She masterminded the revival of The Nolans and turned the sisters into national treasures once more.
But it wasn’t an easy ride for top talent agent and writer Melanie Blake or the Nolans – with their feuds and dirty linen being aired in public.
Now for the first time, Melanie reveals the truth about why Anne Nolan was excluded from the band’s reunion tour – and how her sisters nearly pulled the plug on the whole thing out of loyalty to their eldest sister.
And she tells of her heartbreak surrounding Bernie’s death – and how the singer bravely performed to the very end, even when her voice was failing her.
Melanie, 40, says: “Of all my career highlights, my proudest moment is the Nolans’ reunion tour. I went to 16 promoters and they all laughed in my face saying who the hell wants to see The Nolans?
“But I knew there were thousands of people out there who love and care for the Nolans. The 17th promoter said yes – and the rest is history.”
But from the start, The Nolans’ 2009 journey back to the top was brutal – when music label bosses decreed there was only room for four sisters in the newly re-formed band.
They wanted the four most famous siblings – Coleen, Bernie, Linda and Maureen – meaning no room for sister Anne, now 69.
Worse, rumours emerged the four star sisters were selfishly behind ditching her when the very opposite was true.
Melanie says: “The girls were absolutely horrified. This is the dark side of pop and it was my job to relay the bad news – there wasn’t the budget for five girls.
“Bernie, who was lead singer, even threatened to quit thinking that would make a difference but there just wasn’t the money. It was the four of them or nothing.
“The girls went down to the wire for Anne. I felt bad because it created a terrible rift in the family. But it wasn’t the other girls’ decision.
“They had never made money from The Nolans – and this was their chance to finally earn what they were due.
“Not one of the sisters ever chose to exclude Anne – they all wanted to include her.
“It is one of my biggest regrets – but it was out of our control and show-business can be brutal.”
As Melanie launches her first novel The Thunder Girls – about an 80s girlband’s explosive reunion – she is stepping out from behind the scenes.
Brought up in Manchester by a domineering father who was part of a religious cult that banned anything to do with pop music, Melanie fled at the age of 16 and found herself alone on the streets of London.
She managed to land her dream job on TV’s Top of the Pops, befriending some of the biggest names in the music industry and becoming a formidable music manager.
Her instinct to get the Nolans back on stage again proved to be a huge success.
“The girls couldn’t believe how many fans were there. They couldn’t believe their success, but they were so loved,” says Melanie.
Sadly, while they were all walking on air, tragedy struck.
“What we didn’t know when the girls went out on stage to a packed crowd at the Manchester Apollo was that Bernie already had cancer,” says Melanie.
“She didn’t discover it until she was starring in ITV’s Pop Star To Opera Star and even then she was determined not to let it derail her. When she got that cancer diagnosis she was so annoyed.
“Everything in her life was back to how she wanted it – she was singing, she was acting.
“Most importantly she didn’t want to worry her husband or her daughter – they were her world and meant more to her than anything.
“In the end she decided to go public because her view was she was going to beat it.”
When Bernie was told she was in remission, the sisters announced The Nolans’ Farewell tour – including their dream gig at Wembley Stadium, which sold out immediately.
But then Bernie got the devastating news her cancer was back – and this time it was incurable.
Melanie had to ask Bernie what she wanted to do about the tour, and typically her answer was the same: “The show must go on.”
As the sixth anniversary of Bernie’s death approaches on Thursday, Melanie reveals that her heartbroken sisters were forced to cancel the tour, yet kept the news about why secret from Bernie right to the end.
She says: “Bernie would’ve been devastated – she wanted to do it so badly and was determined to make it.”
But the sisters were told they had to sign a document for insurance purposes saying even if Bernie was dying in hospital they would have to take to the stage.
Melanie says: “The girls would never have agreed to that. If Bernie was ill they wanted to be with her.”
Christmas came and Bernie was becoming increasingly sick, but still she insisted on performing in panto.
The cancer spread to the lymph nodes in her throat – and started affecting her voice.
Melanie says: “It was tragic. She didn’t want to let anyone down. She was an incredible woman – an absolute powerhouse.”
Sadly Melanie’s own personal circumstances created her biggest regret – that she couldn’t bring herself to go and see Bernie in her final days.
Melanie’s mum was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the same time as Bernie, and died just six days later.
Bernie’s impending death, after seeing her own mum die at the same age, was too much.
Melanie says: “Even though we texted daily I just couldn’t face going to see her and felt this terrible guilt because I cared about her massively.
“After she died I went to see her husband Steve and apologised. But he told me that Bernie loved me and understood but I still wished I’d gone to see her.”
Bernie died on July 4, 2013 with beloved husband Steve, daughter Erin and her family around her.
Even at the funeral when hundreds of friends and family packed into Blackpool’s Grand Theatre, the show had to go on for the sisters, posing for pictures just after they said their final goodbyes to Bernie.
Mel says: “That is showbusiness. They are never off-duty. My story of The Thunder Girls was written way before I met them.
“But it is almost like life imitating art – the Nolans’ story is proof that The Thunder Girls are real.
“Women in show business aren’t like normal women – they are made of stronger stuff. Whatever is thrown at them they come back stronger.”
A rip-roaring page-turner
Melanie Blake’s novel is a rip-roaring page-turner about an eighties girlband who split acrimoniously at the height of their success when jealousy, greed and betrayal tear their friendships apart.
They spend decades without speaking when they are offered a deal to reunite for a series of life-changing gigs with pay cheques to match.
But when they attempt to put their differences aside, someone behind the scenes is determined to stop them succeeding, in the deadliest way possible.
Packed with secrets, lies, revenge and even murder, this blockbuster has it all.
If you only read one book this summer make sure it’s this one.
The Thunder Girls , by Melanie Blake, is published by Pan MacMillan on July 11 in paperback.
