When JLS signed with Epic records at the start of this year, the hallowed imprint meant one thing alone to the boys. This was previously the house of Michael, the home of their hero. Little did they know that a tragic turn of events would soon see them battling with Jacko for chart honours in the unlikeliest and most unforeseen passing on of a pop baton. The irresistible urban pop bounce of their debut single "Beat Again" eschewed all industry thinking about the potential of pop-stars born out of the reality TV genre and sailed to number one at a time when nobody, understandably, seemed to want anything musically other than Michael. Beat Again became the fastest selling debut of the year earning JLS two prestigious Mobo Awards, for Best Newcomer and Best Single.
In the summer of 2007, Oritsé had a dream. “It was this idea of taking elements of the members of the greatest boybands of all time,” he says, “And you’d end up with a supergroup.” He could well just have turned that dream into a reality.
Oritsé’s companions for this assault on the big time are JB, Marvin and Aston. Vision firmly in mind, Oritsé had put up signs online and around his University of North London campus. He had trawled guitar shops on Charing Cross Road in London’s West End and MySpace pages to scout people he believed could turn his boyband supergroup dream into life. He knew exactly what he wanted.
And he found them: first Marvin, who he met outside a sports store on Oxford Circus and auditioned on the street. Then Aston, who he called on a football pitch and persuaded to try out. The final place was reserved for JB, who he’d been given the name of from a contact at University. They met, “And as soon as I saw the four of us, I knew it was perfect.”
The boys soon formed a brotherly bond, giving over all their time to rehearsals, polishing their act. Their fervour for JLS bordered on the devotional. “It clicked immediately,” says Aston, “Oritsé had put in the groundwork and we felt like a group from the start.”
Various parties, both within the boys families and industry contacts they had amassed, began mentioning the idea of trying out for X Factor. “We were quite anti the idea of going into it,” says JB. “It was about creating our own path. “The Leona effect changed the perception of the whole show,” confirms Oritsé, “The chance to become a global superstar existed through it now.”
JLS were primed and ready to go. “The name,” says Marvin, “came from our British identity.” Jack the Lad Swing was a composite of their cheeky onstage persona and the US music genre New Jack Swing that had birthed their favourite boybands, Jodeci and Boyz II Men.
“The music we are making,’ says JB, ‘is exactly what we wanted to make.’ JLS were involved in every aspect of the creative process as they put together their debut album. The boys have got involved in the writing, making sure that the sound of JLS is exactly what they first had in mind when they met to audition.
Second out of the blocks on the single front was "Everybody In Love". "It was the obvious second single,” says Oritsé, “in many ways it is even catchier than Beat Again. And it was important for us to sing about experiences we knew. The album as a whole had to be a collection of our own life’s experience.’”
“Everyday I have to pinch myself,” says Oritsé, “that it has worked out exactly as I wanted it to. This is closer than I ever could’ve imagined to the original idea for JLS. Getting a number one single was just the validation of that for us. And most of all it is about sharing the most incredible journey of your life with three other guys that share this ambition and love for what you do.”
This biography was provided by the artist or their representative.
