The Stunners was an American pop-girl band which Hayley Kiyoko was part of. Originally the members were Allie Gonino, Hayley Kiyoko, Marisol Esparza, Kelsey Sanders, and Tinashe. In July 2009, after the debut single "Bubblegum", Sanders left the group and was substituted by Lauren Hudson. The group split up in 2011 after they released only one extended play.
Kiyoko talked about her time in the group on a Facebook Livestream on March 29, 2018, she said that she felt "very uncomfortable" because "she felt like she had to sell sex, [...] be very feminine and attract men to be successful in the music industry" however, that was not an interest of hers.[1]
Hayley is still friends with all of the former members and they occassionally exchange comments on instagram posts and tweet each other.
Career[]
2007–09: Beginning and Sanders departure[]
In 2007, Allie Gonino, Hayley Kiyoko, Kelsey Sanders, Marisol Esparza, and Tinash became friends and formed the group. Six months later, the group signed with Columbia Records and contributed a song to the iCarly soundtrack.[2] The debut single wasn't released and, in 2009, the group left Columbia[3] and signed a production deal with Lionsgate Entertainment, who also produced a scripted television show pilot based on the group, which was ordered by MTV.[3][4] In March 18, they released a single titled "Bubblegum" to iTunes along with the official video for the single. In July, 2009 Sanders left the group to pursue her acting career[5] and was substituted by Lauren Hudson.
2010–11: The Stunners and split[]

Hudson, Esparza, Tinashe, Gonino and Kiyoko performing live in 2010.
On September 29, 2009, the girls released a 5-song EP influenced by Madonna, Gwen Stefani, and Rihanna[5] On December 13 2009, they appeared on Anything Anything with Rich Russo where they performed an a cappella version of "Santa Bring My Soldier Home". In December 2009, they released the single "We Got It", with a music video released on February.[3] The group performed the song on The Today Show[6] as well as The Wendy Williams Show.[3][7] In 2010, they signed to Universal Republic Records[3] and released the single "Dancin' Around the Truth" to iTunes as well as Top 40 radio stations.[8] The music video premiered June 2, just before the group was announced as an opening act on Justin Bieber's My World Tour.[9] They released a holiday single in December 2010, produced by Desmond Child, and written by the five members of the group,[10] titled "Santa Bring My Soldier Home" and encouraged donations the USO for soldiers overseas, not with their families for the holidays.[7]
They had finished their run after twenty dates on the tour and returned to LA to record new songs with producers and writers such as Toby Gad, The Cataracs, Dave Broome,[11] Livvi Franc,[12] Sheppard Soloman, Jimmy Harry and Tony Kanal of No Doubt fame.[13] They shot a fourth music video in the desert of California in November for their new song "Spin The Bottle" which premiered on December 31, 2010. A full album along with an official second single titled "Heart Stops Beating", written by Tinashe and Allie and produced by Orange Factory Music was planned,[14] but cancelled when the group split in 2011.[3][15][16]
Former Members[]
The band's founding members were Gonino, Kiyoko, Sanders, Esparza and Tinashe. Sanders left in 2009 and was replaced by Hudson. The band dissolved in 2011.
Allie Gonino[]

Allie Gonino
Alyssa Jean Gonino (born March 30, 1990), known professionally as Allie Gonino, is an American actress, singer and songwriter. After the disbandment of the Stunners, Gonino moved on to focus on her acting career.
Hayley Kiyoko[]
- Main article: Hayley Kiyoko
Hayley Kiyoko Alcroft (born April 3, 1991), known professionally as Hayley Kiyoko and dubbed Lesbian Jesus by fans, is an American singer, actress and songwriter. Kiyoko started her music career in this band.
- Kelsey Sanders
- Lauren Hudson
- Marisol Esparza
- Tinashe
Discography[]
Extended play[]
Title | EP details |
---|---|
The Stunners [17][18] |
|
Singles[]
Title | Year | Peak chart positions |
Album | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Dance [19] |
|US A/C [20] | |||||||||||||
"Bubblegum"[21] | 2009 | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||||||
"We Got It"[22] | 14 | — | The Stunners | |||||||||||
"Dancin' Around the Truth"[23] (featuring New Boyz) |
2010 | — | — | |||||||||||
"Santa Bring My Soldier Home"[24] | — | 19 | Non-album singles | |||||||||||
"Spin the Bottle"[25] | — | — | ||||||||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
Other appearances[]
Title | Year | Album |
---|---|---|
"Let's Hear It for the Boy" | 2008 | iCarly Soundtrack |
Music videos[]
Title | Year | Director |
---|---|---|
"Bubblegum" | 2009 | Mike Nazzaro[26] |
"We Got It" | 2010 | Garrett Rosenblum and Ori Ravid[27] |
"Dancin' Around the Truth" | Smallz and Rasking[28] | |
"Spin the Bottle" | Travis Hoffman[29] |
Tours[]
Opening act
- My World Tour (Justin Bieber) (2010)
References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E04Gd6SAzjI
- ↑ http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/stunners/artist.jhtml#biographyEnd
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/jul/16/hayleys-comet-ever-since-she-joined-the-stunners/
- ↑ http://www.jsyk.com/2009/10/20/listen-to-the-stunners-new-self-titled-ep/
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-stunners-mn000212638
- ↑ http://www.thestunnersmusic.com/
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://bandweblogs.com/blog/2009/12/08/the-stunners-santa-bring-my-soldier-home-wendy-williams-show-performance/
- ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/top40-mainstream/future-releases
- ↑ http://concertsandsports.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/justin-bieber-presents-the-stunners/
- ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/68150/garner-debuts-country-version-of-santa-bring-my-so?ref=search
- ↑ http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&keyID=11702622&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID
- ↑ http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=883208411&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=25&start=1
- ↑ http://musicremedy.com/t/the-stunners/album/debut-ep-7463.html
- ↑ http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=882511733&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=25&start=1
- ↑ http://www.enotes.com/topic/The_Stunners_(group)
- ↑ http://ellegirl.elle.com/girl-gossip/2011/the-lying-games-allie-gonino-dishes-on-her-new-role-makeup-tricks-shoe-splurging/
- ↑ http://tigerbeat.com/2009/11/meet-the-stunners/
- ↑ http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-stunners-ep/id336183678
- ↑ http://www.billboard.com/biz/charts/2010-08-29/hot-dance-singles-sales
- ↑ http://www.billboard.com/biz/charts/2010-01-09/hot-adult-contemporary-tracks
- ↑ http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the_stunners_f1/bubblegum/
- ↑ Template loop detected: Template:Cite web
- ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dancin-around-truth-feat./id374393003
- ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/santa-bring-my-soldier-home/id408834605
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/The-Stunners-Spin-the-Bottle/release/6878788
- ↑ http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/19725/1/tinashe-like-a-boss
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/The-Stunners-We-Got-It/release/8265849
- ↑ http://www.vevo.com/watch/the-stunners/Dancin-Around-The-Truth/USUV71001333
- ↑ http://www.richardvialet.com/#!music-videoscommercials/c1m9h
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