The '90s Girl Group You Forgot Hallmark's Nikki DeLoach Was In

Hallmark star Nikki DeLoach can act, dance, and sing. Those skills contributed to DeLoach's Disney career on the "The All New Mickey Mouse Club" as well as to her membership in Innosense, a girl group in the late '90s. Britney Spears was briefly a member of Innosense, but she didn't stay long. DeLoach's fellow Innosense members ended up being Danay Ferrer, Mandy Ashford, Veronica Finn, and Amanda Latona. When Latona left the group in 1998, Jenny Morris took her place. 

The band's formation was credited to Lou Pearlman, the record producer who also managed bands like NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys, and Justin Timberlake's mother Lynn Harless managed the group. However, in a 2022 Tinseltown Mom interview, DeLoach instead said Harless was the one who approached her wanting to form a girl group inspired by NSYNC, with Spears and three other members.

Pearlman may be more known for his illegal activity, including a notorious Ponzi scheme. In a The Retaility interview, DeLoach said her team didn't think joining Innosense was a good idea. Her lawyer said the contract was terrible and her agents wanted her to focus on acting since she was about to turn 18. However, DeLoach missed the feeling of "The All New Mickey Mouse Club" and being close with her peers, after spending so much time focused on schooling and working. When she saw how enjoyable it seemed for NSYNC to travel and perform together (because for a while, she dated J.C. Chasez from the band), DeLoach decided to sign the Innosense contract. "Cut to: six years later, I'm broke," DeLoach told The Retaility. "I have two years left on a record contract and the guy who signed us is in prison."

Innosense put out one album called "So Together," but shortly after, their record company RCA Records dropped them and some of Pearlman's other groups. "And then because Lou [Pearlman] wouldn't release us, we couldn't sign with anyone else," Nikki DeLoach told The Retaility. "So we had two and a half years left on the contract and couldn't do anything." While DeLoach was dating her now-husband Ryan Goodell from another of Pearlman's bands called Take 5, she said they were being watched by Pearlman's people. They were also surveilled by the FBI which was working to uncover Pearlman's crimes. That caused DeLoach and Goodell to move to Los Angeles, even though they were broke after working with Pearlman.

In a 2014 interview with Complex, when DeLoach was asked about the transition from "The All New Mickey Mouse Club" to Innosense, she said, "It was a little bit darker, to be honest. The music business wasn't for me, but I loved some of the experiences I got to have." She discussed perks like going on tour in the United States and Europe and opening for Spears and NSYNC. Things fell apart for Innosense following Pearlman's criminal activity and legal trouble. 

"I look back and I'm grateful it ended when it did because I feel it was just supposed to be this small part of my life and I was supposed to grow and learn and have some great experiences and just move on," DeLoach told Complex.

Nikki DeLoach was also interviewed for the 2019 documentary "The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story" on YouTube Originals. In it, she said, "The feeling of being a girl band in the midst of all these boy bands was, we felt super special." The "Sweet Autumn" actor said Innosense was gearing up to be the next big musical group. However, Pearlman did something incredibly inappropriate while managing Innosense. He'd invite the members of the group to use the tanning bed in his home. "He was recording the whole thing," DeLoach said, "so he would show all the boys video of us girls getting naked and getting into the tanning bed. That felt pretty darn violating." 

When the time came to sign a release agreement to get out of her contract with Pearlman, DeLoach wouldn't do it since it was asking for confidentiality. "And I told him to his face, I put it on his desk and I said, 'I will never sign this because for the rest of my life, I will tell people what you did,'" DeLoach said. He seemed to casually threaten her afterward, though DeLoach wasn't sure if he could or would do something bad to her. "But it sure felt that way," she said. Her career-making feel-good Hallmark movies is likely a breath of fresh air.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).