The Wanted

 

The Wanted are an English-Irish boy band, formed in 2009 who made their debut release in July 2010. The group consists of members Max George, Nathan Sykes, Tom Parker, Jay McGuiness, and Siva Kaneswaran and are currently signed to Island Records and in the US Mercury Records. They are managed by Scooter Braun.^[1][2]
Their debut album, The Wanted, was released on 25 October 2010 and peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart. The album had three UK top 20 singles released from it: their debut single "All Time Low", which hit the UK number one spot,^[1] "Heart Vacancy", which reached number two, and "Lose My Mind", which managed a peak of number 19.
The group's second album Battleground saw release on 4 November 2011 and hit number five in the UK and number four in Ireland. The lead single from the album, "Gold Forever", was released in aid of Comic Relief and reached number three in the UK. Their second number-one hit, "Glad You Came", topped the singles chart in the United Kingdom for two weeks, and in Ireland for five weeks.^[1][2] Third and fourth singles "Lightning" and "Warzone" hit number two and number 21, respectively, in the UK.
In early 2012, The Wanted began to see success in the United States and Canada, with hit single "Glad You Came" selling 3 million copies in the US and hitting number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Canadian Hot 100. Additionally, their follow-up singles "Chasing the Sun" and "I Found You" reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

History

2009–2010: Formation and debut album

The Wanted were formed in 2009 through mass auditions held by Jayne Collins who also put together The Saturdays and Parade.^[3][4] The audition process, which saw more than 1,000 people attend, took over nine months and originally just George, Parker and Sykes were involved, with Kaneswaran and McGuiness joining later through the process. The group revealed in their autobiography that after they were informed of the line-up, seven more people were re-auditioned before they were signed to Maximum Artist Management and Geffen Records.
The group were credited with co-writing five of the thirteen tracks on the album. Their debut single, "All Time Low", was co-written by Steve Mac, who also produced it, Wayne Hector and Ed Drewett. It hit number one in the UK and spent 17 weeks in the UK top 40. The second single "Heart Vacancy", again written with Hector, was released on 17 October 2010. It peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. The group's third single from the album was "Lose My Mind" which reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart following a performance on The X Factor. The group's debut album, a self-titled release, was released on 25 October 2010 which peaked at number four in the UK and has since been certified as Platinum in the UK. Between 28 March and 15 April 2010, the group embarked on the fifteen date "Behind Bars" theatre tour which saw them play in twelve UK cities. The tour didn't visit Ireland or Northern Ireland. They were supported by Lawson, Twenty Twenty and Starboy Nathan.

2011: Battleground

In January 2011, the group began work on their second studio album. The album featured writing credits from the group on ten of the fifteen tracks, as well as contributions from Steve Mac, Wayne Hector, Ed Drewett, Diane Warren and Guy Chambers. The album's lead single, "Gold Forever", was released in aid of Comic Relief^[5][6] and debuted at number three on the UK Singles Chart. In July 2011, the group released the album's second single, "Glad You Came", which became their second number-one single, staying there for two weeks, and in the top ten of the chart for six weeks. The single also reached number one in Ireland and remained there for five weeks.^[2] The song also charted in some European territories, and was very successful in Australia. The third single from the album, "Lightning", was released on 16 October 2011, peaking at number 2 in the UK and number 5 in Ireland. The fourth single, "Warzone", was released on 26 December 2011, with the music video and radio debut coming in early November 2011. On 7 November 2011, the group's second album Battleground, was released. It debuted at number 5 in the UK and number 4 in Ireland. It has been certified platinum in the UK. In addition to shows in the United Kingdom including T4 on the Beach, V Festival and the iTunes Festival, the group supported Canadian singer, Justin Bieber in Brazil on 8 and 9 October 2011 and also supported Britney Spears on her Femme Fatale Tour at the Manchester Evening News Arena on 6 November 2011.

2012: The Wanted: The EP and international breakthrough

Between 15 February and 9 March 2012, the group embarked on "The Code" tour, to promote the release of the album. The 16-date arena tour saw the group play in thirteen cities in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Known as #TheCodeTour, each concert featured an interactive element that linked to the group's official Facebook and Twitter pages.
In a bid to break the United States, The Wanted went on a short promotional, radio and club tour of the United States, touring between 17 January – 8 February 2012. The success of the 10-date tour saw the group release their debut single in the states, "Glad You Came". It peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold over 3 million copies there. Their debut American EP, The Wanted: The EP, was released in April 2012, debuting at number seven in the US and number eight in Canada. "Chasing the Sun" was been released as the band's second official single there, peaking at number 50 on the BillboardHot 100 whilst also reaching number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. "Chasing the Sun" was released on 21 May 2012. On 22 May 2012, the band opened and performed at the first Q102's Springle Ball concert. On 14 June 2012 the band performed a concert at New York City's Beacon Theater, which was also broadcasted live on music television station FUSE. The group visited Australia and New Zealand, for the promotion of their extended play in August 2012.^[7] Following their promotional tour of Australia, the group headed to the US for a number of promotional concerts.

2012–present: Third studio album and The Wanted Life

The group began working on their third studio album in November 2011, shortly after the release of Battleground, on 4 November. In May 2012, "Chasing the Sun" was released as the album's lead single, and the third single from the band's The Wanted: The EP in the United States. Around this time, the band also premiered a brand new track, "Satellite". In August 2012, the band filmed a music video in Los Angeles, reportedly for their brand new single, "I Found You". However, when the video for "I Found You" was released in October 2012, a different video was revealed. The band later revealed that the video filmed in Los Angeles would be for another single. "I Found You" was released on 5 November 2012 as the album's second single.^[8]
The band confirmed in September 2012 that the album would contain a number of collaborations, including tracks with Pitbull, LMFAO,^[9] Chris Brown, Rita Ora^[10] and Dappy.^[11] In November 2012, the band revealed that the album had been pushed back from the original release of 3 December 2012, to February 2013, at their request; they claimed that the reason behind this was to perfect the album, and tweak out a few insecurities involving certain tracks.
In early February 2013, it was announced that The Wanted will star in their own reality series called The Wanted Life which will premiere internationally in Autumn 2013. The show is produced by Ryan Seacrest.^[12] In the United States, it is set to premiere on E! on 2 June 2013.^[13] In April 2013, the band announced the release of the third single from their third album, titled "Walks Like Rihanna", named after the singer Rihanna.^[14] It will be released on 23 June 2013.