In 2008, JLS achieved mainstream success after participating in the fifth season of The X Factor, which was broadcast on televisions all over the United Kingdom. The boy band was able to make it all the way to the finals, where, after a tense and nail-biting competition, they came in second place to the soul singer Alexandra Burke.
They had only been together for a year when they started performing under the name UFO, which stood for "Unique Famous Outrageous." The band's members were Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Jonathan "JB" Gill, and Marvin Humes. It wasn't long before they renamed themselves Jack The Lad Swing, a combination of "Jack the lad" (a cheeky guy who likes the ladies) and "new jack swing," after combining the signature sounds of pop, urban, and R&B. This happened not long after they began combining these genres' signature sounds (a twist on r&b that was at its peak in the 80s and 90s). The full name of this eventually became abbreviated to just JLS.
JLS were signed to Epic Records and released their debut single, "Beat Again," in 2009, despite the fact that they were not victorious on The X Factor. It made its debut at number one on the singles chart in the UK, and it went on to become their most successful single, with over 574,000 copies being sold in the country to this day.
Later on in the same year, the boy band JLS released their debut album, which was titled simply JLS, and it immediately climbed to the top of the UK albums chart. The album featured the hit singles "Everybody in Love" and "One Shot," which contributed to the band's ascent to the top of the pop charts in the 2000s.
After that, JLS went on to release two more studio albums, Outta This World in 2010 and Jukebox in 2011. In 2012, they released Evolution. However, in order to ensure a successful conclusion to their careers, the boys decided to part ways following the release of the compilation album Goodbye: The Greatest Hits and the subsequent arena tour in 2013.
After pursuing their individual goals for the past six years, Aston, Oritisé, JB, and Marvin have decided to get back together. They toured in 2021 but as yet, there are no new tours on the horizon. Fear not though, as you can show your love for the group with merchandise from our cool JLS collection.
