Wild Orchid was an American girl group consisting of Stacy Ferguson, Stefanie Ridel, and Renee Sandstrom.
[2] Wild Orchid began in 1990 when former Kids Incorporated cast members Renee Sandstrom and Stacy Ferguson and their friend Stefanie Ridel decided to form an all-girl group based on their shared love of music and poetry, and they originally called themselves New Rhythm Generation, or NRG.
By 1992, the group changed their name to Wild Orchid and hired Marta Marrero, mother of fellow Kids Incorporated alumna Martika, as their new manager.
[4] Duran left the group to work on the Nickelodeon TV show Roundhouse, leaving Wild Orchid as a trio.
The trio toured as an opening act for 98 Degrees and 'N Sync across the U.S.[13] In May 1998, they released dance remixes of their songs "I Won't Play the Fool" and "Follow Me" (from their debut album) which were underground club hits.
That same month, they performed at "Divas Simply Singing", an annual AIDS benefit concert in Los Angeles hosted by Sheryl Lee Ralph.
[15] In 1998, Wild Orchid were featured on the song "I Will Show You Mine” on the album Home Again from Dutch singer Rene Froger.
In the vein of female-driven action programs like Xena: Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they portrayed crime fighting pop singers who were secretly mermaids.
[17] That month, Wild Orchid debuted as hosts of the Fox Family Channel's Saturday morning show Great Pretenders, which featured chart hits lip-synched by young kids, while competing for prizes.
In February 1999, the group performed "Declaration" and "Come As You Are" at the fictional Peach Pit After Dark during the ninth season of the FOX primetime soap drama Beverly Hills, 90210 (episode titled "Beheading St.
[18] For a period in 1999, there were rumors of the group re-recording songs for a re-release of their Oxygen album, due to poor sales of the original version.
In November 1999, the group appeared in the Macy's Annual Thanksgiving Parade where they sang a two-minute clip of their song "25 Days Of Christmas".
[3] On July 24, 2001, they filmed their final episode of Great Pretenders, and the show was cancelled ten days later upon the announcement that Fox Family Channel was merging with Disney-owned ABC.
On May 28, 2001, Minneapolis-based radio station KDWB hosted a concert which featured both Wild Orchid and hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas.
Sandstrom wrote the music for the song "On Penguin Pond", featured on the Volume One soundtrack for Jim Henson Company's Sid the Science Kid (2009).