Tim Byrne and Vicky Blood wanted to make the ultimate boyband. A boyband who could all sing, dance, write music, play instruments, and had a musical background. About 5-6 years ago, they posted an ad in The Stage magazine, holding an audition for the boyband. Paul lived in Spain at the time, but since being spotted by a producer on his dad's karoke machine, he'd decided he wanted to sing for a career. His nanna, who lived in England, sent the magazine to him. Paul came over to England for the audition with his dad - and he was the only one picked out of about 3,000.

Christian was studying music full-time at the Paul McCartney Fame School, when he'd gotten an e-mail from the teachers saying that boyband members were wanted. He sent a demo tape of his voice down to London, and got a phone-call back from the management saying that they wanted to see him. He went down to London and got auditioned by Paul and the management. Christian had brought his guitar and sang his own songs, and they asked him to join the band immediately.

A talent scout went down to a performance, and spotted Mark in the audience. He asked if Mark sang or wrote songs, and he said he did. They asked to see him, and to bring anybody else that he thought would be suitable for the band with him.

At this time, Mark was in another band with Ben. They weren't getting anywhere with that band, so they decided to go and see Tim Byrne&Vicky Blood. Mark and Ben both were invited into the band, and that's how they all got together!

From the first day that they got together, they wrote their first song, 'Forever In Love', which can be found on a1's debut album Here We Come. Paul, Ben and Christian all lived together - while Mark remained living in Surrey with his parents. The next year was spent writing songs, and trying to make a sound for themselves. They wrote or co-wrote 10 out of the 12 songs on their album, and worked with Peter Cunnah for a lot of the tracks. At the end of 1998, a1 joined the Smash Hits tour, then the following Spring was spent doing a tour with STEPS as a support act, a schools tour, and doing under-18's clubs. On 21st June, 1999, they released their first single, Be The First To Believe, and it reached number 6 in the UK charts. Throughout the next two months, they continued to record, promote, and perform at summer roadshows. In August, they started promoting themselves in Europe, starting in Scandinavia. Then on the 30th, they released their second single, Summertime Of Our Lives - which reached number 5 in the charts. The following November, they released their double A-side single, Everytime / Ready Or Not. They got their highest chart position so far, reaching number 3 in the UK charts. Not long later, their debut album was released, Here We Come, and after three weeks it went platinum. On 24th november, they joined the Smash Hits tour again and switched on Christmas lights throughout the country in the next few weeks. They appeared at Smash Hits Poll Winners Party for the first time on 5th December, and a week later they appeared at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert.

At the start of 2000, the lads returned to the studio with producers, Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling. Part of January is spent promoting in Japan. On 21st February, their 4th single, Like A Rose, reaches number 6. Then on 3rd March, they flew to Singapore before going to Japan for their three week tour of the country. In the Spring, they promoted in Australia, then in June they filmed their next video for Take On Me - a cover of A-Ha's hit. On the 28th August, a1 got their first ever UK number 1 with Take On Me. Afterwards, they recorded Lionel Richie's song, Three Times A Lady, for Motown Mania then started their a1 UK 2K tour. Same Old Brand New You gives a1 their second number 1 on 6th November, knocking Westlife off the top spot. Two weeks later, The A List is released and it goes double platinum. In November, again, they joined the Smash Hits tour.

2001 started with a1 doing lots of promotion throughout Europe. Their next single, No More, got to number 6 on 19th February. On 26th February, they got their first BRIT award for Best International Newcomer. Soon afterwards, they headed back to Asia. On the 18th March, 4 fans were crushed to death trying to meet them, so they cancelled the rest of their tour and came back home. They took some time off, but came back on 21st April to do MTV's 5 Night Stand, and did more promotion in the UK and Europe. Throughout the summer, they did Roadshows up and down the UK. In July, they dressed up as The Beatles on Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes, then on the 20th they won best Foreign Act at MTV Awards in Beijing. On the 18th September, they recorded Caught In The Middle, then did an Asian tour.

Their next single, Caught In The Middle, was released on 21st January 2002 and reached number 2.

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