JLS

JLS
Contestant Profile
Hometown	London, England
5
Category	Groups
Mentor	Louis Walsh
Placement	Runners-up (2/12)
Gallery

JLS are a four-member British male pop/R&B vocal group consisting of members Marvin Humes (born 18 March 1985), Ortisé Williams (born 27 November 1986), JB Gill (born 7 December 1986) and Aston Merrygold (born 13 February 1988). They auditioned for Series 5 of The X Factor UK and made it all the way to the final as part of the Groups category mentored by Louis Walsh.

Due to the eliminations of Bad Lashes and Girlband, JLS were the only act left in their category. They finished as runners-up to Alexandra Burke from the Girls category mentored by Cheryl Cole.

The X Factor

In 2008, UFO auditioned for the fifth series of The X Factor, but had to change their name because it was already being used by another group, so they decided to go with the name JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing, the style created with Tracklacers some months back). Following the elimination of girl 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 called them the best band to come out of The X Factor. In week 7, 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 deliberating that JLS did not deserve to be in the bottom two. In the quarter-final, 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", but after their second performance, "You Light Up My Life", Cowell commented that they were "back in the race" and that they could "have a hit record" with the performance.

In the semi-final, JLS performed "Umbrella" and "I'm Already There". Cowell then predicted they would win the competition. 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. JLS's manager thought the band would be well suited to Epic Records, with whom they signed a record contract in January 2009.

Performances

Episode	Theme	Song	Result
Audition	Free choice	"If I Ever Fall in Love"	Advanced
Bootcamp 1	Group peformance	"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"	Advanced
Bootcamp 2	Group peformance	"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"	Advanced
Judges' houses	Free choice	"No Air"	Advanced
Week 1	UK or US number-one singles	"I'll Make Love to You"	Safe (7th)
Week 2	Songs by Michael Jackson	"The Way You Make Me Feel"	Safe (3rd)
Week 3	Big band	"Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"	Safe (4th)
Week 4	Disco	"Working My Way Back to You" / "Forgive Me Girl"	Safe (2nd)
Week 5	Songs by Mariah Carey	"One Sweet Day"	Safe (4th)
Week 6	British classics	"I Want to Hold Your Hand" / "Twist and Shout" / "Hey Jude"	Safe (5th)
Week 7	Songs by Take That	"A Million Love Songs"	Bottom Two (5th)
	Save Me songs	"Stand by Me" / "Beautiful Girls"	Saved
Quarter-Final	Songs by Britney Spears	"...Baby One More Time"	Safe (2nd)
	American classics	"You Light Up My Life"
Semi-Final	Mentor's choice	"Umbrella"	Safe (1st)
	Contestant's choice	"I'm Already There"
Week 10: Final	Christmas songs	"Last Christmas"	Safe (2nd)
	Celebrity duets	"Flying Without Wings" (with Westlife)
	Song of the series	"I'm Already There"
	Winner's single	"Hallelujah"	Runners-Up

Post-The X Factor

In spite of not winning the show, they went on to have a very successful career in their homeland, releasing five studio albums, four of which reached the Top 3 on the UK Charts with their debut peaking at #1 and eight #1 singles (five as a group and three as part of charity collectives).

They were also nominated for and won several awards, including two BRIT Awards and three MOBO Awards.

In November 2013, they announced that they would be splitting up after the release of their Greatest Hits album, having sold 6 million records in the UK and more than 10 million records worldwide, making them one of the most-successful acts to come from the original show.

2009–2010: JLS

See also: JLS (album)

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. 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." 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. On 9 November 2009 JLS released their eponymously titled debut album, JLS. 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, also topped the UK Singles Chart. 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 The X Factor contestants to win a BRIT Award in 2010, winning the British Breakthrough and Best British Single for "Beat Again". Jay-Z predicted that they would become as big as 'N Sync.

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. 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 had sold over 1.2 million copies and had been certified 4× Platinum in the UK.

2010–2011: Outta This World

See also: 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, 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. Songwriter-producer Chris Braide confirmed in August that he had just written and produced two tracks for the album. Braide said that he composed "skeleton" versions of the songs by himself, and then two members of JLS then came into his London studio to help complete them. One song was written and recorded within the space of a day.

"The Club Is Alive" was announced as the lead single in April and released on 4 July 2010. 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. 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. However the group told Digital Spy that although a song had been recorded with Shontelle, it was never confirmed for the album. 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. The group wrote the song with Toby Gad and Wayne Hector. Outta This World was released on 22 November 2010 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. 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.

Merrygold said that the group had teamed up with Bruno Mars for songs on the third album, and had spoken about the possibility of working with Usher or Rihanna. On 7 January 2011 the album was certified double platinum by BPI, representing sales of over 600,000 in the UK.

2011–2012: Jukebox and Evolution

JLS began working on their third album, Jukebox in March 2011. In May 2011 it was confirmed that the first single will feature American singer-songwriter Dev, and is titled "She Makes Me Wanna". The song was produced by BeatGeek, Jimmy Joker, and 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. 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, 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. 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 was released on 18 March 2012. The song was co-written with Daniel Davidsen, Jason Gill, Cutfather and Ali Tennant, who also worked on the Jukebox album. The band was among the performers at the Diamond Jubilee concert held outside Buckingham Palace on 4 June 2012. On 7 June 2012, they performed at the Royal Albert Hall for the Rays of Sunshine concert, which grants wishes for seriously ill youngsters in the UK aged 3–18 years old. On 8 June 2012, they were announced to perform at the iTunes Festival 2012, along with The X Factor alumni Olly Murs, One Direction and Rebecca Ferguson.

On 21 August 2012, JLS began filming a music video for "Hottest Girl in the World", the lead single from their fourth album. On 25 August, the band announced that their upcoming fourth album would be called Evolution. The album will be released on 5 November. On the direction of the album Merrygold said; "We didn't go by any kind of guidelines or anything like that, we just made what felt right and we're really excited about it." The band also confirmed that a Deluxe version of the LP will be available that will feature bonus and unreleased tracks. Producers on the album include chart-topping US studio bods Rodney Jerkins, Bangladesh, and Midi Mafia. On 6 September, they premiered the lead single, "Hottest Girl in the World", on BBC Radio 1. The single was released on 21 October and debuted at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart.

2013: Goodbye – The Greatest Hits and split

On 14 December 2012, JLS were invited to Friday Download as special guests. On 17 December, Humes revealed that the group were to release a follow-up album to Evolution in 2013. On 1 February 2013, it was confirmed that, work on what would have been their fifth studio album, had begun.

On 24 April 2013, JLS released a statement on their official website announcing that they would be splitting up after releasing their greatest hits collection and completing their third and final arena tour. On 24 April 2013, the band confirmed plans to release Goodbye – The Greatest Hits in late 2013, which would be preceded by a new single to coincide with their farewell arena tour across the UK. It was confirmed on 26 September that their final single will be called "Billion Lights", which was released on 17 November 2013 and charted at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart.

JLS officially disbanded following the final gig of their Goodbye Tour at The O2 Arena in London on 22 December 2013.

2020–present: Reunion, Beat Again Tour and 2.0

In November 2019, it was reported that JLS would return as a band after six years, with plans to launch a tour and release new music. This was confirmed on 12 February 2020, when JLS announced their reformation for a reunion tour called the Beat Again Tour. In February 2021, the band confirmed that a drill track called "Time" was not by them, after the song was thought to be their new single, due to it being credited to an act called JLS (with the song actually being by rappers Switch and J9). 8 March it was revealed that JLS had signed a new record deal with BMG to make new music. On 3 September 2021 the band released "Eternal Love", the lead single from their fifth studio album 2.0.

"2.0" peaked at number 4 on the UK Charts being their sixth consecutive UK Top 10 album. It also peaked at number 3 on the Scottish Album chart and number 35 on the Irish Albums chart.

On 23 February 2023, the group confirmed they would be going on the Everybody Say JLS: The Hits Tour in Autumn 2023. It began in October in Dublin and will conclude in November at Sheffield.

On 20 March 2025, the group confirmed via their socials that they would be going on tour once more with The Club is Alive: The 2025 Hits Tour in 2025. with guest star Example. It will begin on 6 November at OVO Hydro and will conclude on 29 November at The O2.

Discography

• JLS (2009)
• Outta This World (2010)
• Jukebox (2011)
• Evolution (2012)
• 2.0 (2021)