A1 back in their glory days
As Ben ‘from A1’ Adams spends his days swanning around the Celebrity Big Brother house - still looking every bit as gorgeous as when he had floppy curtains and was plastered all over my bedroom walls - we have to ask ourselves; what have the other three been up to over the past few years?
After their first hit in 1999, Be the First to Believe, the four guys released three albums during their three-year run (yes, i though it was less too) and as well as Ben Adams, there was Mark Read, Paul Marazzi, and Norwegian Christian Ingebrigtsen.
However, it wasn't until 2001 when the guys released the smash cover of Take On Me that they really became a hit, winning a BRIT Award for "British Breakthrough Act" in 2001, despite already have been around for two years!
Yet, the joy of their BRIT was short - lived as on 8 October 2002, Paul Marazzi left the group citing personal reasons, and as a result A1 decided to call it quits. Obviously when the bank accounts began to run a bit dry the guys managed to squeeze a compilation album out of their back catalogue.
So what are they up to now then? Well Christian Ingebrigtsen tried his hand at a solo career, his debut single and album came out in 2003 and both did extremely well in the Norwegian charts, with his album, Take Back Yesterday sitting pretty at number 6.
His duet with Maria Arredondo, In Love with an Angel was also nominated as Song of the Year for Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammys), but lost to World Idol-winner Kurt Nilsen's smash hit She's So High. The third single from the album, Can't Give Up, was released in March 2004 and became another radio favourite.
In February 2005 he left Universal records and was signed by EMI and he is currently spending most of his time working on his second solo album. In July 2007 Christian released his new single "Adorable", which will be released in the UK October 2008.
Ben Adams is currently in the Celebrity Big Brother house at the moment, and has officially reignited my love for him! But before his recent antics he released a solo single, Sorry, which reached number 18 on the UK singles chart in June 2005.
But as well as writing for himself; Ben has also been writing and producing for other artists, proving he's not just a pretty face in a manufactured pop band after all. He co-wrote single Electric for his friend Lisa Scott-Lee, as well as a song called "Get Off My Girl" with Har Mar Superstar.
He is also the creative director behind the bands Kissing Freddie and What Jane Did Next, but most exciting of all, when he entered the Celebrity Big Brother house it was revealed that Ben had worked on songs for X Factor winner Alexandra Burke and called her 'a good friend.'
Mark Read chose not to go down the solo career route straight away, and instead focused on writing for other artists after signing a publishing deal with Metrophonic; and he has some impressive musicians on his CV.
Mark has penned tracks for John Barrowman, Jarvis Cocker, Robin Gibb, The Hollies, Kenney Jones (The Who, The Faces), Ronan Keating, Foreigner) as well as UK X-Factor finalists Andy Abraham, Journey South and Chico. Yet, he couldn't shake off the bug of performing and has recently been working on material for his own solo project, which is nearing completion.
As for Paul Marazzi, little can be found on him, but if rumours are to be believed, Paul is now a member of a five piece band called Snagsby.
At present the boys play a set including tracks by The Doors, Happy Mondays, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Radiohead and Jamiaroqui and much much more. The boys are also writing original material that will be included in the near future.
All we can do now is sit back and wait for the reunion… oh and for Ben to get his kit off in the Big Brother house!