Surfacing

Turning the spotlight on musicians making a commercial breakthrough. -- CASEY DOLAN

“Danity Kane”

Danity Kane

Bad Boy

Artist info: Through their involvement in the highly successful MTV reality show “Making the Band,” Danity Kane are an attractive quintet of singers -- Aubrey O’Day, D. Woods, Shannon Bex, Dawn Richard and Aundrea Fimbres -- who have parlayed their orchestrated serendipity into success. The first single, “Show Stopper,” showcases them as a more hip-hop-inspired Spice Girls. Each singer has a solo moment (and they bring rapper Yung Joc along for the ride), but other tracks on the album dip into R&B; and pop. Each member has a background in music, ranging from roles in musical theater to backup singing in pop bands, and that variety is demonstrated on an album of danceable, club-oriented music. “Ride for You,” a slower-paced number, is the anticipated second single.

Back story: The group was created by Sean “Diddy” Combs, Bad Boy Records chief executive and producer of the MTV series.

Each member competed against hundreds of other women for a spot on the cable TV show. After three seasons of intense vocal and dance training, they made this debut album, which entered the Billboard Top 200 at No. 1 and nudged aside releases by Christina Aguilera and OutKast. The album has sold 234,000 in its first week and Danity Kane’s MySpace page has totaled more than 14 million audio plays.

Influences: TLC, En Vogue

Trivia: The name Danity Kane was coined by Richard for an anime female superhero she had created as an illustrator. Diddy approved the name as he envisioned the five women as a group of superheroes.