JLS Tour Overview
JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing) are an English boyband, which consists 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 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. Their first two singles "Beat Again" and "Everybody in Love" both went to number one on the UK Singles Chart.
The band's self-titled debut album was released on 9 November 2009 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.
About JLS
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. 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 Next to join was Aston Merrygold, who was once cast in the ITV children's programme Fun Song Factory, because of his athletic ability. 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). 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". The group give credit to 'DJ Triz' who produced one of UFO's first songs and helped them write it.
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). 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. 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.
JLS Facts
- 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.
- In November 2019, it was reported that JLS would return as a band after six years, with plans to launch a tour and release new music.
- This was confirmed on 12 February 2020, when JLS announced their reformation for a reunion tour called the Beat Again Tour.
- On 21 August 2012, JLS began filming a music video for "Hottest Girl in the World", the lead single from their fourth album. On 25 August, the band announced that their upcoming fourth album would be called Evolution.
