Union J - The Story. Tina Campanella
but didn’t make it through to the final stages. Then in 2011, he thought his time had come when he nearly made it through to the last acts in The X Factor. On this occasion he was part of a band called Brooklyn, who were all from his hometown of Luton.
When the four-piece group tried out in front of Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh, Tulisa Contostavlos and Kelly Rowland, it was the first time they had performed together on stage. They had formed in January of that year and just five days later, travelled to Cardiff to audition for the ITV show. Despite hardly knowing each other and having only a few hours to rehearse, they made it through the first rounds to audition in front of a live audience of 4,000 people.
They were allowed to perform two songs: ‘Forget You’ by Cee Lo Green and ‘In My Head’ by Jason Derulo. Their audition caused some disagreements between the judges but despite this, the boys still made it through to Bootcamp. At the time, Jaymi said: ‘The whole experience was just surreal. We spent 24 hours a day with cameras following us round. The press were everywhere and we were being driven round in big X Factor buses that had to go on huge detours because we were being followed by paparazzi.’
But that was as far as Jaymi and his new pals went – they were booted out before they could get to the Judges’ Houses stage. The group managed to sing on a tour of schools before yet another of Jaymi’s shots at the big time came to an end and he found himself looking for yet another route to success. But he certainly wasn’t about to give up: this time he had got so close. He knew that fame and fortune must only be round the corner.
Within just a few months, Jaymi had met up with the other boys from Triple J and finally, he was on his way to the superstardom he was destined to achieve.
JOSHUA CUTHBERT
QUICK FACTS
BORN: 28/7/92
PARENTS: Kathryn and Graeme Browne
SIBLINGS: Callum, 13, and Victoria, 10
GREW UP: Winkfield, Berkshire
SCHOOLS: Cranbourne Primary, Charters Secondary School, Farnborough 6th Form College
The self-appointed frontman of the band, Joshua (‘Josh’) Cuthbert first found his voice when he auditioned for the part of Scrooge at Cranbourne Primary School in Winkfield, aged just 11.
Mum Kathryn later recalled the event for the Bracknell News, saying: ‘I had no idea he had a voice – we were blown away by him singing. We got him straight into Stagecoach in Bracknell, who told him to audition for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.’
Less than a year later he was performing in the magical car musical at the London Palladium as ‘George’, alongside Jason Donovan, Christopher Biggins and the late Stephen Gately of Boyzone, who played the child catcher. He had the role for an exhausting nine months!
Between 2003 and 2008, he attended Charters School in Ascot, Berkshire, near the Windsor home of HM the Queen. The school has a track record for producing some great entertainers, despite being a specialist sports and science college. Among those who have been a student is Chesney Hawkes, known for his number one hit, ‘The One And Only’.
As well as being a great singer and performer, Josh was also a fab footballer and played for Ascot United’s junior team. Martyn Parker, co-headteacher of Charters School, remembers him as someone who would liven up a classroom with his sense of humour.
Mr Parker has since told the Bracknell Forest Standard: ‘Josh is well remembered by staff and some pupils at Charters as a real character, who brought a smile to the face, could be a bit cheeky, but had a sparkle about him.’
In 2006, he joined his first band, Westend Boys – a five-piece that included his eventual manager, Blair Dreelan. (Blair also tried out as an X Factor contestant but wasn’t so successful.)
Eagle-eyed X Factor fans might have recognised Josh when he appeared in Triple J because as part of Westend Boys, he attempted to get into the 2007 X Factor finals. The group made it to Bootcamp, where they were sadly axed. Josh admits it may have cramped his style, having his mum chaperone him everywhere because he was still so young. He was only 15! The following year the band split up and went their separate ways.
Between 2008 and 2010, he attended Farnborough Sixth Form College but after tasting musical success he was determined to keep trying to break into the notoriously tough industry. In the year before he finished college, Josh was hard at work trying to find his next musical project.
He got together with another group of friends to form new band Boulevard. With him in the Ireland-based band were singers Ryan Davis and Andy Rice, along with Alistar Jay, who eventually joined Eli Prime – a band that later impressed the judges at the Manchester auditions of X Factor 2012.
By March 2011, Josh was supporting Boyzone on tour with Boulevard at a small series of gigs in Ireland, including the INEC, Kilarney, The Royal Theatre, Castlebar, and Belfast’s Odyssey. They also supported X Factor legends Jedward in Dundalk and at the time were being tipped as Boyzone’s replacements.
Singer Andy Rice told the Dundalk Argus at the time: ‘The band are currently working on an album. We’ve already recorded a few tracks so far and over the next couple of months, we hope to finish it off and then finalise a deal with a label.’
But things didn’t quite work out quite the way they’d all hoped, and Josh ended up spending five months selling mobile phones in Wokingham for the telecoms giant ‘3’. Later, he got a job as a new business executive for a computer firm called Tectrade. On his LinkedIn page, Josh described his skills as: ‘Communicational skills, Confidence, Customer Interaction, Building Relationships’.
Eventually though, he got back in touch with his old bandmate Blair Dreelan, who in the meantime had himself appeared on The X Factor, hitting the headlines when his girlfriend left him for 2010 winner Matt Cardle.
It was Blair who took Josh, JJ and Jaymi to The X Factor as Triple J, before they were disbanded and reformed as the band we now know and love: Union J.
GEORGE PAUL SHELLEY
QUICK FACTS
DATE OF BIRTH: 27/07/93
BORN: Bristol
PARENTS: Toni Harris and Dominic Shelley
SIBLINGS: Tom, 29; Will, 23; Harriet, 16
GREW UP: Clevedon, Somerset
SCHOOLS: Yeo Moor Primary, King Alfred Comprehensive, Weston College
George Shelley comes from a very musical family. His mum Toni plays the guitar and used to perform in pubs near their home in North Somerset. When he was younger, his granddad Dave was in a rock and roll band. These days the retired policeman, now 75, is keeping up the family’s musical tradition by entertaining the residents with his accordion in retirement homes! George’s brother Tom is a drummer whose band has just recorded their first single in Australia and his uncle John is also a singer and songwriter.
Coming from such a talented family, George was destined to follow in their footsteps. When he was just a toddler, his mum encouraged George’s budding musical ability by giving him empty washing-up bottles filled with a small amount of rice – a maraca! George was fascinated and was quickly shaking the maracas along in time to his favourite songs, while his family sang along. They must have been like the modern equivalent of music legends The Osmond Family or The Jackson Five.
Toni took pictures of her son pretending to play the drums, with a huge grin on his face. George would use a wooden spoon to bang pots and pans, copying the stars he saw on TV. His talented mum was also a nurse and named George after an elderly patient she used to care for when she was working.
When he was three, George’s parents split up and George, his two brothers Tom and William and his sister Harriet went to live with his mum. He continued to be fascinated