The Cheetah Girls

Going from a series of books about a girl pop band to a series of Disney TV movies about a girl pop band to an actual, touring girl pop band, the Cheetah Girls began as 16 young-adult books by Deborah Gregory. The series began in 1999 and quickly became a big enough phenomenon with tween girls that Disney adapted it into a made-for-TV movie in 2003 that starred former Cosby Show and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper actress/singer Raven-Symoné (also of Disney's Emmy-nominated and NAACP Image Award-winning That's So Raven), singers/actresses Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams of the group 3LW, and actress/singer/dancer Sabrina Bryan. (Interestingly, some of the models who posed for the cover artwork on the Cheetah Girls books were in another, like-minded group, Before Dark.) Raven-Symoné portrays the Cheetah Girls' fearless leader, Galleria, while Bailon plays wary Chanel, Williams is fashionista Aquanetta, and Bryan is vulnerable foster child Dorinda. The Cheetah Girls was such a big success, with DVD sales reaching double-platinum status, that it spawned a soundtrack, the 2005 Christmas album Cheetah-licious Christmas, and the Cheetah Girls 2 movie and soundtrack, which were released in 2006. That year, the Cheetah Girls became a living, breathing, touring act, hitting the road with the also hugely popular Vanessa Hudgens of Disney TV's other phenomenon, High School Musical. The live album The Party's Just Begun arrived in summer 2007. In September of that same year, the Girls, who were by now a trio (Raven-Symoné had previously departed, pretty much after the first album, to pursue her solo career), released their first non-soundtrack record, TCG.