Reality shows have been good to aspiring pop stars. If you have the talent and enthusiasm to go out on national television as an amateur, your entire career could be made for you. Of course, it helps if you actually win the competition-but it's not always necessary. Javine's musical career is the success story that defied the common perception that you need to win on TV to make you a star.

For Javine Hylton, who had ambitious plans to be a pop singer, the path to commercial recognition began with ITV's Popstars-The Rivals, a British talent show where the winners would be bound into a packaged, all-female pop band a la The Spice Girls. In fact, Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls was one of the judges. Javine performed admirably, and was considered a fan favorite on the show, eventually becoming a final contestant. Sadly, she didn't make it as a finalist, prompting many of the show's viewers who had been rooting for her to claim it had been rigged and she was unfairly booted.

Javine took all this in stride. In 2003, she was approached by Innocent Records, who was impressed enough with her talent to offer her a deal. "Real Things," her first single, went into the British Top 5.

"I don't mind pretty things, wouldn't mind a diamond ring/but trust me I'll be tripling and take what life brings/I gotta do what I do aside, but do what feels right/I just wanna keep it real, that's just how I feel/It's not about the J-O-B but the/R-E-S-P-E-C-T/How can I make you see/the real things in life are free?" she sang on that hot R&B-flavored tune.

Javine's debut album, Surrender, was released not long afterward, and proved to be a hit maker for the young artist.