’90s Boy Band Five Reunites, Confronts Past Demons Ahead of U.S. Tour

LONDON — For fans who plastered their bedroom walls wiht posters of British boy bands in the late 1990s, the news is finaly here: Five, the group known for their edgy image and chart-topping hits like “When the Lights Go Out,” is reuniting. All five members, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson, abz love, Sean Conlon, and Jason “J” Brown, are set to embark on a 25-date arena tour later this year, with potential U.S. dates to follow.

The reunion marks a meaningful turning point for a group that imploded under the pressures of fame,internal conflict,and the relentless demands of the music industry. In September 1998, just as their careers were skyrocketing and “When the Lights Go Out” was making waves in the United States, Five abruptly canceled their U.S. promotional tour. “We decided we wanted a couple of days off,” Robinson, now sporting a salt-and-pepper beard, said. “So we booked our own flights back to the UK.”

What followed was a period of intense scrutiny and personal turmoil. Brown, upon returning to the band’s shared house in Surrey, found himself besieged by fans. “Ther were fans camping outside, literally in tents on the little lawn,” he recalled. “we needed to decompress – we were losing our minds. But all I had was people shouting through the letterbox at me for three days… ‘We know you’re in there! We bought your album! You owe us!'”

By 2001, the cracks were too deep to ignore. Conlon left the band, citing depression and exhaustion when talk of mental health and duty of care were nonexistent in the industry. “The rest of the band were told Sean had Glandular fever,and he was replaced in the song’s video by a cardboard cutout.” Robinson was also at breaking point, “having recently pinned their label boss Richard Griffiths against a wall.” The group continued as a trio for a time,releasing an album,Time, in 2022 and touring the nostalgia circuit.

The reunion, announced in late 2024, seemed improbable given the band’s history. Rumors of physical altercations and backstage tensions had long plagued the group. In the recent BBC documentary Boybands Forever, several members described their time in Five as “torture.” Robinson and Conlon had even accused Brown of bullying.

Yet, here they are, years later, acting as if nothing happened. “When I get back in the room with these dudes,” brown said,”that real youthfulness is still there in all of us.”

According to the band, this reunion is more than just a cash grab. “If we wanted a cash grab we would have done it 15 years ago,” Neville said emphatically. “By going back into the public domain as the five of us and confronting our fears, our demons, both individually and collectively, it’s a genuine healing process.” Love added, “This is bigger than us… There’s nothing stopping this.”

The band members had not been in the same room for 20 years until last year. “It was about being friends again,” Robinson said. “Reconnecting.”

The roots of Five’s creation trace back to 1997, when Bob and chris Herbert, the management duo who initially launched the Spice Girls, aimed to create an edgier alternative to the more wholesome boy bands like Boyzone and, later, westlife.According to Chris Herbert, “Boyzone were going to bring you a bunch of flowers and Five were going to fuck you against a wall down the side alley.” The band signed with Simon Cowell, who was then an A&R executive.

“We were handpicked to be a harder-edged band,” says Ritchie. “They literally said ‘just be yourselves’.” Brown smiles: “They got a little bit more than they bargained for.”

The band’s antics often landed them in trouble. They were infamous neighbors. “We got Westlife so drunk once,” Neville said, “they were running as fast as they could into a brick wall.”

While Five achieved significant success in the U.K., their U.S. breakthrough was relatively short-lived. While “When the Lights Go Out” reached the Billboard Hot 100 and the band even had their own Disney special, they failed to sustain their momentum in the competitive American market.

The band acknowledges missed opportunities. They famously rejected “…Baby One More Time” before it became a signature hit for Britney Spears,calling it “fucking wank” in front of its creator,Max Martin. They also passed on an early version of “Bye Bye Bye,” which later propelled ‘NSync to stardom. “We would have done it in a different way,” Brown said of the Britney classic, “but it just wasn’t our thing. It didn’t feel right.”

For Conlon, the reunion represents a chance to reclaim his past. “I’m actually here this time,” he said. “Before, I was overwhelmed. I had too much emotion, too much stimulation, and I just couldn’t process it. I was 15.”

Looking ahead, Five hopes to learn from the experiences of past boy bands and prioritize the well-being of its members. “I said, ‘How do they still look fresh?’ We always looked absolutely done in,” Ritchie says about One Direction. “He whent, ‘Well, we’ve learned from your generation of bands how far you can push people.’”

Despite the challenges, the members of Five are optimistic about their future. “All I ever wanted was to be happy in this formation of Five,” Robinson said. “I’ve already got that and we haven’t stepped on stage yet. So when we’re doing a promo day, I’m excited that I’m going to see the boys.”

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