In Music: Boy Bands

The Jackson 5: An American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana. Founding group members Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael formed the group after performing in an early incarnation called The Jackson Brothers, which originally consisted of a trio of the three older brothers. Active from 1964 to 1989, the Jacksons played from a repertoire of R and B, soul, pop and later disco. During their six and a half-year Motown tenure, The Jackson 5 were one of the biggest pop-music phenomena of the 1970s, and the band served as the launching pad for the solo careers of their lead singers Jermaine and Michael, the latter brother later transforming his early Motown solo fame into greater success as an adult artist.

Next of Kin: They were discovered after former Young Guitarist of the Year Mark Bass played a guitar in the Musical Exchanges music shop in Birmingham, the brothers visiting the shop because an event that they had planned to attend at the nearby NEC had been cancelled, prompting shop owner Gary Chapman to put them in touch with manager Ian Allen. They were signed by Allen and to former Spice Girls-manager Simon Fuller’s 19 Productions, and signed a record deal with Universal Records. They played on the Smash Hits tour in 1998 and supported Boyzone on their UK tour in 1999.

Hi-Five: An American R and B quintet based out of Waco, Texas who had a #1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 in the early 1990′s with “I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)”. Hi-Five was formed in 1990, and consisted of the late Tony Thompson, Roderick “Pooh” Clark, Marcus Sanders, Russell Neal, and Toriano Easley. Easley was later replaced by Treston Irby.

Imajin: An American R and B boy band that is known for their hit “Shorty (You Keep Playing With My Mind)” featuring Keith Murray. The group also made a version of this song with (rapper) Mr. Cheeks of the rap group The Lost Boyz. This single peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 20 on Billboard’s Hot R and B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number 22 in the UK Singles Chart in 1998. The band was originally put together by record producer Bert Price and inspired by past boy bands such as Jackson 5, New Edition, Hi-Five, Immature, and Mint Condition.

LFO: An American three-man pop/rap group consisting of Rich Cronin, Devin Lima (born Harold Lima, March 18, 1977), and Brad Fischetti (born September 11, 1975). Before Lima joined the group in 1999, the third member was Brian Gillis, known as “Brizz”, who was with the group from its start in 1995. The band is best known for their hit songs “Summer Girls” and “Girl on TV”.

Triple 8: Triple 8, aka 888, were a British five-piece hip-hop style boy band signed to Polydor Records. Triple 8 were promoted as the British ‘N Sync and a rival to manufactured boy bands of the time, such as Westlife and A1.They had two hit singles: “Knockout” and “Give Me A Reason”, which charted at numbers eight and nine respectively. Their album, Heavy W8 was cancelled and the band subsequently parted company with their record label. The album has since leaked on the internet.

Michie Morrow is not only a music lover, he is also a self an artist. Thanks to music maker software available online, Michie has been able to create music to call his own and invites you to do the same.