The Children Who Took On The World And Became International Stars Written by Roy Delaney on November 9, 2014 | 1 Comment

As half of the Eurovision world heads out in a squee of excitement to Malta, the other half are trying to avoid the ‘kids’ Contest. The problem is, some of the biggest variety stars got their big break as child stars. ESC Insight asked Mr Apocalypse himself, Roy Delaney, to remind us of the children we loved to hate that moved on to bigger and better things (including winning Eurovision itself).

Junior Eurovision is almost upon us, and there’s many among the rank and file of fandom who find it surprisingly distasteful or just plain don’t like it. Indeed, many decry the excitable youths on show as the products of pushy parents who’ll never go on to amount to much, or suffer a brief bloom of fame then burn out like a sticky pink candle before they can shave and suffer a lifetime of ‘didn’t you used to be?’ indignity.

Ever since a 14-year-old Sandra Kim squeaked her way to a Eurovision win, the Eurovisionista has been keen to sneer at anyone of a tender age even attempting to get up and have a sing-song. But the countries of the East doesn’t see it that way. Competitive singing festivals are a massive thing on the other side of the old Iron Curtain. The competitions for kids are among the popular events, and many of this year’s ESC Junior contestants are already household names in their home countries. Despite all this, Eurovision fandom has yet to be swayed.

But it doesn’t always have to be that way. Here’s nine child stars who have not only made it big as tots, but gone on to be pretty successful adults as well.

Miley Cyrus

When your dad’s an internationally famous country music star (and your godmother is Dolly Parton), it’s always going to be hard to grow up normal. More so when you become a worldwide star at the age of 12. These days many cite her new sexualised image as a desperate attempt to show the world that she’s grown up after her Hannah Montana days. But I’d point to her recent run of gold and platinum singles around the world and wonder if she’s quite the manipulated puppet that a lot of her over-serious elders seem to think.

Here’s a clip of her singing with her old dad as a tiddler. She come in at around 1:40 if you want to skip through Billy Ray’s solo crooning.

Charlotte Church

After first finding fame as an 11-year-old by singing Pie Jesu over the phone to Richard & Judy on the UK daytime show This Morning, young Miss Church had a meteoric rise to fame and riches. Inside a year she’d had a number one album. By the time she’s hit her teens she’d amassed a fortune of some millions and media commentators suggested that she was set to go off the rails. But don’t we all at that age. By 19 she’d recorded a critically well-regarded pop album, and went on to host her own sweary chat show.

Never afraid to speak her mind, more recently she’s testified at the Leveson media intrusion enquiry and given a keynote speech at a major music business event at the role of women in the music industry. She’s currently living in a Welsh manor house and concentrating on bringing up her two children with rugby star Gavin Henson. Not a bad life, eh! Here’s her first appearance on the telly, taking over a Jonathan Ross casting show when she wasn’t even a contestant.

Frankie Sandford

After joining S Club Juniors at 12, Frankie went on to have a run of UK number 2 hits. After growing up a little bit and rebranding into S Club 8, the band eventually split up in 2005, and Frankie returned to the normal life as a shop assistant at a big Essex mall. However, she found her second bloom of fame when she bagged a gig in The Saturdays, with who, after a further string of number 2s, she finally bagged a chart topper with 2012’s ‘What About Us’. These day’s she’s reached Saturday telly respectability as a member of the Strictly Come Dancing contestant cast.

The Bee Gees

You’ll probably know them best from their mega successful run of hits stemming from the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever and beyond. But by then they were having their third stab at success. Because not only had the Brothers Gibb been a big psychedelic pop outfit in the late 60s, but they were huge child stars in Australia in the early 60s! Just look at some of these teeth!

Lulu

Of course, even Eurovision isn’t immune to the occasional child star, but few of them have gone on to lasting success. Fortunately Lulu was already a big name in British pop by the time she shared her win in 1969, having already had 23 singles under her belt since she first found fame as an alleged 15-year-old in 1964 (the exact whereabouts of her actual age is a thing of mystery, mind.)

She went on to have her own Saturday night variety show, a number one hit with Take That and a successful range of facial treatments – and still doesn’t look much older these days than in her big bee-hived sixties prime.

Celine Dion

Another alumni from our favourite contest, there are many part-time music buffs who’ll delight in telling you that she first found fame by winning the Eurovision. But in actual fact she already been going in the pop charts for a good seven years by then. Indeed, she’d had her first Quebecois number one at the tender age of 12 with the haunting La Voix Du Bon Dieu, and was the first ever Canadian to bag a gold record in France.

She’s not done too badly since her Eurovision win either. Here’s the song that set her on her way to stardom.

Joss Stone

Now Miss Stone would like to have you think that she first burst into the public eye with her debut album The Soul Sessions. But just two years earlier, a tiny 13-year-old version of her won the short-lived BBC TV talent show Star For A Night singing Donna Summer’s On The Radio.

After a few years of massive sales, she appeared on The Brits with purple hair and a weird American accent, and everybody went off her a bit. Since then though she’s got back in track and still sells warehousefuls of records across the globe. Here she is being awkwardly reminded of her past.

Denis Waterman

Now the Brits among you may think of Dennis Waterman as a grumpy old bloke with bad false teeth who plays a grumpy old detective in New Tricks, or those more senior among you might know him from his more dashing days in Minder and The Sweeney. But did you know that he started out as a child actor – most famously as Just William in 1962, and even earlier on the West End stage as one of the very first people to play the lead in Oliver! Fifty years on he’s still going strong. Here’s one of the earliest ever clips of him from the television news, plus another one of his more recent singing career…

Shirley Temple

Finally, the crown princess of all child stars, Shirley Temple made her first movie appearance at the age of three, and had her first starring role two years later in 1934 in Bright Eyes. From that moment on she became practically the biggest star in the galaxy with an endless flow of massive musical hits. By her teenage years she’d started to look a little awkward on stage and retired from showbiz (all bar a couple of minor comebacks) aged 22.

But from there on in her life changed completely, first sitting on the boards of major charities and corporations, then joining the diplomatic corps and becoming the ambassador to countries as varied as Ghana and Czechoslovakia. Here she is in perhaps her most famous role though.

Who have we missed? Let us know in the comments, but if you’re waiting for the Junior Eurovision starts who’ve made it big keep watching ESC Insight, we’ll have that list up in the next day or two.