Hit-making 90s boy band Five have announced they are embarking on another reunion, 11 years after Abz Love quit the group.
Five, who rose to fame in 1997, were made up of founding members Abz, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson, Sean Conlon and Jason “J” Brown. They were signed by BGT judge Simon Cowell.
Some of their biggest hits include Keep On Movin’, When The Lights Go Out and a cover of Queen’s We Will Rock You. At the height of their success, Five achieved three number-one hits, arena tours and a BRIT Award. To date, they have released four studio albums.
Five reunion
Following their original run, Five called it quits in 2001 before reuniting for ITV’s The Big Reunion in 2013 without J. In 2014, Abz announced his departure from the band, resulting in the group performing as a three-piece.
However, on Monday, Abz announced on X he was returning to Five. “As of today I am once again a member of @itsfiveofficial. Thank you to all the fans who support us, I love you all..” he said.
But will J be joining them on their latest venture? In the replies to the post, Ritchie, hinted at a five-piece reunion, writing: “That’s 4 out of 5 now…”
Eagle-eyed fans noticed a new Instagram account under the username “jbrownfive” has been created.
As they prepare for a huge pop comeback, we’re taking a look inside the group’s scandalous history…
Double arrest
At the height of Five’s success, J and Ritchie were arrested in 2000 after they had a fight outside a Dublin pub.
As reported by The Guardian, they were released on bail. At the time, the fight was said to have kicked off after a Westlife fan claimed the Irish boy band was better than Five. The man assaulted was taken to hospital for stitches.
In 2001, Ritchie pleaded guilty in court and paid £3,000 to charity. J was awarded costs of £475 against him.
While in court, the police officer said Ritchie told him at the time of the arrest: “I can’t go anywhere without getting hassle, just because I’m in a boy band. Why should I let them get away with it? I’m sick of it.”
Ritchie cheated on ex Billie Piper
During his time with the band, Ritchie made many headlines, especially for his relationship with Billie Piper.
In 2024, Ritchie opened up about his romance with the former Doctor Who actor during the BBC documentary series Boybands Forever.
The Got The Feelin’ hitmaker revealed the pair met backstage and had an instant connection.
“It was really weird because we walked up backstage to say hello and we hugged. And it was really odd because we just stood hugging for 10 minutes,” he said.
Despite their chemistry, their relationship came to a sudden end after Ritchie was sucked into a honey trap. While in Russia, he was seduced by a woman who sold her story to the press.
“It massively hurt somebody that I loved,” Ritchie admitted. “I regret any pain I caused but equally I was 19, you know? I made a mistake. It ended a relationship.”
Five reunion – J’s suicide attempt
During an appearance on The Big Reunion in 2013, J revealed he was in a “desperate way” just before joining Five.
One night, after feeling “depressed for so long”, the Let’s Dance singer walked to the petrol station to purchase a bag full of painkillers. When returning home, he took “a box and a half” of drugs while his girlfriend was downstairs and tried to “finish himself off”.
After coming around, he panicked after realising “the level of desperation” he had fallen into.
“I was also a little bit like: ‘Ugh!’ as well because I was at that level where I didn’t want to exist any more.”
Scott’s breakdown in front of Simon Cowell
Huge success can often bring out the ugly side of fame. Unfortunately for Scott, he had a breakdown towards the end of Five’s original run.
During Boybands Forever, Scott revealed that when the pressure was too much, he wanted to quit. However, their manager, Chris Herbert, tried to get him to stay by offering him more cash.
In the documentary, Chris said his reaction to Scott was to “shovel a couple of plasters on it” as the show “has to carry on”.
An emotional Scott said the team “kept on saying no” to him. As he began to spiral out of control, Scott explained he “pinned one of the big [guys] up at the record label up against his desk with my foot, crushing him into the wall and said: ‘I will [bleep]ing leave this band. You try and [bleep]ing stop me,’ with Simon Cowell trying to fight him off me.”
“We almost ended up in a fistfight,” Simon said. “I was that close to punching him in the face.”
Scott insisted he had “lost my mind” and that security had to get involved and carry him out of the building.
A week later, Scott was called into a meeting with his four other bandmates and was told he couldn’t leave. With four other people’s lives on the line, he said he “couldn’t let them down”.
While tearing up, Scott reflected on that time and believed he “should have said no” and not stayed.
Abz quit his drug problem after he ‘found the devil’
Following his time with Five in 2001, Abz embarked on a short-lived solo career and released a debut album, Abstract Theory, in 2003.
He remained in the limelight, starring in Celebrity Big Brother and his own documentary series, Country Strife: Abz on the Farm. However, behind the scenes, he was battling drug addiction and spiraled.
During an appearance on Loose Women in 2018, Abz admitted he had “never had a drink” when joining the group at age 16. However, once the group split, he said he “started hanging around the wrong people” and “started being influenced by the wrong things”.
Abz found himself so lonely at times, that he revealed he used to pay people to be his friend. “That worked for me, in a weird way,” he said.
The drug-taking resulted in Abz being paranoid and not trusting his friends and family. He even contemplated “jumping” from the corner of his penthouse into the Thames.
After hitting such a low point, Abz said he “met the devil”, who he claimed, “looked like me”.
“I heard a voice say: ‘One more time. You’ve got one more time at this and that’s it!'” he explained. He added: “I knew then that I needed to sort my life out.”
At the time of the interview, Abz was five years clean and revealed his way of getting sober was “going cold turkey”.
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