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It's 1999 and another girl band are partying on the set of their video shoot. BreZe had all the obligatory marketing trademarks: they wore make-up, had tattoos, pouted and swung their hips. However, one of the group had a minor mishap during filming: she lost a milk tooth. She was nine years old. The oldest member was 11.

Despite outcries, the pre-teen pop band's creator, producer Bill Kimber, remained unmoved, saying if they were classical violinists there wouldn't be this criticism. Kimber was also the man behind the 1980s series Minipops where pre-teen lookalikes, including his own 10-year-old daughter, sang hits. However, the sight of young children singing (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction saw it dropped.


BreZe's debut single My Heart Goes Boom failed to trouble the chart compilers. But they were the forerunners of S Club Juniors who, although aged 11 to 14, are veritable chart sensations. They are the proteges of Simon Fuller, creator of ITV's Pop Idol. If children are major players in purchasing pop music, goes the marketing strategy logic, then why not sell records to children by children?

Record producer Pete Waterman, a judge on Pop Idol, is scathing of child groups. "There are things that even this industry has to draw the line at, and exposing small children to these sort of pressures can't be justified," he says.

And Waterman can speak with some authority: he gave Musical Youth to the world. And the world wanted them - making 1983's Pass the Dutchie a global hit. But fame took the group's own world off them too. The subsequent death of former band member Patrick Waite, 13 at the time of the group's peak, still preys on Waterman's mind.

He says: "I can't help thinking he might still be alive if he hadn't been in the band. You can't completely protect them from the harm drugs and money do. One day Michael Jackson was inviting them round to play music with him in LA, and the next they were back in Birmingham struggling to cope with failure. If you're a star at 11, what happens after that?"

Former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler believes the music industry is exploiting youngsters desperate for fame. "There's a lot of child abuse in the music industry. They're going to end up in the gutter with a needle in their arm, or The Sun will find them in a brothel, and everyone knows that's going to happen to them," he says.

The British Phonographic Institute represents the music industry. It did not comment on the use and marketing of children but did send a copy of The Engagement of Children and Young People for Recording Work, which provides advice on how to apply for licences from local authorities.

Only two of the 12 "points worth noting" stumble near the welfare of the child: one refers to the child's education; the other informs that "special arrangements must be made regarding the child's accommodation, the location of the performance, the child's remuneration, medicals, supervision and working hours".

Waterman says that, although there are "strict laws governing what you can do with children, make no mistake, they will be worked very hard. There will be too much money riding on them. This is a very dangerous world - just look what it did to Michael Jackson."

Indeed, the Jackson Five began touring in 1963, when the oldest member Jackie was 12 and Michael was just five. They were worked hard, later releasing 13 albums in seven years. Jackson says he suffered physical and emotional abuse from his domineering father. However, it has been allegations of him as abuser that have hit the headlines. The most notorious were the sex abuse allegations brought by 13-year-old Jordie Chandler, to whom Jackson reportedly paid $20m (£14m) in a pre-court settlement.

Indeed, prominent music industry figures have been linked to child abuse and child pornography. Tam Paton, manager of the Bay City Rollers, the boy band of the 1970s, was jailed in 1982 after being convicted of sex offences against young boys. The group's drummer, Derek Longmuir, was convicted in 2000 of possessing child pornography. And the man who "discovered" the Bay City Rollers, Jonathan King, is serving a seven-year prison sentence for child sex offences. Gary Glitter has also served two months for possessing child pornography.


But as long as records are sold and the profits tumble in, the marketing of child pop stars seemingly faces fewer boundaries.

In 1999, American Christina Aguilera charted at number one with her highly suggestive song Genie in a Bottle. She was 16 at the time. A 17-year-old Britney Spears was photographed draped on a bed in a school uniform for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. And 16-year-old Charlotte Church has altered her choir girl image with more provocative clothing - and being awarded "rear of the year".

"I just think that because I'm 16 I'm allowed to get awards like this now - when I was 15 it would have been seen as sick," she told reporters.

Last month Russian teenagers Lena Katina and Julia Volkova of the pop act Tatu (pronounced "tattoo") debuted at number one with their single, All The Things She Said. They have been promoted with a splash of lesbianism by their manager Ivan Shapovalov who describes Tatu as an "underage sex project". This saw daytime television hosts Richard and Judy protesting about "paedophile pop", but sales, ever the barometer, continued to soar.

As they have for R&B singer R Kelly despite being charged under child pornography laws in the US. Last month, his seventh album, Chocolate Factory, went straight to number one. Police are in possession of a videotape that allegedly has Kelly and an underage girl engaged in various sex acts. With Kelly awaiting trial, at least three lawsuits have been filed by young women who say they were similarly exploited by him while minors. Kelly, who has maintained his innocence, has settled two of the suits.

Neither did the scandal convince Epic Records to think again about the release of a song written and produced by Kelly - Bump, Bump, Bump - for boy-teen band B2K. The money men were truly vindicated with another chart-topper. "A hit record is a hit record," as a company source said.

The life of Australian singer Debra Byrne, who started her career as a 12-year-old performer, also took a dive after her rise to stardom. She reportedly tried to commit suicide at 13 and later suffered problems with alcohol and heroin.

But it's all about churning out the hits. It's not enough that S Club Juniors have TV, video and recording commitments. These lollipop idols need to tour. They are, according to their website, "currently hard at work gearing up for the mega S Club United tour" and "practising like ker-azee". An aide says Fuller "believes that, to these kids, performing in front of people on stage is no different from being in front of a school assembly". The group first performed together in 2002 at Manchester's MEN Arena in front of 12,000 fans. Some assembly.