TWO wannabe pop stars from the North-East have been signed up by an American record label to form a girl band.

Jayne Sharkey, 19, from Middlesbrough and Kimberley Wardle, 17, from Billingham, were spotted on stage at TFM's Feel the Noise music event at Stockton's Riverside Festival, which attracted 100,000 people last month.

The pair were part of a five-piece girl band, Naked Ambition, formed by radio station TFM.

Jayne and Kimberley were spotted by record label Xplosive and will travel to London in two weeks' time to join three other girls for six months of voice training and dance coaching. The group will also record their first single, due for release in February.

They will live in Hampstead and work on three songs written for the band.

Xplosive has worked with stars such as Prince, Cher, Kylie and George Michael. The label was at Feel the Noise because its latest signing, American boy band Liaison, was performing.

Jayne and Kimberley and three other Teessiders were chosen from hundreds of hopefuls to be part of Naked Ambition, in a project similar to the TV Popstars programme.

A TFM spokeswoman said: "The girls knew Naked Ambition was mainly just for fun. We never promised to make them stars, but we are really pleased two of them have been spotted."