Rochelle Humes shares that she earned more money during her time with S Club Juniors than with The Saturdays, highlighting shifts in the music industry that made sustaining the expected lifestyle challenging.
Early Fame with S Club Juniors
The 37-year-old presenter rose to fame at age 12 in the early 2000s as part of S Club Juniors, alongside Frankie Bridge, Aaron Renfree, Jay Asforis, Stacey Franks, Calvin Goldspink, Daisy Shelvey, and Hannah Richings. The group, aged 11 to 14, achieved success with hits like ‘Automatic High’ from 2001 to 2003.
Transition to The Saturdays
Rochelle and Frankie later joined The Saturdays in 2007 with Mollie King, Una Healy, and Vanessa White. Despite chart-topping tracks such as ‘All Fired Up’ and ‘Higher,’ the members received salaries rather than substantial earnings from music sales.
Insights on Earnings and Industry Changes
In a conversation on Jamie Laing’s Great Company podcast, Rochelle states, ‘I made more money in S Club Juniors than I did in The Saturdays. The music industry… the money just went out of it. It wasn’t the same space to be in anymore.’
She explains that the group faced pressure to maintain a glamorous lifestyle, but income primarily came from brand endorsements and tours, not record sales. ‘When someone says your record deal is X amount of money, that doesn’t mean that’s what we’re making. That means they’ll put this money into the album, pay these producers, the marketing budget,’ she notes.
Rochelle adds that artists once profited from touring and deals, such as promoting shampoos with personalized scents. However, record labels shifted to 360 deals, taking cuts from endorsements and live shows. After taxes, agents, and splitting among five members, finances strained. ‘You’ve got to remember everything you earn, split that in half, basically with tax and an agent. And then there’s five of you. You’re expected to live a lifestyle that you can’t always prop up.’
Paparazzi Encounters and Band Life
Reflecting on The Saturdays’ 2014 disbandment, Rochelle describes invasive paparazzi tactics. ‘Photographers would get on the ground and try and take photos up your skirt, it’d be awful,’ she recalls. Her husband, Marvin Humes, from a boy band, was shocked by her experiences. The group tolerated it partly due to limited earnings, lacking leverage to push back.
Family Background and Role Models
Rochelle expresses lasting resentment toward her absent father, Mark Piper, who left when she was a baby. ‘I don’t really remember him… there were so many years I was upset and angry about it,’ she says. After giving birth to daughter Alaia-Mai in 2013 with Marvin, she lost all curiosity and respect for him. ‘The day I had Alaia I instantly had zero curiosity to get to know my dad and I would never respect him as a person.’
Mark later had three more children, including Love Island star Sophie Piper, Lili, and Jake, with whom Rochelle reconnected after 23 years. She struggled seeing him present for them but absent for her.
Without a father figure, her uncle Paul Ince, a former England captain and Manchester United player, filled the role. Though not blood-related, he provided guidance, attended her events, and walked her down the aisle at her 2012 wedding to Marvin. ‘He was really that male role model that I looked up to… I never felt like I didn’t have a male figure around because he always made time for me.’
