Ricki-Lee on the brutal backstage fight that made her quit Young Divas

In a candid new interview, Ricki-Lee reveals the brutal backstage blow-up that she says spelled the end for her time in girl group Young Divas.

Australian pop star Ricki-Lee Coulter has opened up about her dramatic 2007 departure from the girl group Young Divas, revealing it happened following a furious backstage altercation with a member of the band’s team.

Coulter, 37, speaks about her musical career from Australian Idol to now in the latest episode of the Chart Beats podcast. She placed seventh in the second season of Idol in 2004, and parlayed that reality TV stint into a successful solo career, releasing an album and three hit singles when she says she was approached to join a co-headlining tour with three other female artists from Idol.

Young Divas, L-R: Paulini Curuenavuli, Ricki Lee Coulter, Emily Williams and Kate DeAraugo.

“It was never pitched to me as ‘Hey, do you want to join a girl group?’ I would never have said yes,” she revealed.

Once she and fellow Idol stars Paulini Curuenavuli, Emily Williams and Kate DeAraugo were locked in for the tour, it was suggested they record a promotional single together to help promote it: A cover of the Donna Summer classic This Time I Know It’s For Real. It quickly became a platinum-selling #2 hit, and a girl group was born.

“It went off. Suddenly, the our went from three dates to a million dates. Then it became, let’s capitalise on this and record an album. Every step of the way, it was very clear that I’d do the tour and then I was out. I still had a couple of albums left to deliver on my (solo) contract,” she explained.

Coulter said that, while Young Divas was a “wonderful” experience, as her year-long stint in the group wore on, “it started to get a bit yuck.”

Ricki-Lee said she noticed a jarring difference between her solo gigs and those Young Divas were booking.

Namely, as the group’s at corporate and sporting events stacked up, she couldn’t help but notice a jarring difference from the same events she’d played at in her solo career.

“We were doing the AFL, the tennis, all those things … I knew how much I was getting paid for those gigs (solo) the year before, but then we were getting told that it was all for free, that they were promo. That didn’t sit well with me.”

The fight that ended it all

“I’ve never even talked about this – this is wild,” said Coulter as she recounted the blow-up that spelled the end of her time as a Young Divas.

Eventually, the group’s relentless schedule – “all the promo, all the shows, all of these extra gigs” – took a toll, and she lost her voice. With a show booked for that night, Coulter saw a doctor, hoping they could give her a steroid injection so she could soldier on. Instead, their advice was full vocal rest for a week, lest she do permanent damage.

Ricki-Lee (right) knew her time in Young Divas was over when she copped a sanga to the face.

“I had to have a sit-down with one of the guys in charge. I went in a room backstage by myself without the girls,” she said.

Coulter said she showed the unnamed boss her doctor’s certificate and explained the situation – and he flipped.

“He was so enraged. He lost his mind. I’m a 20-year-old girl, having an adult conversation with a grown-ass man. He was yelling, screaming, and then he threw a sandwich in my face. That is so wrong! Come on dude.”

“That was very much the end of it for me. My voice is my career, and that’s how you’re going to react? I thought it was so embarrassing for him.”

After Ricki-Lee: “They hated each other”

Despite rampant rumours of infighting during their time together, Ricki-Lee insisted to Chart Beats that she and her bandmates got on … mostly.

“For the most part, we really got on. I just felt like I was a bit different – I have an insane work ethic and I’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done. At times, I felt like other people weren’t taking it as serious as me and weren’t as respectful of time,” she said.

“But there was no real dirt – we had so much fun, like this little travelling family. We were very much in it together.”

By June 2007, Ricki-Lee was gone, resuming a solo career that continues to this day (her latest single, the stirring On My Own, was released earlier this month).

Another former Australian Idol star – this time, season four runner-up Jessica Mauboy – was drafted in for the group’s second album. It was less successful than their debut and only birthed one single.

Young Divas 2.0, with Jess Mauboy (second from left) replacing Ricki-Lee.

Mauboy later opened up about her short-lived tenure as a Young Diva in 2008, the same year the group officially disbanded.

“When Ricki left, there was something crazy going on. They hated each other,” Mauboy said.

“They were upset. She left the three of them on their own.”

And in a 2020 interview with news.com.au, Young Divas’ former manager David Caplice – who had previously managed fellow girl group Bardot – said “jealousy and infighting destroyed the band.”

“I love all those girls though, and think that the first Young Divas album features some of the best female group vocals ever come out of this country,” he said.

“I feel exactly the same about the Young Divas as I do Bardot – they were a great girl group, and if we could get them together again to record and perform the Australian pop scene would be all the better for it. That’s my dream double bill: Bardot and Young Divas, One Night Only.”

Listen to the full Ricki-Lee interview on Chart Beats and visit the Chart Beats website.