THE HISTORY OF FIVE

A early 1997 ad in the UK theatre magazine, The Stage, asked for young male singers/dancers to audition for a new group in the boy band-style but with "attitude and edge". The father/son team of Bob and Chris Herbert had earlier created The Spice Girls and thought the time was right for a male group. 3000 hopefuls auditioned (ten times as many as for Spice) and they were finally narrowed down to only 14. As the lads waited for the finals, five of them began talking...comparing styles...and strategizing. If they made up a routine and presented themselves as a unit, perhaps that would impress the Herberts. It did. The Five were moved together into one house in the suburbs of London to bond, get to know each other and REHEARSE. They worked on their act for months...a pop sound with a rocking rap edge and lots of dancing. They also worked over their middle-class street and earned the nickname "The Neighbors from Hell". They were messy, loud and kept strange hours ...typical young men anywhere. Most of them had never been on their own before and had a lot to learn. The youngest, Sean, was only 15 and even the oldest, J, was only 20 years old.

Demo tapes in hand, the Herberts secured the boys (who had finally chosen a name, FIVE) a six-album deal with BMG/RCA (Arista in the US). The lads were packed off to Sweden in May 1997 for two months to cut their first album. At the famous Cheiron Studios in Stockholm and under the wings of the late, great Denniz Pop and Max Martin, FIVE recorded the first tracks for their debut album. Homesickness was a problem with everyone, but when they listened to their recording sessions, FIVE knew they had a unique, hot and marketable sound.

The first single released in the UK was "Slam Dunk (Da Funk)" in December of 1997. It was a hit and made the UK top ten. It had a lukewarm reception in the US but was still chosen by the National Basketball Association (NBA) as it's new theme song. Nevertheless, the lads were ecstatic. At the end of 1997, they were in the annual Smash Hits Tour around Britain with The Backstreet Boys and Boyzone. They were named the Best New Tour Group. All this in less than a year. More singles followed in 1998..."When The Lights Go Out" (#4) , "Got The Feelin'" (#3), "Everybody Get Up" (#2) and "Until The Time is Through" (#2). Their second US single "Got The Feelin'" did much better. Finally, "When The Lights Go Out" cracked the US top ten, earned a gold record and sent FIVE on an eight day tour to promote the upcoming album. An IN-Concert special on the Disney Channel sent FIVE's US popularity soaring. Doing a concert in Times Square and dropping by MTV didn't hurt either. The album "Five" was released in June 1998 and went straight to number one on the UK charts. It eventually went multi-platinum around the world...FIVE had arrived!

1999 saw FIVE's popularity soaring around the world. Many awards and appearances only added to their packed schedule and hectic lives. They started a US concert tour with N'Sync, but were so worn down by a year of 18 hour days and recording company pressure that they had to pull out, returning to England to rest, pull themselves together and work on their second album. But, the hits kept coming; "It's The Things You Do" (USA), "If Ya Gettin' Down" (#2) and then "Keep On Movin", their 1st UK Number One. In August, their manager, Bob Herbert was killed in a car accident while Five were promoting in South America. The album "Invincible" was released in Oct 1999 in the UK. It was a supreme effort as the lads not only sang the songs, but co-wrote most of them as well...not usually done by most "boy bands". In December 1999, FIVE shot the video for a new single release called "Don't Wanna Let You Go" (#9). It was their biggest production to date with a story line, incredible sets, costumes and effects. However, it was not Five's choice for their next single release and they were unhappy with it. Production delays & other problems left them little time to promote the song before their World Tour and it failed to reach the top of the charts, but became one of their biggest selling singles ever due to an incredible stay on the top 40 list. The video was released in the UK on March 6, 2000.

3 days earlier, FIVE had won the Brit Award for Best Pop Act. Their performance at the Brits with the rock group Queen was the talk of England and the song "We Will Rock You" became their next single & video on July 17th. It went straight to #1 in the UK...their second number one single in less than 9 months. This was all while FIVE were rehearsing and then embarking on a jam-packed World Tour from March-May. Near the end of the tour, just as the lads were heading for South America, Ritchie contracted chicken pox and had to be flown hurriedly back to the UK. Five continued on for the next week without him, finally starting to feel a bit tired and worn from 3 1/2 months on the road. They continued on that summer with a recovered Ritchie at various venues in the UK, including many Party in the Park concerts hosted by British radio stations. On July 24th, BMG UK re-issued the Invincible album with new videos, re-mixed versions of some songs and an extra CD with 5 live performances. Also added was "Don't Fight It Baby", a song original to the USA version of Invincible, but never released in the UK. A scheduled concert tour of Asia had to be cancelled due to serious problems with Five's Asian record company and then the long-awaited promotional tour of the United States was also called off when Arista Records hired a new president, decided to change the direction of their music, and dropped Five from their label. The boys needed to regroup, rest and get their heads together.

The lads spent the next few months relaxing, writing songs and deciding in what direction their future would lie. They continued to win awards in Holland, Europe and the UK. They began work on their 3rd album and, in December 2000, launched their second big tour, playing at the largest arenas in the UK as a way to thank their loyal home fans & to placate their UK label, BMG. A scheduled single release in December was held back until summer 2001 as the boys decided they wanted their next album to be completely theirs - writing every song and spending more time developing their personal sound. January 2001 festival concerts in Rio de Janeiro and Caracas were smashing successes and Five returned home to finish their 3rd album, "Kingsize" (originally called "XL" but changed for legal reasons), which took until May 2001 to complete. Headline appearances at MTV's Five Night Stand and at a huge joint Israeli concert with the Irish group, Westlife, capped off April & May 2001. They began filming the video for the first single from the album, "Let's Dance" at the end of June when suddenly Sean came down with mono/glandular fever. They had to complete the video without him, using a cardboard cut-out in his place. Rumors abounded that Sean wasn't really ill but had left the band. Scott then got the news that his fiancйe Kerry, who was pregnant with their first child, was having some difficulties and the baby may be very premature. Baby Brennan arrived July 11th 5 weeks early, while Abs, J and Rich were promoting in Holland, and Scott temporarily left to stay with his new family for a while. Five then had to begin heavy promotion for Let's Dance, scheduling a full concert weekend at the end of August to kick off the August 27th release of "Kingsize". But again fate stepped in and, with Sean still ill and Scott home with his new son, Rich ripped the tendons in his left foot while Five were performing with only 3 members in Belgium on 30 July. The single was released on August 13th and it debuted at number one in the UK... mostly due to the strenuous promotion by Abs, J and Rich. The hilarious video was well received all over the world. Without Scott and Sean, and with Rich injured, the concerts had to be cancelled and the promotion for Kingsize, which was released on August 27th and debuted at #3, took a back seat as Five pulled out of sight again to rethink their options for the future.

A month of meetings and discussions culminated with the lads deciding they had finally reached the end of the road. All their important battles had been won, 'Kingsize' had been released and they were tired of fighting the record companies for every tiny thing they wanted and being pressured into many months of endless promotion for Kingsize and it's subsequent single releases. Fate seemed to be against them this past summer with Sean's illness, Rich's injury and Scott's premature baby. So on September 27, one day before Scott's wedding to Kerry Oaker, Five made a surprise live appearance on MTV Select in London and announced they were 'calling it a day'. The lads had always said they would go out while they were still on top and they did just that. It was a truly painful decision for them all and had taken weeks to decide, but Five showed a very united front as they made the announcement to the shocked fans in attendance. There were tears and sadness all around but Rich assured everyone that Five were leaving the scene as the best of friends and they were still 'like brothers'. He also noted that Five would be releasing a last single "Closer To Me" with a companion single "Rock The Party" on 22 October (this was later changed to cd#1 & cd#2... 'Closer' on 22 Oct and 'Rock' on 26 Nov). MTV then showed the new compilation video of 'Closer To Me' with rare footage of Five from the past 4 1/2 years. It debuted on the UK charts at #4 with no promotion. As far as the future, both Abs and Rich said they would like to pursue solo careers in music and acting, Scott and Sean wanted to write songs for other artists and J expressed the desire to totally retire from show business, devoting his life to humanitarian and charity causes. All the lads attended Scott & Kerry's marriage in Essex the very next day and it was as beautiful as everyone hoped, considering the events of only one day before. Scott came back to UK TV (the cduk Show) to premiere the animated video for "Rock The Party" on 10 November and BMG rush-released an album & video tape of Five's best songs as "Five - Greatest Hits" on 19 November, which peaked on the charts at #9.

Written by RitaGS for www.5iveusa.com