Go back ?

JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing) are a British boyband, who were runners-up in the fifth series of ITV reality talent show The X Factor in 2008, coming second to Alexandra Burke. The group consists of Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humes, Jonathan “JB” Gill, and Oritsé Williams.

Following their appearances on The X Factor, JLS signed to Epic Records, 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. The band’s eponymous debut album was released on 9 November 2009, 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.

In 2010, JLS signed an American record deal with Jive Records, and released “Everybody in Love” as their debut US single. “The Club Is Alive”, the lead single from their second studio album, was released in the UK in July 2010, and earned the band their third number-one on the UK Singles Chart.

Before entering The X Factor in 2008, JLS performed at the Showcase:LIVE in October 2007 and June 2008 under the name of UFO (Unique Famous Outrageous). Humes was formerly in rap group VS set up by Simon Webbe in 2004. After the group were dropped he moved on to property sales before he was asked by Oritse to join JLS. – Interested in finding out more? Click here.