JLS
JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing)[2] are an English boy band consisting of members Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes, and JB Gill, originally formed by Williams. They initially signed to Tracklacers production company New Track City[3] and then went on to become runners-up of the fifth series of the ITV reality talent show The X Factor in 2008, coming second to Alexandra Burke. Following their appearance on The X Factor, JLS signed to Epic Records.[4] Their first two singles "Beat Again" and "Everybody in Love" both went to number one on the UK Singles Chart.[5][6]
This article is about the band. For other uses, see JLS (disambiguation).
JLS
UFO (2007–2008)
- 2006–2013
- 2020–present
The band's self-titled debut album was released on 9 November 2009[7] and has since sold over 1 million copies in the UK. JLS won the awards for British Breakthrough and British Single ("Beat Again") at the 2010 BRIT Awards. They also won several awards at the MOBO Awards for Best song for "Beat Again" in 2009 and also Best Newcomer in the same year. In 2010, they won the MOBO Awards for Best UK act and Best Album. They also went on to win their fifth MOBO in 2012 by winning Best Video for "Do You Feel What I Feel?". They won the title of the UK's hardest-working band for two consecutive years, in 2011 and 2012.[8]
In 2010, JLS signed a record deal with the US record label Jive Records and released "Everybody in Love" as their debut and only US single, but it failed to chart.[9] "The Club Is Alive", the lead single from their second studio album, was released in the UK in July 2010[10] and earned the band their third number-one on the UK Singles Chart.[11] Their single "Love You More" was the official single for Children in Need in 2010 and gave the group their fourth number-one single in the UK. Their single "She Makes Me Wanna" featuring Dev was their fifth UK number one. As of 2012, their debut album and single have been named one of The X Factor's top ten biggest-selling debut singles and albums.[12] As of 2013, they were the 16th-richest reality TV stars in the UK, with an estimated fortune of £6 million per member, thus giving the band a financial worth of approximately £24 million.[13]
In May 2013, after seven years together, JLS announced that they would go their separate ways after releasing a greatest hits album and one last UK and Ireland arena tour. In February 2020, the band announced a reunion, with the Beat Again Tour due to start in November 2020, but it was postponed to June 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and then postponed to October 2021.[14][15]
According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), JLS have been certified for 2.3 million albums and 3.4 million singles in the UK.[16]
Music career[edit]
2007–2008: Formation as UFO [edit]
Oritsé Williams decided to get into the music business mainly because his mother has Multiple sclerosis and he wanted to raise money to help find a cure.[17][18] He was originally scouted for a number of boy bands but did not feel they were right and believed that a group should have a "real" connection with each other like his heroes, the Four Tops. Williams decided to form his own boy band and, through friends, met Marvin Humes who had experience in R&B and pop music, being a part of VS in 2004.[19] Next to join was Aston Merrygold, who was once cast in the ITV children's programme Fun Song Factory, because of his athletic ability.[20] Last to join the group was JB Gill, for his "musical ear" and harmonies. They bonded, became friends and together they were called UFO (an initialism of Unique Famous Outrageous).[21] They signed to Tracklacers developing a sound they then called "Jack the Lad Swing", combining the phrase "Jack the lad" and the urban music of new jack swing. While working their way into the music business, UFO instantly signed to Epic Records, before winning their first award in late 2007 at the Urban Music Awards for Best Unsigned Act thanks to their mash-up of "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King and "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston. Shortly thereafter, they released their second single, "Slap Ya Elbow".[22] The group give credit to 'DJ Triz' who produced one of UFO's first songs and helped them write it.
2008–2009: The X Factor and new name[edit]
In 2008, UFO auditioned for the fifth series of The X Factor, but had to change their name because it was already being used by another group, so they decided to go with the name JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing, the style created with Tracklacers some months back).[23] Following the elimination of girl groups Bad Lashes and Girlband in weeks one and two respectively, JLS were Louis Walsh's last remaining act in the competition, but throughout the live shows the judges called them the best band to come out of The X Factor. In week 7, JLS were in the bottom two along with Rachel Hylton. However, they survived thanks to votes from Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowell. Cowell stated when deliberating that JLS did not deserve to be in the bottom two.[24] In the quarter-final, JLS performed "...Baby One More Time" and received negative comments from two of the four judges, with Cowell saying "at the moment you're out", but after their second performance, "You Light Up My Life", Cowell commented that they were "back in the race" and that they could "have a hit record" with the performance.[25]
In the semi-final, JLS performed "Umbrella" and "I'm Already There". Cowell then predicted they would win the competition.[26] They made it to the final and performed their own version of the winner's song, "Hallelujah", which the other finalist Alexandra Burke also performed. The public voted for the second time that night and Burke won the competition, JLS coming second. They were the fourth band to make the final. JLS's manager thought the band would be well suited to Epic Records, with whom they signed a record contract in January 2009.[27]
Influences[edit]
At their X Factor audition in 2008, JLS stated that they aspired to be like groups like Four Tops, Take That, Boyz II Men, Westlife and Jodeci.[74] Other influences include Michael Jackson[75] and The Jackson 5,[76][77] Backstreet Boys,[78] NSYNC,[78] Take 6,[77] Will.i.am,[77] The Temptations,[77] Bell Biv DeVoe,[77] Frank Sinatra,[77] Lionel Richie[77] and the Police.[77] Aston Merrygold has cited Usher, Michael Jackson, Mario, Beyoncé, Chris Brown and Boyz II Men as influences.[79] Marvin Humes cites Michael Jackson,[75] Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Ne-Yo, Mariah Carey, Prince, Boyz II Men, Justin Timberlake and Craig David as influences.[80] JB Gill cites Michael Jackson, Beyoncé and Lionel Richie as influences.[81]
Other ventures[edit]
Television appearances[edit]
As well as appearing on numerous TV programmes for promotion of their albums/singles, JLS have had two special TV shows of their own broadcast. The first was an hour-long documentary for ITV2, titled JLS Revealed, which first aired on 7 November 2009. The documentary followed them in the year after they had finished second in The X Factor, capturing them as they toured with Lemar, released their singles and attended the MOBO Awards amongst other highlights. The second show was an hour-long entertainment show for ITV titled This Is JLS, which first aired on 11 December 2010 before the first show of that year's X Factor final. Filmed before a live studio audience, the band performed all of their hits, tracks from the Outta This World album and a special duet with Kylie Minogue on her hit song "All the Lovers", as well as partaking in surprise hidden camera stunts for lucky fans who had been invited to be in the audience for the show.
The group have also released their own documentary film titled JLS: Eyes Wide Open 3D, making them the first British music act to release a 3D film. Filmed at The O2 Arena during the tour for their second album Outta This World in December 2010/January 2011, and incorporated with documentary footage shot by Ben Winston and Andy Morahan, it was shown exclusively for three days only from 3 June 2011 in over 300 UK cinemas. Due to many cinemas selling out tickets for the initial weekend, additional screenings were made in cinemas for the following weekend from 10 June 2011, thus, more tickets were available to buy online or on the day of screening. It opened at number 5 in the UK Box Office chart, raking in £463,914 from three June weekend screenings alone. A DVD of the film was released on 5 December 2011. JLS also created a one-off Christmas special TV programme called A Very JLS Christmas, in which various celebrities appeared such as Alesha Dixon.
On 28 June 2013, JLS appeared on The Million Pound Drop, playing for charity.