Mark Daniel Read

               
Mark Daniel Read
 (born in Worcester Park, London on 7 November 1978) is a Britishsinger/songwriter, best known as member of the boy band A1 from 1998 to 2002, and 2009–present.

Background

Read grew up in a very musical family; his father Keith was in The Wild Angels, a rock 'n' rollband. His mother, Pam, played piano and drums as well as being a singer/songwriter. Read began playing piano at the age of 2 and eventually joined the family band on keyboards at the age of 11, where he would regularly perform in pubs, clubs and hotels across the country.

At the age of 15, Read joined the Songtime Theatre Arts group, where he received training and gained experience in acting. He subsequently took lead roles in several of their productions, including Guys and Dolls and Aladdin.

Between the ages of 15 and 18, Read – along with his parents' band – performed onboard severalP&O and Princess cruise ships. These concerts led took him all around the world, including aboard the liner Canberra as part of the D-Day 50th Anniversary Fleet in 1994.

In 2009, he performed A1's hit version of the A-ha song "Take on Me" at Saint Edmund's Catholic School in Dover, Kent.

A1

By the age of 19, Read was spotted at a music venue in Covent Garden, London, by Tim Byrne (manager of UK pop act Steps). At the time, Byrne was looking for suitable members to form a new pop group. It was through this chance encounter that Read went on to receive his first big break, as he would become one of the four members of the chart-topping band a1.

Along with band mates Ben Adams, Christian Ingebrigtsen and Paul Marazzi, Read achieved great success across the globe with a1, including 2 UK numbers 1 singles, 8 top ten hits, 3 studio albums and a Brit Award for Best Newcomer in 2001.^[1] Their first number 1 came with their cover of the A-Ha song Take on Me^[2] and was soon followed by the self-penned Same Old Brand New You.

It was announced in 2009 that A1 will reform to compete to represent Norway in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest.^[3]

Solo career

After A1 disbanded in 2002,^[4] Read focused on his songwriting and signed a publishing deal with Metrophonic Music, part of the Universal Music Publishing Group.

During this time, he earned the opportunity to collaborate with a number of diverse and well respected writers and artists including Rick Astley, John Barrowman, Joe Brown, Sam Brown, Charlotte Church, Jarvis Cocker, Roger Cook, Jason Donovan, Rob Davis, Robin Gibb, The Hollies, Kenney Jones, Ronan Keating, Lee Mead, Dennis Morgan, Denny Randell, Graham Stack, Mark Taylor and several UK X Factorfinalists. In 2009, he made an appearance at St' Edmunds Catholic School, Dover, Kent performing his first number one hit from when he was a member of a1 'take on me'

In March 2009, Read was invited to appear at the Tesco Mum of the Year Awards,^[5] where he performed the self-penned track Greatest Lady In My Life. The song was inspired by his friend's mother and was released as a download single.^[6] On June 15, 2009, Read released his debut album, entitled Peace at Last.

Ben Adams

Ben Adams

Ben Adams (born Ben Adams, 22 November 1981, Ascot, Berkshire, England) is an English singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the boy band, a1.

Early life

Adams attended Westminster Under School, where he became head chorister of the school choir, . He later attended Bedales School, leaving aged 16 after completing his GCSEs.

Career

A1

Adams was a member of four-piece boyband A1, who won a BRIT Award in 2001 for Best Newcomer and had two number one singles, "Take On Me" and "Same Old Brand New You", before separating.^[1] Whilst in the boyband, Adams also scooped a Smash Hits Poll Winners Party Award for Most Fanciable Male in 2001.

It was announced in 2009 that A1 were to reform to compete to represent Norway in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest.^[2]

Personal life

Adams was a member of boy band A1. The band was around from 1998 to 2002. Since then he decided to become a solo star and released his album Sorry. He has worked with Har Mar Superstar and Alexandra Burke. He also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother 2009, and became friends with Michelle Heaton.

Solo career

After a couple of years writing, Adams made a comeback with a new solo recording contract. His first solo single, "Sorry", reached #18 on the UK Singles Chart in June 2005.^[3] As well as writing for himself, Adams began writing and producing for other artists. He co-wrote the Lisa Scott-Lee single "Electric" with Guy Chambers, as well as a song called "Get Off My Girl" with Har Mar Superstar.

Adams has his own recording studio situated in Battersea Park called Parkbench Studios.^[4] He is currently the creative director behind the bands Kissing Freddie,^[5] and What Jane Did Next (which Adams is a part of). When he entered the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2009, it was revealed that Adams had worked on songs for X Factor winner, Alexandra Burke.

Celebrity Big Brother (2009)

Adams was a participant on the reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother 2009, and reached the finale finishing in fifth place after the public vote.

Pantomime

Adams performed as 'Prince Charming' in Milton Keynes' 2009/2010 pantomime production of Cinderella.

A1 band

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see A1 (disambiguation).

A1
A1 in 2010
Background information
Origin	United Kingdom and Norway
Genres	Pop, pop rock, dance-pop
Years active	1998–2002, 2009–present
Labels	Universal Norway (2009–present) Sony BMG (1998–2002) Epic Records (1998–2002)
Associated acts	Eve Angeli, Steps
Members
Mark Read Ben Adams Christian Ingebrigtsen
Past members
Paul Marazzi

A1 are a British-Norwegian boyband. They were originally made up of Mark Read, Ben Adams, Christian Ingebrigtsen and Paul Marazzi. Their first single, "Be the First to Believe", entered the UK singles chart at #6 in early 1999. They had a huge amount of success worldwide and charts with two number #1s and eight top 10 hits. Adding to this they also won a BRIT Award for "British Breakthrough Act" in 2001. They were formed by band manager Tim Byrne, who also formed Steps. A1 came to an end in 2002 when original member Paul Marazzi left in 2002 and the band subsequently decided to split.

In August 2009, Ingebrigtsen, Read and Adams announced that they would reform A1, albeit without Marazzi, for a series of concerts in Oslo in December 2009 at the Christiania Theatre.^[1] Since their comeback they have already released four new singles, "Take You Home", "Don't Wanna Lose You Again", "In Love and I Hate It" and "Waiting for Daylight". Their fourth studio album, Waiting for Daylight, was released on 11 October 2010. The band have sold 3 million records worldwide.

A1, consisting of Mark Read, Ben Adams, Christian Ingebrigtsen and Paul Marazzi were formed in 1998 by the management team of Tim Byrne and Vicky Blood. They signed with Columbia Records in February 1999 and released "Be the First to Believe" in Summer 1999.^[2] In 2000 they achieved two number ones with "Take on Me" and the hit "Same Old Brand New You". Their third album, Make It Good, featured a sound closer to traditional rock music, but was to be their last studio project. The 3rd album have a lot of success then on 8 October 2002, Paul Marazzi left the group citing personal reasons,^[3] and a1 subsequently decided to split.^[4] In 2001, the band began a massive arena tour of Asia, where they were very well received. The video for their seventh single, "No More", was filmed in Singapore while they were on tour there. During a concert in Indonesia, four teenage girls were killed in a stampede.^[5] In January 2004, Asian fans were treated to an exclusive Best Of A1 album, a compilation featuring all of their singles, two previously unreleased concert recordings and three exclusive B-Sides. In 2009, following Adams' appearance on Celebrity Big Brother,^[6] the band released their Greatest Hits in the UK.

In 2001 Sony Music UK launched a paid subscription service for A1 called 'Access All Areas', the first for an artist signed to the company. This was a very early version of a social network allowing fans to meet and chat online. The subscription service was a forerunner of an online fan club which has since become more popular amongst musicians.

Post A1 and solo careers

In 2005, Ben Adams went on to release his first solo single, "Sorry", which peaked at #18 on the UK Singles Chart. Adams was also due to record an album but due to an argument with his record label, he was later dropped. In 2009, he appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother, becoming one of the remaining five housemates.^[7] In 2003, Christian Ingebrigtsen also began a solo career, with his first solo single, "In Love With An Angel", being released in 2004. The single stayed in the Top 10 of the Norway Singles Chart for nearly three months. The song was switfly followed by "Things Are Gonna Change", which became Ingebrigsten's final solo single before he moved into other areas of showbusiness. In 2002, Mark Read focused on becoming a songwriter for other artists, after signing a deal with Metrophonic. Read has written for artists such as Charlotte Church, Joe Brown, Sam Brown, Mark Owen, Jarvis Cocker and Roger Cook. Read released his debut solo single, "Greatest Lady In My Life", on the 2 March 2009. The single featured a karaoke version of the track, exclusive to retailers iTunes and Amazon.^[8] His debut solo album, Peace At Last, was released in June 2009. Months after he left the band, Paul hosted the Andy Cole Children's Foundation (now All Star Kids) on April 26, 2003 together with Jo Good.^[9] He turned down the offer to appear in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! in 2004^[10] Later in late 2005, he started forming a soul/rock band in Sunderland, Northeast England. The band was named Snagsby in 2006. Later in 2008, the band announced in their official MySpace that Marazzi is leaving Snagsby on January 2009. Pittom then went to work in The George Hotel in Whitby as a club DJ.^[10]

 Reunion

In November 2008, the remaining members of the band formed a MySpace account to keep fans updated of their current situation.^[11] In Summer 2009, the band made an official announcement, stating that not only were they to reform, but they were to play a series of concerts in Oslo in December of that year. The announcement also stated that the band's first new single in seven years, "Take You Home", would be released via iTunes in Norway on 2 November. The single entered the Norway Singles Chart at #9, based on download sales only. It was announced in late 2009 that the band would compete to represent Norway in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, with the band's second single since their reformation, "Don't Wanna Lose You Again".^[12] The song peaked at #4 on the Norwegian Singles Chart, based entirely on download sales. The band reached the final of the contest and finished in second place^{[citation needed]}. The band made their official UK comeback on New Year's Eve by performing at the Heaven New Year's Eve Party in South London. In March 2010, the band embarked on a worldwide tour that began in Norway, with performances in Oslo, Stavanger, Kristiansand, Bergen, Trondheim and Haugesund. The tour will extend to Europe and ROTW in Autumn 2010. The band's first new studio album since 2002 was released on 11 October 2010, and includes the singles "Take You Home", "Don't Wanna Lose You Again", "In Love and I Hate It" and "Waiting for Daylight".

"In Love and I Hate It" was released as the third single from the album, released on 4 August 2010.