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JLSEyes Wide Shut
Following their appearances on The X Factor, JLS signed to Epic Records,[1] and enjoyed continued chart success throughout 2009. Their first two singles "Beat Again" and "Everybody in Love" both went to number-one on the UK Singles Chart.[2][3] The band's self-titled debut album was released on 9 November 2009,[4] and has since sold over one million copies in the UK. JLS won the awards for British Breakthrough and British Single ("Beat Again") at the 2010 BRIT Awards.[5] In 2010, JLS signed an American record deal with Jive Records, and released "Everybody in Love" as their debut US single.[6] "The Club Is Alive", the lead single from their second studio album, was released in the UK in July 2010,[7] and earned the band their third number-one on the UK Singles Chart. Oritsé Williams decided to get into the music
business, mainly because his Mother has Multiple sclerosis and
he wants to raise money to help find a cure. He was originally
scouted for a number of boybands but Williams did not feel they
were right and believed that a group should have a "real" connection with each other like his heroes Boyz II Men. He decided to form his
own boyband/vocal group and, through friends, met Marvin Humes
who had experience in R&B/pop music, being a part of VS in 2004. Next to join was Aston Merrygold, who
was once cast in the ITV programme Fun Song Factory because of
his athletic ability.[9] Last to join the group was Jonathan "JB" Gill for his "musical ear", mostly for harmonies. They bonded, became friends and together they were called
UFO: Unique Famous Outrageous. While working their way into the
music business, in late 2007 UFO won their first award at the Urban
Music Awards for Best Unsigned Act thanks to their mash-up of "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King and "Beautiful Girl" by Sean Kingston.[10] UFO auditioned for the fifth series of The X Factor in 2008 but had to change their name because it was already being used. They decided to go with the name JLS (Jack the Lad Swing) combining the phrase "Jack the lad" and the urban music of New Jack Swing. Following the elimination of vocal 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 would call them the best band to come out of The X Factor. In week seven 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 casting his deciding vote that JLS did not deserve to be in the bottom two.[11] In week eight 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". After their second performance, however, Cowell commented that they were "back in the race" and that they could "have a hit record" with the performance.[12] In week nine, JLS performed "Umbrella" and "I'm
Already There". Cowell then predicted they would win the competition.[13] 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. Following
their success on The X Factor, Cowell's record company, Syco, announced
that they were to sign JLS with an advance payment of £75,000.[14]
The Sun later reported on 20 January 2009 that Cowell had revoked
this offer, having instead decided to focus on Alexandra Burke.[15][16]
JLS's manager thought the band would be well suited to Epic Records,
with whom they signed a record contract in January 2009.[16] As soon as the contract was signed Epic A&Rs Nick Raphael and Jo Charrington began album preparation by contacting the pop songwriters and producers who they thought to be the best in the industry. These included Steve Mac, Wayne Hector, J.R. Rotem and DEEKAY.[16] When they went to see Mac he played them "Beat Again", a song he had written with Hector, and the pair enthusiastically agreed that it was perfect for JLS. Charrington said: "Once you've got that special song everything else seems to fall into place."[16] The song was released as the debut single in July, only six months after the band had signed with the label. It reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart on 19 July 2009.[2] On 9 November 2009 JLS released their eponymously titled debut album, JLS.[17] The album debuted at #1 on the UK Album Chart, selling over 1 million copies and named the sixth best selling album in the UK during 2009, only being released for 8 weeks before the list was compiled. Their second single "Everybody in Love", released on 2 November 2009,[17] also topped the UK Singles Chart.[3] Their third single One Shot, peaked at number six despite a physical release, however it did stay in the charts for a number of weeks despite the drop. Due to the success of their album, the group went on their first headline tour, with twenty-five dates around the UK and Ireland. The group also became the first X Factor contestants to win a BRIT Award in 2010, winning the British Breakthrough and Best British Single for "Beat Again". Jay-Z has stated that they will become as big as N*SYNC.[18] In the beginning of 2010, a bidding war was underway between (US-based) Epic Records and Jive Records to sign JLS to an American deal.[19][20] The group settled with Jive Records, while continuing to remain with their native signing on Sony Music UK's Epic Records. As of August 2010, the album has sold over 1.2
million copies and is certified 4x Platinum in the UK. The album
was released as a six track EP in the United States, featuring
tracks "Beat Again", "Everybody In Love", "One Shot", "Only Tonight" and "Close To You" from the UK edition of the album, along with "The Club Is Alive" from the group's second UK album. It was released on August 3, 2010, JLS also
won two awards at the BT Digital Music Awards 2010 winning Best
Group and Best Video for 'Everybody In Love' beating big names In an interview with HitQuarters recorded in March, producer-songwriter Steve Mac said he was currently at work writing for the second JLS album,[21] Another album contributor, Lucas Secon, said that the style of songs he worked on for the album were "a little more acoustic", prefiguring what he sees as a pop music trend shift from synthetic sounds to a more live approach.[22] Songwriter-producer Chris Braide confirmed in August that he had just written and produced two tracks for the album.[23] Braide said that he composed "skeleton" versions of the songs by himself, and then two members of JLS then came in to his London studio to help complete them.[23] One song was written and recorded within the space of a day.[23] "The Club Is Alive" was announced as the lead single in April and released on 4 July 2010.[24] The group promoted the single on Britain's Got Talent and GMTV. The single debuted at number one, becoming the group's third UK number one single.[25] Then reports suggested that a second single, "Ay Mama", was to be released in United States on 14 September 2010 and was set to feature Barbadian singer-songwriter Shontelle.[26] However the group told Digital Spy that although a song had been recorded with Shontelle, it was never confirmed for the album.[27] On 16 September 2010, the group unveiled the second single, "Love You More".[28][29] The group wrote the song with Toby Gad and Wayne Hector.[27] Outta This World was released on 22 November 2010[30]
and debuted at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart selling 152,000
copies, being held off the number 1 spot by the second week sales
of Take That's record breaking Progress album.[31] The album's
third single "Eyes Wide Shut" was remixed to feature Tinie Tempah, and has so far reached number eight on
the UK Singles Chart. Alongside promoting the single, the group
confirmed to The Sun newspaper that they were already beginning
the ground work for their third studio album.[32] Merrygold also
revealed that the group had teamed up with Bruno Mars for songs
on the album, and had spoken about the possibility of working with
Usher or Rihanna.[33] JLS are also set to play a series of Summer
shows with X Factor series 6 contestant Olly Murs.[32] In addition to the usual merchandising of calendars,
posters etc, JLS have also released branded condoms with Durex
under the strapline "Just Love Safe". In January 2011 they released their own range of underwear. It was announced
that JLS and Alexandra Burke have worked together to create brand
new fashion line, 2KX Burke and JLS stated, "We are eagerly waiting for the first stocks of the ultra-hyped men’s and women’s
underwear range, due very soon."[34] 2010-2011 - JLS Arena Tour Discography JLS (2009)
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