Cheetah Girl reflects on Disney fame

By John Benson

Sabrina Bryan realizes the Cheetah Girls, touring Cleveland today, won’t last forever but is enjoying the ride.

In the Disney Channel pecking order of celebrity and screaming fans, Hannah Montana is naturally at the top; however, a close second is the popular film series starring the Cheetah Girls.

Over the past five years, the pop/dance/R&B act — Sabrina Bryan, Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams (Raven Symon was an original member but later dropped out after her show “That’s So Raven” became a Disney Channel hit) — has become a platinum-selling recording act with three feature films and five studio albums under its belt. It’s been quite a ride for dancer-singer-actress Bryan, who grew up in Yorba Linda, Calif., with stars in her eyes.

“I think for me when we first booked ‘The Cheetah Girls,’ I was so excited because I love to do singing, dancing and acting,” said Bryan, calling from Orlando, Fla. “It was so awesome that I would actually have an opportunity to do all of that in one project. It was my first thing I had done with Disney, and that was so exciting. I had been on so many auditions for Disney Channel shows, and when I finally booked something, and I met the girls, it just became this thing that was so infectious.

“Our energy was so extremely high. And we were just having so much fun and when we finished filming the first movie, we were kind of, like, sad: ‘This is it and that’s all it’s going to be.’ And then it ended up being so much more with all of the doors that opened for us.”

On-screen, the Cheetah Girls were formed in a New York City performing arts high school where the act was trying out for a talent show. Naturally, a high-profile producer discovered the group, which was thrust into bigger celebrity circles that have become the story lines for the feature films.

While in many ways the Cheetah Girls appear to be no different from the Monkees or other Disney Channel creations — creative forces control all aspects of the act’s music, songwriting, etc. — Bryan and her bandmates appear to have more autonomy than one would expect.

She said this was specifically evident in the group’s 2007 effort “TCG,” which was the act’s first nonthemed album. More so, the R&B dance project, aimed at an older audience, was obviously intended to legitimize the Cheetah Girls as serious recording artists.

“I think using the word legitimize is kind of correct,” Bryan said. “It’s not like it’s something we’re not aware of, the stigma of being a part of the Disney Channel, and being seen as kind of a gimmicky kind of thing. So the ‘TCG’ album definitely allowed us to stand on our own. We wrote over half the album. We participated and we were hands on with that project in a way that we don’t get the chance to do with the soundtracks because of the story line.”

Realizing the Cheetah Girls, which brings its “One World Tour” to Cleveland today at the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University, won’t exist forever, Bryan has already begun spreading her creative wings. Not only did she appear on the fifth season of “Dancing with the Stars,” but she recently released the book “Princess of Gossip,” which she co-wrote with young-adult author Julia DeVillers.

Whatever the future holds, Bryan said life has imitated art in the fact that she’s become best friends with her co-stars and bandmates Bailon and Williams.

“I think the main message behind the Cheetah Girls is about inspiring young girls in their lives and showing them that you can be friends and have a lot of the same dreams, but there is a time when you have different dreams and that’s OK too,” Bryan said. “So what’s most important is that you support each other and really are there for them. I feel so grateful to be a part of a group.”