British novelty act The Cheeky Girls claim now defunct record label TELSTAR owes them over $1.8 million (GBP1 million).

The Romanian twins Monica and GABRIELLA, who scored British chart success with the CHEEKY SONG (TOUCH MY BUM) after unsuccessfully auditioning for reality TV show Pop Idol, claim the collapse of the company in March (04) has left them severely out of pocket.

The sisters' mother MARGRIT tells British newspaper the DAILY STAR, "The girls are owed about GBP700,000 and I am owed about GBP500,000 for song-writing, but Telstar is in liquidation and there is nothing I can do to get the money.

"I have spoken to my solicitor, who says we may see 10 pence of every GBP1 owed - if we are very lucky.

"Fortunately they did many appearances last year (03) and made money from that.

"But I am sure everyone else on Telstar was not so lucky."

20/08/2004 14:07