlands.

The sassy five-piece are getting used to comparisons with the Spice Girls and Girls Aloud, especially as they are now following in their footsteps with a golden ticket to record this year's Comic Relief single.

And 19-year-old singer Vanessa White tells me that if that charity track, a cover of Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough, reaches number one as expected this weekend it will be a double celebration for them and the original artists.

"I wasn't born when the song originally came out in 1981 but it is so catchy," says Vanessa, as she is drowned out by giggles and squeals from fellow band members Frankie Sandford, Una Healy, Mollie King and Rochelle Wiseman.

"Depeche Mode didn't know we were covering it until a few weeks ago but they said they are really happy. They told us they never had a number one single so if we got to the top, it would feel like they finally had as well."

The Saturdays did not expect such sudden success when they were put together last year, combining former members of S Club Juniors and stage school graduates. Somerset-born Vanessa is herself a former pupil at London's famous Sylvia Young Theatre School.

But they have gelled remarkably well and over the past nine months have reached the top ten with singles Issues, If This Is Love and Up.

To add to that, The Saturdays have now announced their first national tour and will perform at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on June 20.

"When you put random girls together, you don't know what you are going to get," adds Vanessa. "We were thrown in at the deep end and sent to do some recording in Norway.

"We were all cooped up in a room together with camp beds and I think that was to test the water and see how we got on, but it went really well.

"It's so exciting to finally do our own headline tour and this one will be in small venues.

"We were supporting Girls Aloud and they said to us that if we have any problems, they have been through it all and just give them a call.

"I was watching their show, seeing them come down from the ceiling and thinking: "Wow', I want to be like that".

We are still trying to learn everything at the moment.

"We don't want to take their crown, Girls Aloud are so far ahead of us, we just want to be alongside them."