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X Factor boyband JLS have announced the end of their five year pop career, but will say a big farewell to fans with one last arena tour.
The four piece - Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humes, Jonathan Gill and Oritse Williams will retire from the pop world after a farewell tour to mark their half-decade of No.1 singles and pop success. The boyband have sold more than 10million records in their five year career, after coming second to Alexandra Burke on the 2008 series of X Factor UK. They have also chalked up five No.1 singles - something no other UK talent show star has achieved, not even One Direction.
"It’s just that time. We are still best of friends and always will be — but this is the end," says Aston Merrygold to The Sun newspaper.
"It’s an emotional time. There’s no getting away from that. We have been through so much together," adds bandmate Marvin Humes, who is currently expecting his first child with Saturdays girlfriend Rochelle. "But we have to be mature and look at this decision as a celebration of what we managed to achieve.
"We never wanted to overstay our welcome. We never wanted to be that band where people said, 'Oh, bloody hell. It's JLS again.'
"We wanted to finish on a high. We’re finishing with an arena tour — our third arena tour — and that is a massive achievement."
JLS came to fame on the 2008 series of X Factor - and achieved huge success since
Merrygold also reveals that the boyband's interest in continuing in music had waned, saying the the prospect of another five years in music was not something any of them were interested in.
"The question was asked, ‘Can you do this together for another five or so years? Can you see that happening?'" he adds. "Between the four of us, there was no definite ‘Yes’ in the room. We had to dig deep and find the right solution. We haven’t fallen out."
JLS bounced from their X Factor success in 2008 by scoring two No.1 singles with their first two releases, 'Beat Again' and 'Everybody In Love', which both topped the charts in 2009. Further chart toppers came from 'The Club Is Alive' and 'Love You More' in 2010 and more recently, 'She Makes Me Wanna' in 2011.
The boyband have released four albums, but singles from their 2012 album Evolution failed to live up to the success of their previous releases, and last single 'Hold Me Down' reached only No.112 in the UK charts.
In their five year career, JLS have won three MOBO Awards and two BRIT Awards, among other successes.
Below: JLS perform live at Manchester's MEN Arena
