86-745: Aston Iain Merrygold (born 13 February 1988) is a British singer, songwriter, actor, dancer and television presenter. He is known for being a member of the British boy band JLS , who were the runners-up to Alexandra Burke in the fifth series of The X Factor . As part of the group he achieved five number one singles on the UK Singles Chart and a number one album on the UK Albums Chart . As of December 2013, JLS had sold over 10 million records before disbanding in 2013 and reuniting in 2020. In 2013, he became
172-436: A Saturday night game show for BBC One , alongside Zoe Ball . In 2017, Banjo was a judge on the new ITV series Dance Dance Dance , presented by Alesha Dixon and Will Best . Since January 2018, Banjo has been part of the judging panel on Dancing on Ice , starting with its tenth series in 2018. In August 2020, it was announced that due to Simon Cowell's bike injury and recovery period, Banjo would replace Cowell for
258-585: A boy band having used the groups popularity to build on. Usually this signals the end of the group until potential future reunions. Examples of this include Justin Timberlake from NSYNC , and Robbie Williams from Take That . Some boy band members have gone on to successful careers elsewhere in the media. In K-pop, it is expected and common practice for members to embark on solo endeavors as musical artists or in other entertainment sectors, such as acting, or as variety personalities, alongside their group career after
344-690: A few years. At the latest, this happens around the time the eldest member reaches the age of 28 (in exceptional cases 30) and is drafted for mandatory military service , forcing the group into a temporary hiatus of at least 18 months. The other members then often go on to pursue solo endeavors and reconvene as a group while no member is serving, or after all members have completed their service. Although most boy bands consist of R&B or pop influences, other music genres , most notably country music and folk music , are also represented. South 65 and Marshall Dyllon , for example, were both country music boy bands. Il Divo , created by Simon Cowell in 2004, are
430-468: A judge on television dance competition shows, including Got to Dance (2009–2014), Dance Dance Dance (2017). and Dancing on Ice (2018–present). In 2016, he was a co-presenter for the Saturday night BBC game show Can't Touch This . Son of former heavyweight boxer Funso Banjo and Danielle, Banjo was educated at the independent St John's School, Billericay , where he was Head Boy and still holds
516-479: A judge on the British dance talent show Got to Dance . Aston worked on his debut solo album Showstopper for a planned mid-2016 release, but it remains unreleased. The lead single of the album, " Get Stupid " was released on 24 July 2015 and reached number ten on the ARIA Charts and was certified Platinum. In August 2017, he was announced as a contestant for the fifteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing , and
602-557: A large impact in Latin America and in Asia; Menudo fever there was compared to Beatlemania and it was nicknamed "Menudomania". Boston group New Edition was formed in 1978 and reached their height of popularity in the 1980s, meaning they are often credited for starting the boy-band trend, even though the term "boy band" did not exist until the 1990s. Maurice Starr was influenced by New Edition and popularized it with his protégé New Kids on
688-553: A new " British Invasion " in the United States. Their Where We Are Tour was the highest-grossing tour by a vocal group in history and after the release of their fourth album, Four , they became the only group in the 58-year history of the Billboard 200 to have their first four albums debut at number one. In Southeast Asia, local boy bands also emerged as a result of the continued success of Korean and Japanese boy bands. After
774-518: A new all-male pop band and dance group boyband hailing from Japan called Exile debuted under Avex Group's label Rhythm Zone with 14 members, putting them on par with Super Junior , a South Korean boy band, who at the time, had had 13 members at its peak. Japanese boy band Arashi has sold over 30 million copies of their records since their first release in 1999. They had the yearly best-selling single in Japan in 2008 and 2009. In 2003 SMAP released
860-506: A record label, and did not feature the choreographed dance moves that later came to be associated with boy bands. The Beatles did, however, inspire the production of the 1966 television series The Monkees , which featured a music group of the same name , created for the show, that consisted of the four starring actors. The Monkees had a career as a rock and pop band after their songs from the TV series were released as successful records. Although
946-445: A result of the success of their TV drama Meteor Garden . According to Forbes , F4 has sold 3.5 million copies of their first two albums all over Asia as of July 2003. With their success, many other Taiwanese boy bands emerged around this time, such as 5566 and Fahrenheit . In South Korea, Shinhwa also spread hallyu wave throughout Asia such as Japan , Thailand , Singapore , Taiwan , Hong Kong and China . Also in 2001,
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#17328523808241032-611: A series of short films highlighting environmental action. In June 2023, he began playing the Tin Woodman in the West End revival of The Wizard of Oz . Ashley was a judge on Sky1's dancing talent show Got to Dance for all five series. Diversity appeared as guest performers at least once every series. In total they did nine performances on the show. In 2015, he presented Perspectives: Michael Jackson's Thriller with Ashley Banjo . In 2016, Banjo co-presented Can't Touch This ,
1118-590: A six-track EP instead of the Showstopper album, titled Precious . Merrygold posted a yellow picture on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, asking fans to "play around" with the filters to reveal a "hidden message", which revealed the name of the EP and its release date, 28 April 2017. Only the single "Precious" was included on the EP. On going solo, Merrygold has explained that he can be "expressive as [he likes]" rather than considering what his fellow JLS members would think of
1204-469: A song. On 5 May 2017, Merrygold released the single "Trudy". On 27 May 2017, Merrygold guest presented an episode of The Playlist . In August 2017, Merrygold was announced as a contestant for the fifteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing . He was partnered with professional dancer Janette Manrara and reached the seventh week of the competition, losing the dance off to Mollie King and AJ Pritchard . The decision to eliminate Merrygold instead of King
1290-604: A successful solo career as a rock artist; he rose to become one of the most prominent and influential cultural icons in South Korea and was dubbed "the President of culture". In 2017, Seo Taiji released a 25th Anniversary album with his greatest hits and remakes by prominent Korean artists, including the group BTS. He also held a joint celebratory concert with the latter, in which he acknowledged them as his spiritual successors in K-pop due to
1376-515: A surprise performance at Sandwich Technology School , which appeared on the television advertisement. Merrygold also appeared on advertisements for Coca-Cola in the UK promoting their 'Share a Coke' range. JLS founded "The JLS Foundation", a foundation that sets out to raise money for 6 different charities: Cancer Research UK , Rays of Sunshine, Brook, Childline , Beat Bullying and the MS Society . Despite
1462-417: A televised Disney special earned them additional TV spots, such as The Andy Williams Show and The Jerry Lewis Show . The Puerto Rican boy band Menudo , appealing to young Latina audiences, was founded in 1977. Menudo had a convention unique among boy bands: when a member turned 16, became too tall, or their voice changed, they were replaced. The members of Menudo were generally aged 12–16. Menudo had
1548-414: A vocal group that performs operatic pop in several (mainly Italian) languages. Since then operatic/classical boy bands have become quite popular and common, especially in the UK. Since 2001, there has been some crossover with power pop and pop punk from bands that play live instruments. Just recently some boy bands decided to go back to their original doo-wop roots, most notably, The Overtones . Since
1634-402: Is a defining characteristic of boy and girl bands. In K-pop, officially designated positions within the group are common, such as "leader", "maknae" (Korean: 막내, English: "the youngest"), "visual", "center" "vocalist", "rapper" and "dancer". The latter three are based on the members' specialized skills and are further divided into "main-", "lead-" and "sub-" (vocalist/rapper/dancer) positions, with
1720-507: Is a supporter of Arsenal F.C. Merrygold has numerous tattoos, including three stars behind his right ear, two stars on his pelvis, a music note between his shoulder blades and a sleeve which consists of a tattoo of Michael Jackson , whom he cited as an inspiration. In 2011, Aston's close childhood friend Lisa died in an accident. As a tribute to his late friend, he got her face tattooed on his forearm. In September 2017, Merrygold announced via Instagram that his partner, Sarah Louise Richards,
1806-410: Is not uncommon to find extra songs on an album written by one or more of the band members; however, their producers rarely use these as singles. Since the 21st century, however, boy bands have been expected to write or at least contribute in some part lyrically to songs. Apart from the groups mentioned above who all had at least one primary songwriter from their beginning, other groups soon caught up. At
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#17328523808241892-401: Is the best-selling album of all time in South Korea, with more than 6.2 million copies sold, and BTS's Love Yourself: Her became the first album released since 2001 to sell more than 1 million copies. In 2013, Billboard started covering music releases in K-pop, though K-pop had been entering the charts as early as 2009. By 2017, BTS crossed into the international music market, furthering
1978-499: The Billboard Hot 100 , making them the first all-South Korean act in Hot 100 history to debut at number one. It garnered the band their first Grammy nomination, for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at 63rd Annual Grammy Awards , making them the first K-pop act to be nominated for one. On 3 August 2024, South Korean boy group Stray Kids become the first group ever to debut at No. 1 on
2064-543: The Korean Wave in the United States and becoming the first Korean group to receive a certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with their single " Mic Drop ". The band is the first Korean act to top the U.S. Billboard 200 with their studio album Love Yourself: Tear (2018) and have since hit the top of the U.S. charts with their albums Love Yourself: Answer (2018), Map of
2150-635: The Moldovan band O-Zone (better known today as an Internet meme ), and Overground . American Christian boy band Plus One also enjoyed brief remarkable success during this time. At the height of boy band popularity in North America , MTV created their own parody boyband, 2gether . Like the Monkees in the 1960s, they were a manufactured act composed of actors. 2gether played off of the idea that every successful boy band must have five distinct personality types:
2236-615: The Royal Variety Show on 7 December 2009. Subsequently, Diversity were nominated in the Dance section of the final South Bank Show awards and won an award at the Pride of Britain Awards In 2013 Ashley choreographed a tour for Diversity called Limitless. The tour ran from 30 November to 16 December. In 2021, Ashley partnered with detergent brand Persil and TV channel Sky Nature to make
2322-669: The "Children in Need Rocks Manchester" concert, performing " Take a Chance on Me ". In 2013, Merrygold appeared on Children in Need for the last time as a member of JLS where the group sang a medley of JLS songs at the BBC One soap opera EastEnders set. JLS also helped raise money for Comic Relief , appearing in comedy sketches with both Miranda Hart and James Corden . In 2012, JLS visited Uganda for Sport Relief , and appeared in VTs throughout
2408-488: The "Fab Four". Other critics, however, have pointed out that this assessment of the Beatles as a "boy band" could be applied to all other bands of the 1960s, saying, "if they were a (boy band), so was everyone else" and is countered by others, including Ringo Starr , who point out that, from the beginning, the Beatles wrote and exercised creative control over their own music, played their own instruments, were not manufactured by
2494-696: The 1960s to '70s, with e.g. the Jackson 5 and the Osmonds ; the second time during the late 1980s, the 1990s and the 2000s, when acts such as New Kids on the Block , Take That , Backstreet Boys , NSYNC , Boyzone , Five , A1 , O-Zone and Westlife dominated global pop charts ; and the latest time in the 2010s up to the present, with the emergence of groups such as Big Time Rush , the Wanted , One Direction , and K-pop acts such as BTS and Seventeen . The term boy band
2580-645: The 2000s, groups such as Backstreet Boys and LFO have disliked the term "boy band" and have preferred to be known as a "male vocal group". Being categorized among boy bands was also the main reason the Moffatts split up. Boy bands have been accused by the music press of emphasizing the appearance and marketing of the group above the quality of music, deliberately trying to appeal to a preteen audience and for conforming to trends instead of being original. Such criticisms can become extremely scathing. Boy bands are often seen as being short-lived, although some acts such as
2666-606: The Block (NKOTB), the first commercially successful modern boy band, which formed in 1984 and found international success in 1988. Starr's idea was to take the traditional template from the R&;B genre (in this case his teenage band New Edition) and apply it to a pop genre. Bros (abbreviation of the word "brothers") were a British boy band active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, consisting of twin brothers Matt and Luke Goss along with Craig Logan . Formed in 1986, they scored multiple top 10 hits between 1987 and 1989 and in 1988 became
Aston Merrygold - Misplaced Pages Continue
2752-422: The Block . A typical boy band performance features elaborately choreographed dancing, with the members taking turns singing and/or rapping. Boy bands generally do not compose or produce their own material, unless the members lobby hard enough for creative control. However, some bands were created around the talent of a songwriter within the group like Gary Barlow of Take That or Tony Mortimer of East 17 . It
2838-446: The Block and Backstreet Boys. NKOTBSB's success inspired boy bands who were fairly popular during the 1990s and 2000s to make a comeback, such as A1, Blue , 98 Degrees, Five , 911 , and O-Town. Like 2gether and the Monkees , Big Time Rush was a manufactured act created for a television show. One Direction were often credited as sparking a resurgence in the popularity and interest boy bands alongside being credited with forming part of
2924-579: The European Youth Games. In 2002, he entered Stars in Their Eyes where he appeared as Michael Jackson , singing " Rockin' Robin ". He finished in second place. Shortly afterwards, Merrygold took on a job as an entertainer at Pop Star Studios in Fletton Peterborough, eventually leaving to follow his musical career. Merrygold performed in school productions and, after leaving school in 2004,
3010-458: The Jackson 5 , Backstreet Boys , Human Nature , New Edition , SMAP , Shinhwa , Take That and Westlife have sustained lasting careers. Ashley Banjo Ashley Modurotolu Banjo MBE (born 4 October 1988) is an English dancer, choreographer, and television personality. He is the leader of the street dance troupe Diversity who won the third series of the television talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2009 . Banjo has been
3096-589: The Moffatts , and Hanson that boy bands exploded commercially and dominated the market in the United States. This late 1990s marked the height of boy band popularity in North America, which has not been seen since. Arguably the most successful boy band manager from the U.S. was Lou Pearlman , who founded commercially successful acts such as the Backstreet Boys in 1993, NSYNC and LFO in 1995, O-Town in 2000, and US5 in 2005. Backstreet Boys and NSYNC became
3182-529: The Soul: Persona (2019), Map of the Soul: 7 (2020), Be (2020) and Proof . Love Yourself: Answer also broke South Korea's Gaon Album Chart 's all-time monthly record previously set by Love Yourself: Tear and became the first Korean album certified Gold in the United States. SuperM later became the first K-pop group to debut at No. 1 in the U.S. Billboard 200. In 2020, BTS " Dynamite " debuted atop
3268-505: The Supremes . The group also incorporated choreographed dance moves to their performances. All members of the band sang, which is a common convention of a boy band, as opposed to having a front man and the rest on instruments; thus, no one person dominated the stage. Also a sibling group, The Osmonds first started singing barbershop music for local audiences, before being hired to perform at Disneyland early in their career. Their appearance in
3354-455: The U.S. Billboard 200 chart with their first five charting albums Oddinary (2022), Maxident (2022), 5-Star (2023), Rock-Star (2023) and Ate (2024). In Japan, Arashi was the best-selling music artist in Japan from 2013 through 2017 by value of sales and also having the yearly best-selling album in the country in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. Other successful Japanese boy bands in this decade include Sandaime J Soul Brothers ,
3440-545: The UK (formed in 1990) and followed by Tom Watkins , who had success with Bros in the late 1980s and formed East 17 in 1991. East 17 were marketed and pitted against Take That as "rivals" with a rougher or harsher attitude, style and sound. Take That reformed in 2006 after a decade-long hiatus and became one of the most successful groups in British music chart history, with renewed chart success internationally, especially in Europe. Irish music manager Louis Walsh , who had witnessed
3526-521: The United States on 19 July 2018 where he performed a live version of his single "Get Stupid". In 2019, he was cast in the CBBC series Almost Never as Jordan. He stated that he used his knowledge of the music industry, particularly from his time with JLS, as inspiration for the role. From 2020 to 2021, Merrygold competed in the ITV singing series The Masked Singer UK as Robin; he finished in third place. He chose
Aston Merrygold - Misplaced Pages Continue
3612-466: The alias of Robin because Robin from DC Comics 's real name is Dick Grayson and Merrygold's son's name is Grayson. In 2022, Merrygold returned in the third series final masked as Robin to perform a duet with Charlotte Church masked as Mushroom. In September 2021, Merrygold became a judge on the Irish talent show The Big Deal along with Boy George , Jedward , Lyra , and Deirdre O'Kane . Merrygold
3698-414: The bad boy, the shy one, the young one, the older brother type, and a heart throb. Since 2001, the dominance of traditional boy bands on pop charts began to fade in the western hemisphere, although Gil Kaufman of MTV has described "new boy bands" that are "more likely to resemble My Chemical Romance , Sum 41 , and Simple Plan . In 2001, Taiwanese boy band F4 (called JVKV since 2007) blew up big as
3784-589: The band at all times and controls the group's sound – if necessary, to the point of hiring session singers to record guide vocals for each member of the group to sing individually if the members cannot harmonize well together. However, for clarity of each voice, recording each voice individually is most commonly the norm with most modern vocal groups. In recent years, auto-tune has become a popular tool in vocal producing, some boy bands have come under fire for that reason. Some have also come under fire for lip syncing in their performances as well, for example New Kids on
3870-407: The band conforms to the most recent fashion and musical trends in the popular music scene. Typically, each member of the group will have some distinguishing feature and be portrayed as having a particular personality stereotype, such as "the baby", "the bad boy", or "the shy one". While managing the portrayal of popular musicians is as old as popular music , the particular pigeonholing of band members
3956-403: The band's first three albums had each sold over 1.6 million copies, with the fourth nearing two million, making all four some of the best-selling albums of all time in South Korea to this day. Lee Juno became a record producer, and Yang Hyun-suk was successful in founding YG Entertainment , one of the three biggest record companies in the country. Seo Taiji returned to music two years later with
4042-533: The band's split, the foundation still remains active. Merrygold is an ambassador for the charity BeatBullying , a cause he "feels strongly about" after enduring racial bullying growing up. Merrygold has appeared on Children in Need nights since 2010. All sales from the JLS number one single " Love You More " went to Children In Need. In 2011, Merrygold did a VT for the charity in which he met 7-year-old Emily, who suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta . In 2012, JLS performed at
4128-424: The close of the nineties, groups like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC who had previously used writers like Max Martin during their early albums began writing their own songs. Newer groups from late 2000s such as JLS have all made a point from early interviews that they write their own songs and hold their own image as this is an important part of marketing. Some bands like The Wanted have even spent time learning
4214-469: The commercial boom experienced in the genre from the mid to late nineties in North America. The mid 2000s, especially the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, saw the continued longevity of nineties boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and Westlife (before they disbanded in 2012), and the successful comeback of Take That in 2005, Boyzone in 2007, and New Kids on the Block in 2008. Some sections of
4300-399: The country in 2020s are Undergrunn and Tigergutt101 in 2022 and 2024 respectively. Seen as important to a "boy band" group's commercial success is the group's image , carefully controlled by managing all aspects of the group's attire, promotional materials (which are frequently supplied to teen magazines ), and music videos. The key factor of a boy band is being trendy. This means that
4386-527: The craft of songwriting. There has also been a rising trend of so-called "songwriter-" or "producer idols" ( Korean : Hangul 작곡돌, rev. Rom. jakgok-dol) in K-pop since the early 2000s. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for groups to have at least one member who is heavily involved in the songwriting and producing of the groups' music. In many cases, these members are the rappers in the group, who have often gained songwriting and producing experience while being active as amateur or underground rappers before joining
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#17328523808244472-566: The debut of the Philippines supergroup SB19 in 2018, the group appeared at number six on Billboard Year-End Social 50 chart, making them the first Southeast Asian act to reach the top 10 of the magazine's annual chart. In South Korea, boy bands have been commercially successful. On the Circle Chart year-end albums chart of 2022, 7 of the top 10 and 13 of the top 20 albums are by boy bands or by subunits/members of boy bands. Seventeen's FML
4558-480: The disbandment of the heavy metal band Sinawe , in which he had a brief stint, Seo Taiji formed the boy band Seo Taiji and Boys (Korean: 서태지와 아이들) together with dancers Lee Juno and Yang Hyun-suk , which went on to become highly successful and created a craze at the time. Seo Taiji and Boys is credited with changing the South Korean music industry by pioneering the incorporation of rap and breakdance as well as
4644-409: The emergence of Britpop and the commercial co-option of indie rock , many boy bands were ridiculed by the British music press as having no artistic credibility, although some, such as East 17 and Take That, did write most of their own material. The media attention was then placed on the "Battle of Britpop", and the bands Oasis and Blur replaced the importance and rivalry of Take That and East 17 as
4730-460: The experience had been "inspiring". In 2014, it was confirmed that he would not be returning to the show due to pursuing other projects. On 22 December 2013, JLS performed for the last time. On 23 September 2014, Merrygold signed with Warner Bros. Records to release his debut album Showstopper , preceded by lead single "Get Stupid" on 24 July 2015. He premiered the "Get Stupid" video on 26 May 2015. Merrygold then announced that he would be releasing
4816-510: The fact that he owned his own studio. This autonomy allowed Seo to bring subcultures in Korea, such as heavy metal, to the forefront of popular culture and challenge pervasive social norms. The band's independent success diminished the power of the television networks to dictate which artists appeared on shows, and gave rise to the influence of record labels and talent agencies. In 1996, Seo Taiji and Boys disbanded. In April 1996, Billboard reported that
4902-477: The first modern era–style boy band to have a multiple platinum-selling album in the UK, with Push , still one of the most successful boy-band albums in the UK. Other big boy bands in Britain during the late 1980s were Big Fun and Brother Beyond . The ongoing international success of New Kids on the Block inspired music managers in Europe to create their own acts, beginning with Nigel Martin-Smith 's Take That in
4988-424: The first semi-final on 24 May, losing the public vote-decided first place to Susan Boyle but winning the judges' vote against Natalie Okri. In the final six days later, Diversity were announced as the winners, beating Boyle and Julian Smith (who came second and third respectively). As winners of the competition, Diversity received £100,000 (around £9,090 per member) and went on to perform before Queen Elizabeth at
5074-479: The fusion of Korean music and various popular Western music genres in Korean popular music, and in turn creating the prototype for the modern hybrid K-pop genre or "rap-dance", as it was called at the time, and K-pop groups. They also left a lasting impact by explicitly putting social criticism at the forefront of their music, as well as paving the way for artistic freedom in South Korea by challenging censorship laws and
5160-401: The group. There is also a higher expectation for rappers to write their own lyrics due to self-expression being a core value of the hip-hop genre. There are cases of "producer idols" writing or producing for other artists outside of their solo or respective group work as well, such as BTS ' RM and Suga . Individuals can also go on to achieve greater success as a solo artist coming out of
5246-535: The groups All-4-One (formed in 1993) and Boyz II Men (formed in 1988). Boyz II Men are also the most successful boy band act on the U.S. Hot 100 as well as the Australian Singles Chart . Although they had success on the Billboard charts, they were not marketed towards youth but more towards adults. It was not until 1997 and the change to pop-oriented groups such as Backstreet Boys , 98 Degrees , NSYNC ,
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#17328523808245332-545: The high jump sports day record. In 2007, Ashley and his younger brother Jordan formed Swift Moves with nine of their friends, before later changing their name to Diversity . He was given the nickname "Chosen" by his fellow Diversity members. In their first year together, they won the Street Dance Weekend 2007 competition, before deciding to enter Britain's Got Talent . After receiving "yes" votes from all three judges in their audition, Diversity went on to compete in
5418-619: The highest selling boyband act (9.3 million), followed by Boyzone at 29 (7.1 million) and Westlife at 34 (6.8 million). Even though Cowell is known to have managed several successful boy bands, he is also infamous for passing on signing two of the biggest boybands to emerge from the 1990s and 2000s, Take That and Busted . With the continued success of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC , American and British groups like 98 Degrees , Westlife , O-Town , A1 , Blue , and Busted gained quick popularity both domestically and internationally. International boy bands would also occasionally spring up, such as
5504-439: The impact of these British boy bands, put out an advert for an "Irish Take That", thereby creating Boyzone in 1993. Let Loose (formed in 1993), MN8 and 911 (formed in 1995), and Damage (formed in 1996) were also successful boy bands in Britain; however, by the late 1990s all these bands had split up. All these artists were very successful on both the singles and albums charts domestically and internationally; however, with
5590-698: The live semi-final and final shows of the 14th series of Britain's Got Talent . After winning Britain's Got Talent in 2009, Banjo took a break from his schooling to concentrate on his dancing. He said that "from the age of 14, I started to teach myself routines". Banjo was in a thirteen-year relationship with Francesca Abbott, who is a member of another dance troupe called Out of the Shadows. They announced their engagement on 2 October 2014. Ashley and Francesa have two children, Rose (born 2019) and Micah (born 2020). Ashley and Francesca announced on 23 December 2022 that they had separated 18 months earlier. Ashley Banjo
5676-422: The members occupying the "main" positions often being considered the most skilled and having the most parts in songs or being highlighted during solo dance parts. The "leader" is the spokesperson who represents the group in public, and is in charge of mediating between group members, as well as between the group and the label. In most cases, their music is written, arranged and produced by a producer who works with
5762-455: The other 3 members of JLS. Durex teamed up with JLS to produce a condom range called "Just Love Safe", with each member of the group having their own box. In 2010, Merrygold alongside Gill, Humes and Williams endorsed Nintendo Wii Party , appearing in 7 different TV adverts. JLS were also part of the Walkers crisps "Make sandwich more exciting" advertising campaign. This resulted in the band doing
5848-466: The press have referred to these acts, particularly those who have reformed after a previous split, such as Take That, Boyzone, and 98 Degrees , as 'man bands'. In the early 2010s, there was somewhat of a resurgence of boy band popularity in countries where the trend had not maintained, with the emergence of new boy bands like Big Time Rush , the Wanted , and One Direction and the formation of supergroup NKOTBSB which comprised members of New Kids on
5934-463: The second best-selling music artist of 2016 in the country and Kanjani Eight , the fifth best-selling music artist of that year in Japan. In Norway, the boy band Ballinciaga gained commercial success in 2022 with dance and party songs like "Dans På Bordet" and "Beklager (Guttaklubben)". The group is also known for keeping their identities anonymous by wearing pink-colored masks in the public. Other Norwegian boy bands that gained commercial success in
6020-519: The series finished, JLS signed with record label Epic Records The band have released four studio albums ( JLS , Outta This World , Jukebox , and Evolution ) and appeared in a film, JLS: Eyes Wide Open . In August 2012, Merrygold was confirmed as a judge on the fourth series of the Sky One dance talent show Got to Dance and would appear alongside Diversity dancer Ashley Banjo and former Pussycat Dolls member Kimberly Wyatt . Merrygold said
6106-1059: The show. In the same year, JLS also released the official Sport Relief charity single " Proud ", which peaked at number 6 in the chart, as well as hosting a special charity concert "JLS Sing for Sport Relief" and doing the Sport Relief Mile. Boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. South Korean boy bands usually also have designated rappers. Most boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on-stage. They are similar in concept to their counterparts known as girl groups . Some boy bands are formed on their own, but most are created by talent managers or record producers who hold auditions. The popularity of boy bands has peaked three times: first in
6192-526: The single " Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana " that has become the third best-selling single ever in Japan , with over three million copies sold. In North America, the Jonas Brothers rose to fame from promotion on the Disney Channel in 2008. Other boy bands like JLS and Mindless Behavior also emerged and experienced remarkable success around this time. However, apart from them, boy bands have not seen
6278-498: The socially conscious thematic similarities in their music as well their shared hip hop leanings, and metaphorically passed the torch, saying "This is your generation now". In the early 1990s in North America, with New Kids on the Block's continued success and Color Me Badd also having success, boy bands became a continued staple of the Billboard charts. Continuing this success in the mid-1990s, most prominent boy bands were African American and had R&B and gospel elements, such as
6364-649: The sons of Tito Jackson , a member of the Jackson 5 , 3T had several hits singles across Europe in the mid-1990s, despite limited success in the US, and finished the second biggest selling act of 1996 in Europe behind the Spice Girls . With the success of North American boy bands like New Kids on the Block in East Asia, Japanese entertainment company Johnny & Associates formed SMAP in 1992. The group enjoyed tremendous success, selling over 35 million records. In 1992, after
6450-567: The television networks hegemony over the music market. In 1995 the Korean Broadband is not 6 ft to a particular location casting Ethics Committee demanded that Seo Taiji and Boys change the lyrics for "Regret of the Times". As a result, Seo decided to release the song as a purely instrumental track. This incited protests and resulted in the abolishment of music pre-censorship in Korea. Seo Taiji also did not have to rely on television networks due to
6536-440: The term "boy band" was not commonly used then, the earliest predecessors of this format were groups such as the Jackson 5 and the Osmonds which helped form the template for boy bands. The Jackson 5 were a sibling group that established many musical conventions that boy bands follow. For instance, their music featured close harmonies from soul music and catchy pop hooks influenced as much as they were by Motown and acts like
6622-432: The term", exclusively due to the enthusiastic response they received from their young female audience. The Liverpool quartet known as the Beatles were not only the quintessential rock band, but many considered John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star [ sic ] to be the original boy band – especially in the early 1960s when young girls would scream at the top of their lungs and pass out upon first sight of
6708-487: The two biggest boy bands in the late 1990s until the early 2000s, and Backstreet Boys went on to become the best-selling boy band in history with over 100 million records sold. In the late 1990s in the UK, producer Simon Cowell (noted in the U.S. for the American Idol / The X Factor franchise) is also known for having managed British boyband Five (formed in 1997) and Irish boyband Westlife (formed in 1998). Westlife
6794-454: The two new biggest bands in Britain. However, boy bands continued to find success in the late 1990s, such as Five , Another Level , Point Break and Westlife . In 1995 successful German music manager Frank Farian , who had been manager of Boney M and Milli Vanilli , put together Latin American band No Mercy who scored a few worldwide hits during the mid-90s. Although being American and
6880-593: Was cast in the ITV children's programme, Fun Song Factory alongside presenter Laura Hamilton . Friend Marvin Humes had already successfully auditioned to become a member of UFO, (later JLS ), formed by Oritse Williams when Humes encouraged Aston to audition. Merrygold and JB Gill were recruited soon after, and they changed their name to JLS. In 2008, they auditioned for the fifth series of The X Factor , where they went on to finish in second place to Alexandra Burke . After
6966-572: Was controversially eliminated on 5 November 2017, coming in tenth place. Merrygold has also appeared in television series including Fun Song Factory and Almost Never . In 2024, Merrygold is starring in the UK tour of The Wizard of Oz as the Tin Man . He's set to reprise the role in the West End at the Gillian Lynne Theatre . Merrygold was born on 13 February 1988 to a Jamaican father and an Irish mother, who split up when Merrygold
7052-495: Was created by Irishman Louis Walsh as a replacement for Boyzone and was initially managed by a former member of the band Ronan Keating . Westlife would eventually overtake Take That in number one's tally in the UK although Take That's overall UK sales are still higher. In 2012, the Official Charts Company revealed the biggest selling singles artists in British music chart history with Take That placed 15th overall and
7138-583: Was expecting a baby. He said that her pregnancy had encouraged him to take part in Strictly Come Dancing . The couple announced their engagement in December 2017. On 30 January 2018, Richards gave birth to their first son. Their second son was born on 5 June 2020. They wed in September 2022. In March 2024, they announced the birth of their third child. In September 2010, an "Aston doll" was launched, alongside
7224-425: Was not established until the late 1980s when Lou Pearlman decided to form a record company to promote a new singing and dancing group after becoming fascinated with the success of New Kids on the Block . Although generally described as a rock band, the highest-selling band in history – the Beatles – have been described by several journalists as "the first" or "the original" boy band, "before anyone had thought of
7310-595: Was not popular with viewers and bosses, who went on social media to vent their anger at the decision. In February 2018, Merrygold's 2015 single Get Stupid featured in a newly launched TV commercial released by Samsung promoting the Galaxy S9 smartphone. Merrygold was picked in July 2018 as Elvis Duran 's Artist of the Month . He was featured on NBC 's Today show hosted by Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford , broadcast nationally in
7396-571: Was young. He is one of seven children: he has five brothers and one sister between his biological and step parents. He was born and raised in Peterborough by his mother Siobhan and stepfather, Orjan; where he attended Jack Hunt School . Merrygold stated that he loved to dance and perform and certain TV appearances got him into singing. Through auditions, he met future band member Marvin Humes and they stayed in contact. Whilst still attending secondary school , he played football on behalf of England in
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