A1 (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| A1 | |
|---|---|
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genre(s) | Pop, Teen Pop |
| Years active | 1998–2002 2009 - present |
| Label(s) | Sony BMG/Epic (1998–2002, 2009 - present) |
| Members | |
| Ben Adams Mark Read Christian Ingebrigtsen Paul Marazzi |
|
A1 is a British/Norwegian boy band who were originally made up of Mark Read, Paul Marazzi, Ben Adams and Christian Ingebrigtsen (from Norway). Their first single, "Be the First to Believe", entered the UK singles chart at number six in early 1999. They had relative success in the charts with 2 number 1's and numerous top 10 hits. Adding to this they also won a BRIT Award for "British Breakthrough Act" in 2001. They were formed by band manager Tim Byrne, who also formed Steps. A1's journey came to an end when original member Paul Marazzi left in 2002 and the band subsequently decided to split.
Contents |
[edit] Career
In 2001 the band toured Asia, where they were well-received. The music video for their single "No More" was filmed in Singapore[citation needed]. During the Indonesian leg of their tour in the Taman Anggrek Mall, four teenage girls were killed in a stampede. [1]
Their third album, Make It Good, featured a sound closer to traditional rock music, but was to be their last studio project.
[edit] Breakup
On 8 October 2002, Paul Marazzi left the group citing personal reasons[2], and A1 subsequently split[3].
They released The Best of a1, a compilation album throughout South East Asia in January 2004, featuring all their singles (excluding "Be the First to Believe"), two unreleased studio recordings and previously unreleased concert recordings.
[edit] Post A1 and Solo Careers
Since their split majority of the groups members went off to pursue solo projects whilst some went onto producing and song writing. Ben Adams stepped out of the A1 bubble when he released his solo single, "Sorry", which reached #18 in the UK in April 2005. Adams was a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother series, He finished 5th in the shows finale [4].
Since 2003 Christian Ingebrigtsen started his career as a solo artist. His debut was the specially written duet In Love with an Angel for the new talent Maria Arredondo and himself. The song became a smash hit, staying 3 months on the top 10 list of VG-Lista Topp 20 (Norway's official single chart). The chemistry between the two was perfect, and Christian even wrote the song True Friendship for her debut album. In May of the same year he made his debut as a solo performer with the song Things Are Gonna Change.
After a1 disbanded in 2002, Mark Read focussed on writing for other artists, signing a publishing deal with Metrophonic. Read has written and collaborated with a number of international artists, such as: Charlotte Church, Joe Brown , Sam Brown, Jarvis Cocker, Roger Cook (songwriter) among others. Read launched 'Greatest Lady In My Life', his debut single, at the Tesco Magazine 'Mum Of The Year' Awards on March 1st 2009. The single was available for download from retailers such as iTunes and Amazon.com[5] from March 2nd 2009 along with a 'karaoke' version or backing track of the same song.
[edit] Online
The four band members formed a MySpace group in November 2008 to keep fans updated of their progress [6].
On Mark Read's personal page on Facebook he said "A Big Thank you to everyone that came to the Glass Spider in Sunderland on Tuesday! I had fun . It was almost like old times!."[citation needed]
[edit] Albums
| Year | Name | Sales and certifications | Charts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK |
IE |
Japan |
|||
| 1999 | Here We Come |
|
20 | - | - |
| 2000 | The A list |
|
14 | - | - |
| 2002 | Make It Good |
|
15 | - | - |
| 2004 | The Best of a1 |
|
88 | - | - |
| 2009 | Greatest Hits[7]
|
|
TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 2009 | Studio Album[8]
|
|
TBA | TBA | TBA |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart position | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | NOR | IRE | AUS | NZ | SWE | |||
| 1999 | "Be the First to Believe" | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | Here We Come |
| "Summertime of Our Lives" | 5 | — | — | 44 | 22 | — | ||
| "Ready or Not/Everytime" | 3 | 3 | — | — | — | 56 | ||
| 2000 | "Like a Rose" | 6 | 2 | 3 | — | — | — | |
| "Take on Me" | 1 | 1 | 2 | 46 | — | 9 | The A list | |
| "Same Old Brand New You" | 1 | 1 | 18 | — | — | 15 | ||
| 2001 | "No More" | 6 | — | — | — | — | 56 | |
| 2002 | "Caught in the Middle" | 2 | 3 | 19 | 23 | 14 | 3 | Make It Good |
| "Make It Good" | 11 | — | — | — | — | 55 | ||
| 2009 | "TBA" | — | — | — | — | |||
