JLS
JLS in Chicago, April 2010.
Background information
Origin	London
Genres	R&B, pop, dance-pop
Years active	2006–2008 (as UFO) 2008–present (as JLS)
Labels	Epic (2009–present)
Website	jlsofficial.com
Members
Oritsé Williams Marvin Humes JB Gill Aston Merrygold

JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing), are a British boyband, previously called UFO, consisting of members Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Jonathan Benjamin "JB" Gill and Marvin Humes. They originally signed to Tracklacers production company New Track City and then went on to become runners-up of the fifth series of ITV reality talent show The X Factor in 2008, coming second to Alexandra Burke.

Following their appearances on The X Factor, JLS signed to Epic Records.^[1] 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. 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.

In 2010, JLS signed an American record deal with Jive Records, and released "Everybody in Love" as their debut U.S. single, however it did not chart.^[5] "The Club Is Alive", the lead single from their second studio album, was released in the UK in July 2010,^[6] and earned the band their third number-one on the UK Singles Chart.^[7] Their single "Love You More", the official single for Children in Need in 2010, was their fourth UK number-one. Their single "She Makes Me Wanna" featuring Dev was their fifth UK number one. JLS have over sold 5 million records.^[8]

Music career[link]

2006–2008: UFO[link]

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 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 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 UFO instantly signed to production/songwriting duo Tracklacers via their production company New Track City. 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 Girls" by Sean Kingston. Shortly thereafter, they released their second single, "Slap Ya Elbow".^[10] UFO and Tracklacers embarked on a journey ultimately leading to the next chapter. The group give credit to 'DJ Triz' who produced one of the group's first songs and helped them write it.

[edit] 2008: The X Factor and new name

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), a style created with Tracklacers some months back, 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]

2009–2010: JLS (Debut album)[link]

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 No. 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 No. 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 3 August 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

[edit] 2010–2011: Outta This World

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" and was a BBC Children In Need single. It was their 4th UK number-one.^[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] On 7 January 2011 the album was certified double platinum by BPI, representing sales of over 600,000 in the UK.

[edit] 2011–2012: Jukebox

JLS began working on their third album, Jukebox in March 2011.^[34] In May 2011 it was confirmed that the first single will feature American singer-songwriter Dev, and is titled "She Makes Me Wanna".^[35] The song was produced by BeatGeek, Jimmy Joker, Teddy Sky, who are part of RedOne's production company, after the group bid £30,000 for a recording session with the producer at Alicia Keys' Black Charity Ball in 2010.^[35] It was serviced to radio stations on 25 May 2011, while it was released for digital download on 24 July 2011. The album was released on 14 November 2011,^[36] and the band will embark on another UK arena tour in support of the album in March and April 2012. On 15 September JLS announced that "Take a Chance on Me" would be their second single from their album Jukebox. It was released on 4 November 2011, and charted at number two on the UK Singles Chart. The song was written by Emile Ghantous, Frankie Bautista, Nasri Atweh, and Nick Turpin.^[37] The band's third single "Do You Feel What I Feel?" was released on 1 January 2012 and became their lowest charting single to date, peaking at number sixteen. The album charted at number 2 on the UK Album Charts, making it the second consecutive album to miss the number 1 spot, and entered the Irish Album Charts at number 5.

In 2012 JLS recorded the official Sport Relief charity single, "Proud". It is set to be released from 18 March 2012.^[38] The song was co-written with Daniel Davidsen, Jason Gill, Cutfather and Ali Tennant, who also worked on the Jukebox album.^[39]

Non-music activities[link]

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 ITV1 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 ever to release a 3D film. Filmed at London's O2 Arena during the tour for their 2nd 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 No. 5 in the UK Box Office chart, raking in £463,914 from the 3 June weekend screenings alone. A UK DVD release of the film is scheduled for 5 December 2011.

They have also had two best-selling books published, with both featuring photography from the renowned fashion photographer Dean Freeman. The first, Our Story So Far, was published through HarperCollins in September 2009, and went on to become a Sunday Times best-seller. The second, entitled Just Between Us: Our Private Diary, was also published through HarperCollins in September 2010, and was again a best-seller in the run up to Christmas that year.

In addition to the usual merchandising of calendars, posters etc., JLS have also released branded condoms with Durex under the campaign line "Just Love Safe", as part of a charitable organisation they have established called the JLS Foundation, where they are working together with sexual health charities such as Brook to raise awareness of practising safe sex and family planning. The initiative was launched at a press conference in September 2010. Individually, the band have also become patrons for different charities, namely Beatbullying (Merrygold), Childline (Humes), Rays of Sunshine Children's Charity (Gill) and National MS Society (Williams). Williams was awarded by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain with the "Inspiration Award" in April 2010 for his work for the charity.

In January 2011 it was announced that they 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 mens' and womenswear range, due very soon."^[40] To coincide with the launch of their 3rd album "Jukebox", they will feature in their very own edition of 'TheirMag', a newly formed sister publication to Rio Ferdinand's "#5" magazine.

Awards and nominations[link]

Tours and concerts[link]

• The X Factor Tour 2009 (February – March 2009)
• Only Tonight Theatre Tour (January – March 2010) (Released on UK DVD on 6 December 2010)
• Summer Tour 2010 (June – July 2010) (Supported by Diana Vickers)
• Outta This World Arena Tour (December 2010 – January 2011) (Supported by Edei, Starboy Nathan, and Six D)
• Summer Tour 2011 (June – July 2011) (Supported by Olly Murs, Alexis Jordan and The Kixx)
• The 4th Dimensions Tour (March – April 2012)

Discography[link]

• JLS (2009)
• Outta This World (2010)
• Jukebox (2011)
• TBA (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Louis Walsh
Walsh at a Manchester hotel in 2009
Born	Michael Louis Vincent Walsh (1952-08-05) 5 August 1952 (age 59) Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo, Ireland
Occupation	Entertainment manager Television personality
Years active	2001–present
Television	Popstars (2001) You're a Star (2002–08) The X Factor (2004–present) Britain's Got Talent (2010, 2011)
Awards	Mayo Person of the Year 2009

Louis Walsh (born Michael Louis Vincent Walsh;^[1] 5 August 1952)^[2] is an Irish entertainment manager and judge on the British television talent show The X Factor.^[3]

Originally from Kiltimagh, County Mayo, Walsh moved to Dublin to get a start in the music industry.^[4] He managed Johnny Logan, Boyzone and Westlife, three of Ireland's most successful pop artists in recent decades. In later life, Walsh began an alternative career as a TV talent pundit, on programmes such as You're a Star, The X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent, amongst others.

Johnny Logan[link]

Louis Walsh got his start in talent an agreement with Johnny Logan, whom Walsh met on a bus^[4] when he was 20, and, despite legal difficulties with Logan's previous management,^[4] Walsh was convinced that Logan could be a big star if he just got the right breaks.^[5] Walsh persuaded Logan to enter the 1979 and 1980 National Song Contests. Logan won 1980 heats with a Shay Healy number called "What's Another Year", representing Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest that year in the Netherlands, which he won.

Band manager[link]

In the 1990s, Walsh decided to create an Irish version of Take That, which the papers picked up on when Walsh advertised the open auditions. The band created was Boyzone, whom Walsh managed to international success achieving 16 top three singles, six of which were number ones, as well as four number one albums, selling over 20 million copies worldwide. When Ronan Keating announced he wanted to take a break from Boyzone, Walsh continued to manage his career. Keating achieved a number one hit with "Life is a Rollercoaster" in 2000 while his album sold 4.4 million copies. Keating and Walsh later agreed to part company as Keating's solo career reached an all time high. Walsh then went back to the boy band formula to create Westlife, which Keating co-managed with Walsh for the first couple of Westlife's number one singles and albums.

Despite the bitter feud mentioned previously, Walsh had a public reconciliation with Boyzone, including Ronan Keating, on the ITV2 programme Ghosthunting with Louis Walsh and Boyzone in which they explored a network of subterranean streets beneath Edinburgh.

On 10 October 2009, Boyzone member Stephen Gately died in his sleep at the age of 33. Walsh commented: "I'm in complete shock. I was only with him on Monday at an awards ceremony. We don't know much about what's happened yet. I only heard after The X Factor and we will rally around each other this week. He was a great man."^[6]

Television career[link]

Walsh's first television work was in 2001, in the Irish version of Popstars. The following year Walsh appeared as a judge on the UK ITV show Popstars: The Rivals with Pete Waterman and Geri Halliwell. Walsh went head-to-head with Waterman on the show with his girlband Girls Aloud battling it out with Waterman's boy band One True Voice. Girls Aloud lost to One True Voice, but their debut single "Sound of the Underground" reached number one in the UK. Walsh managed the band to achieve a million singles sales while their debut album went platinum.

Walsh also frequently appears on various talent shows on Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the most recent being You're a Star. He covered for Simon Cowell as a judge on Britain's Got Talent during series four's Birmingham auditions on 3 and 4 February 2010 due to Cowell being ill. He again filled in for David Hasselhoff at the London auditions in the following series when Hasselhoff was unavailable due to appearing in pantomime.

In January 2012, Walsh appeared on the ITV documentary series The Talent Show Story where he was interviewed about being a judge on The X Factor and Popstars The Rivals. Fellow Popstars judge Pete Waterman also appeared on the programme as well as past and present X Factor judges, including Dannii Minogue, Simon Cowell, Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow. In Spring 2012, Walsh appeared in the ITV panel show Mad Mad World.

[edit] The X Factor

Walsh in London wearing a JLS hoodie

Walsh appeared from 2004 as a judge, along with Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne on ITV talent show,^[7] The X Factor. In 2004, Walsh found chart success with G4, who went on to have a chart topping album and completed two tours of the UK. In 2005 Walsh managed the winner Shayne Ward, whose debut single "That's My Goal" spent four weeks at UK number one.

In November 2005, Walsh quit the show mid-series out of protest regarding his treatment on the show; the most explicit example being Osbourne's drenching him with drinking water during a live recording.^[8] Walsh returned on the Saturday evening's live show, stating that he could not abandon his remaining competitor and eventual winner, Shayne Ward. Ward went on to win the competition with over 10 million votes in the final. Walsh then went on to win The X Factor: Battle of the Stars with actress Lucy Benjamin.

ITV announced in March 2007 that Walsh would not return as a judge on The X Factor, but would remain behind the scenes managing some acts from the show.^[9] According to UK tabloid newspaper The Sun, the decision to be replaced with two other judges came as a shock to him. He was replaced on the panel by American choreographer Brian Friedman. Osbourne, Cowell, Friedman and new judge Dannii Minogue appeared at the London auditions; however, after the first few days, Cowell decided to re-hire Walsh to the panel. On 22 June 2007, Walsh confirmed he would be returning as a judge on the fourth series of The X Factor. Friedman was reinstated as the show's Creative Director. Walsh mentored the Over 25s category in series four.

Simon Cowell reportedly told Walsh off for his comments about the Spice Girls. Walsh had said that the girl group were "past their sell-by date" and lacking in talent, but Cowell already had plans to book the girls on the show.^[10]

In 2008, Walsh returned for the fifth series along with Cowell, Minogue and Cheryl Cole, who was hired after Osbourne quit the previous June. In this series, Walsh mentored the groups, choosing JLS, Girlband and Bad Lashes to represent him in the live shows. Bad Lashes and Girlband were the first two acts to be eliminated over the first two weeks, but JLS finished as runners-up.

Walsh returned to the sixth series show in 2009, again mentoring the groups for the fourth time in six years. Walsh took Kandy Rain, Miss Frank and John & Edward to the live shows. Kandy Rain were eliminated in the first live results show, from which Walsh was absent due to the sudden death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately. Walsh was absent again on the Saturday and Sunday of the second week of live shows due to Gately's funeral on 17 October. In week three, Miss Frank were eliminated from the competition, while John & Edward were eliminated in week seven, though went on to have successful careers in the industry.

In 2010, Walsh mentored the Over 28s category on the seventh series of The X Factor. His last surviving act, Mary Byrne, was eliminated in the semi-final on 5 December 2010.^[11]

Walsh returned to the show in 2011 for series eight. He joined new panelists Kelly Rowland, Gary Barlow and Tulisa Contostavlos, who replaced former judges Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole, all of whom left the show after series seven. This meant that, following Cowell's departure, Walsh became the only original judge left on the programme. During the Bootcamp stages it was announced that he would mentor the Over 25s category for the rest of the competition. His most successful act of the competition was Kitty Brucknell who made it to week six of the live shows before she was eliminated. Walsh chose Brucknell, Sami Brookes, Johnny Robinson and Jonjo Kerr to go through to the live shows.

During the live shows, in an interview with former judge Dannii Minogue, Walsh stated that he "didn't know" whether he would return as a judge in 2012.

List of groups and performers managed by Walsh[link]

Walsh manages and has managed many singers and groups, including:

• Westlife – 1998–2012
• Boyzone – 1993–present
• Ronan Keating – 2000–present
• Shayne Ward – 2005–2009
• Jedward – 2009–present^[12]
• Wonderland – 2010–2011
• Bellefire – 2000–2004
• Six – 2001–2002
• Girls Aloud – 2002–2003
• G4 – 2004–2007
• Samantha Mumba – 2000–2002
• Eton Road – 2006–2008
• JLS – 2008–present
• The Carter Twins
• Kerri Ann
• Rob Carney - 2006-present

Louis Walsh vs. Rupert Murdoch[link]

Walsh has sought access to documents which allegedly show Rupert Murdoch's The Sun tabloid paid €700 to a man who made, in a high profile case, what turned out to be a false sexual assault accusation against Walsh. The senior counsel for Walsh told the High Court on 14 May 2012: "The Sun directed the operation to take out Louis Walsh as a public person."^[13]

Awards and honours[link]

• 2009 Mayo Person of the Year^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Louis Walsh

• Louis Walsh at itv.com/xfactor

v t e Britain's Got Talent Got Talent Series 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 Presenters Ant & Dec · Stephen Mulhern Judges Current Simon Cowell · Amanda Holden · Alesha Dixon · David Walliams Former Kelly Brook · Piers Morgan · Michael McIntyre · David Hasselhoff Guest Louis Walsh · Carmen Electra Winners Paul Potts · George Sampson · Diversity · Spelbound · Jai McDowall · Ashleigh and Pudsey Other notable contestants Series 1 Bessie Cursons · Connie Talbot · Damon Scott · Bar Wizards · Jake Pratt Series 2 Signature · Andrew Johnston · Escala · Faryl Smith · Kate and Gin · Charlie Green · Charlie Wernham Series 3 Susan Boyle · Julian Smith · Aidan Davis · Hollie Steel · Shaheen Jafargholi · Callum Francis · DJ Talent · Flawless · John Farnworth Series 4 Twist and Pulse · Paul Burling · ReConnected · Myles and Connor · Kev Orkian · Stevie Starr · The Cheeky Girls · Matthew Ahmet Series 5 Ronan Parke · Out of the Blue Series 6 Jonathan and Charlotte · Only Boys Aloud · The Loveable Rogues · Ryan O'Shaughnessy  · Molly Rainford · The Zimmers Related articles List of episodes · Discography · SYCOtv · FremantleMedia · talkbackTHAMES · Thames · ITV Category