Union J: The Unauthorised Biography

Cover

Title Page

PROLOGUE: ON TOP OF THE WORLD

1. ALL ABOUT THE BOYS

Jaymi

JJ

Josh

George

2. CHASING THE DREAM: THE X FACTOR AUDITIONS

3. MEET UNION J: COMEBACK AT THE JUDGES’ HOUSES

4. GOING LIVE! THE LIVE SHOWS, WEEK ONE

5. A TASTE OF FAME: THE LIVE SHOWS, WEEK TWO

6. UNION J FEVER: THE LIVE SHOWS, WEEK THREE

7. HEADED DOWN? THE LIVE SHOWS, WEEK FOUR

8. BACK ON TOP: THE LIVE SHOWS, WEEK FIVE

9. THE BOYBANDS’ BATTLE: THE LIVE SHOWS, WEEK SIX

10. OUT AND PROUD: THE LIVE SHOWS, WEEK SEVEN

11. GETTING CLOSER: THE QUARTER-FINALS, WEEK EIGHT

12. HEARTBREAK: THE SEMI-FINALS

13. AFTERMATH: LIFE AFTER THE LIVE SHOWS

14. NEW YEAR, NEW FUTURE: 2013 AND BEYOND

Picture Section

Copyright

About the Publisher

Shards of light pierced the ceiling as four plinths rose slowly from the stage. The atmosphere inside Manchester Arena on 27 January 2013 was electric as the 23,000-strong crowd began cheering and hollering. This was the moment they’d been waiting for and the anticipation was at fever pitch. Slowly, the plinths rose up many feet into the air, in front of a dramatic starlit backdrop, and the thousands of fans in the audience began shouting and crying even louder. The spotlights shone down onto the four boys each standing on a plinth as they stopped, positioning the singers high above the arena crowd, desperate to hear from them, many feet below. Illuminated by the dramatic light effects and with adrenalin coursing through their bodies, each boy took his microphone and began singing the first few bars of Leona Lewis’s huge hit, ‘Bleeding Love’. It was a moment none of them could have imagined happening to them just a few months ago when their dreams were just that – dreams.

On the far left, wearing a blazer and trousers like the rest of the group, with his hair styled into a sharp quiff, was Jamie ‘JJ’ Hamblett, 24 at that moment. A genuinely decent guy, with handsome looks and a past career as a jockey, he had thought his future lay on the racetracks of Britain, not in its arenas. Standing next to him was Josh Cuthbert, only 20, but already a veteran of previous boybands that hadn’t worked out. Devastatingly handsome, charming and with a self-deprecating, emotional side, Josh was finally enjoying his moment in the sun as a born pop singer and heartthrob. Next alongside him was Jaymi Hensley, the boy with the heartbreakingly amazing voice. His talent for performing had been evident since his childhood in Luton, but the 23-year-old had been disappointed time and time again trying to get his career off the ground. Now every inch the star, with his tousled hair, bags of charisma and magnetic personality, he poured every inch of his emotion into the performance. As the song moved on, George Shelley, the youngest member of the group at just 19, took the second verse as a solo. With his sideswept brown curls and incredible cheekbones, he had the pop idol looks and sweet personality that made all around him melt.

The plinths began slowly descending back down as the song turned into ‘Broken Strings’ by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado. As it built to a crescendo, the four boys began harmonising effortlessly together and stepped onto the stage, walking around and acknowledging the fans, who screamed with delight as their idols noticed them. The spotlights shone red, yellow and blue over the band and dry ice billowed around, highlighting their similarities and differences at the same time. They were a group, dressed with clothes and hairstyles that echoed each other, but they were also individuals, moving separately around the stage, each of them letting their distinctive voices shine. ‘One more time, please sing with us, Manchester!’ called Josh, as the song reached its climax. Fireworks poured down around them onto the stage as the fans in the audience launched into the loudest screams and claps yet. Jaymi and Josh walked to the front section of the stage, which jutted out into the audience. ‘How are we feeling, Manchester?’ yelled Jaymi, as he took in the amazing sight before him, pointing at the thousands of people who cheered his every word. The reception was even more fevered when George, stage right, began speaking. ‘You’re all having a good night, yeah?’ he asked, as he waved at the fans hanging onto his every word and movement. ‘We just want to say a massive, massive thank you to each and every one of you for the support you’ve given us over the last few months,’ Jaymi told the audience. Behind him, George punched the air in delight and did a little star jump. Just like the other boys onstage, he was filled with happiness at this amazing moment.

They were Union J, and this was The X Factor 2013 Live Tour. The band hadn’t existed until only a few months previously, and it had been a journey of laughter and tears, highs and lows that had pushed them all to the limits of joy and sorrow. It might have been early days for the group, but thanks to their involvement in the biggest TV show in Britain, they were already stars. With their debut single about to come out that summer, and the group set to become one of the UK’s biggest boybands, Union J’s future was golden. But getting there had been far from easy …

The beginning of the 1990s was an exciting time in Britain, as people waved goodbye to the Eighties and ushered in a brand-new decade, with new fashions and new music on the horizon. And on 24 February 1990, just a couple of days before dramatic storms hit the country, a little baby was born whose love of music and performing would change his life – Jaymi Hensley. Born James William Hensley in Luton, a town a little over 30 miles north of London, Jaymi was the first child for his mum Jackie and dad David (if he’d been a girl, he would have been called Amber!).

They lived in the village of Stopsley, where Jaymi’s mum worked in the local newsagent’s, Hendersons. Jaymi was a cute little boy, and right from an early age had a close relationship with his mother – his first word, in fact, was ‘Mum’. He always had lots of respect and love for Jackie, who he called his ‘hero’. Many years later, when he was in Union J, Jaymi would tell Cosmopolitan magazine: ‘We’ve all been brought up by strong, independent women. We’re all mummy’s boys!’ He started at the local school, Putteridge Infant and Junior School, in September 1994, proudly wearing his dark-blue uniform as he stepped through the school gates for the first time. As well as starting school, there was another big change happening to Jaymi back then, as his little brother Aaron arrived the same year.

From a young age, it was clear that Jaymi had a strong vocal talent and a flair for dramatics. In her spare time, Jaymi’s mum Jackie was a dance teacher and choreographer for local amateur dramatics group The Phoenix Players, and it wasn’t long before Jaymi wanted to join her. He took to the stage like a duck to water and the first musical he appeared in was Bye Bye Birdie. As Jaymi grew up he also started to form his own taste in music – developing a fondness for female singers with incredible voices. The first single he bought, aged nine, was Christina Aguilera’s ‘Genie in a Bottle’, a huge pop-dance track that was all over the radio during the summer of 1999, and soon Jaymi also got into Beyoncé. It fast became evident that Jaymi himself had a sensational voice, and as well as singing regularly, he began taking ballet lessons, too.

Aged 11, Jaymi moved up into Putteridge High School, and his love for performing grew even stronger. Despite having lots of schoolwork, he managed to fit in starring in the Phoenix Players’ production of Blitz!, a musical by Lionel Bart, who also wrote Oliver! But his cheeky, rebellious side sometimes saw him get into trouble at school. Together with his friend Stacey, Jaymi once hid every single clock in the school – a joke that spiralled out of control when the two pranksters got found out and suspended. And it wasn’t the first time Jaymi was suspended – the next time was for having a streak in his hair, and the time after that for wearing an earring. Jaymi was determined not to be just like all those around him, and instead to be himself. ‘Be honest and forge your own path in life’ is still his personal motto.

During his teen years, Jaymi poured all his energy into pursuing his dreams of a career in performance. He realised that he had a special talent and felt most alive when he was onstage. So with the support of his friends and family, he started attending weekend classes at the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, where lots of the students had gone on to become famous and successful. Spice Girl Emma Bunton, pop star Rita Ora, late singer Amy Winehouse and actresses Kara Tointon and Denise Van Outen had all gone there and went on to achieve amazing things, so Jaymi knew it was one of the best places to learn his craft. And a short while later he met a friend at Sylvia Young who would become very important in his life in the future – a good-looking younger boy called Joshua Cuthbert.

As well as spending all his spare time singing and dancing, Jaymi also got into the Twilight books. As a sensitive Pisces, he adored the dramatic romance of the series and loved them even more when they were turned into the films starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. ‘I love Twilight; I’m a bit of a softy. I’m a proper RPattz fan,’ he said. No wonder that a highlight of his time on The X Factor was attending the Breaking Dawn – Part 2 London premiere.

After leaving school Jaymi decided to try and go for a career in pop music – and originally it seemed that his dreams would come true more quickly than he could have imagined. Aged 16, he tried out for a new boyband and was thrilled when he was accepted as one of Code5. Alongside bandmates Mitch Carroll, Dean Stansby, Joss Wilson and Chris Johnson, Jaymi threw his all into the new group. As the youngest member of the band, he found himself performing at huge arenas up and down the country, when Code5 landed a supporting-act slot on Westlife’s The Love Tour. He got a huge thrill from singing in front of such big crowds, and hoped that one day Code5 would get to be as big as the Irish supergroup, managed by Jaymi’s future X Factor mentor, Louis Walsh. ‘I can’t stop smiling. It was amazing. People keep taking pictures of me and saying well done in the street, it’s like star treatment,’ he told the local newspaper, Luton Today. ‘You imagine in your head how the other half live, but it’s all above your imagination.’

Things were going well: following the live tour, Code5 headed into the recording studio to lay down some tracks; they recorded a mixture of new songs and old classics, such as Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’. But despite this positive start, Code5 didn’t find any real success, and soon a disappointed Jaymi decided to go solo. He began singing at lots of the Gay Pride events, and loved the buzz he got from being in front of an audience – even writing on his Myspace page how he feels ‘happiest when performing live’. As a solo artist, Jaymi thought he’d found his big break again – winning a talent contest and being signed by Dance Crazy management. He began work on his debut single – a cover of a Nick Kamen hit from the 1980s – but yet again he found that success eluded him. Things were proving a struggle, and to make ends meet he had to find part-time work as a singing and dancing teacher. He kept plugging away at his dream, though, and at the end of 2010 entered the Open Mic UK competition. There, he dazzled the judges with a rendition of Leona Lewis’s ‘Bleeding Love’, but missed out on the winner’s trophy, coming fourth in his age category. It was another near-miss for Jaymi, who was finding that reaching the top in showbiz was tough. But he didn’t let his dreams die, and all the time he had the support of his friends and family – especially mum Jackie, who always knew he would end up doing what he loved for a living. ‘If Jaymi wasn’t a singer, I don’t know what else he could be, really – as he’s not much good at anything else!’ she joked to The X Factor, years later.

But despite all the disappointments so far in Jaymi’s career, he was determined not to give up. He knew that fame and success weren’t going to be handed to him on a plate, and he would have to keep plugging away at every opportunity he could grab. A big fan of The X Factor, he knew that getting seen on screen could be the big break he’d been waiting for. So, by 2011, Jaymi was ready for another crack at fame. He’d joined a new boyband with some friends from Luton. They called themselves Brooklyn after pointing at an atlas with their eyes closed and landing on the city of New York! Having only recently formed the band, within a few months they were travelling to Cardiff to audition for The X Factor. Performing in front of judges Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos, Kelly Rowland and Louis Walsh, they impressed with their version of Cee Lo Green’s ‘Forget You’. Gary wanted to hear more, so the boys sang Jason Derulo’s ‘In My Head’ – causing a divide between the judges. They got through the audition stage after Jaymi vowed to Gary that they’d work hard. Determination was etched all over his face. But yet again his dreams were dashed when the group was kicked out at Bootcamp stage. Things were hard for Jaymi; instead of making a living doing what he loved, he had to earn money doing what he described as ‘rubbish’ jobs, such as working in a call centre. But the absolute worst job for Jaymi was packing items for online retailer Amazon. Standing by a conveyor belt wasn’t the stuff of his dreams, so he kept plugging away at his singing career.

He’d had so many false starts in music that Jaymi wondered if he would ever make the big time. But after getting noticed as part of Brooklyn, pop manager Julian White thought he had what it takes. He put together a new boyband called Rewind, which included Jaymi’s friend Josh Cuthbert from Sylvia Young and three other boys, one of whom was a former jockey called ‘JJ’ Hamblett.

You would hardly expect to find a future pop star on the racecourses of Britain. Set in beautiful countryside, the town of Newmarket is where horseracing was born hundreds of years ago and it still dominates the life of everyone who lives there, claiming ‘horseracing is breathed on every corner’. It couldn’t be more different from the bright, bustling lights of London and the world of music and showbiz. But, on 25 May 1988, James Paul Hamblett was born in the Suffolk town, and for most of his life horses were his focus. He didn’t ever expect to end up as a pop star – he was going to be a jockey!

He came from a horsey family: JJ’s dad, Paul, had been a jockey and so had his uncle, Martin, who trained horses in Germany, and a distant cousin – Liam Heard – was a jockey, too. JJ’s older brother Ashley had been born just a year before him, and the two boys grew up incredibly close to each other. So close that often their mum, Karin, worried about them! ‘JJ and his brother had a secret language with each other – they sounded like the Clangers!’ she recalled. ‘I was so worried I had to take them to the speech therapist.’ From a young age, JJ and Ashley were riding ponies every weekend, and JJ – quieter than confident Ashley – wanted to do everything his big brother did.

Despite being horse-crazy, JJ still got into his music. The first single he ever bought, aged 10, was ‘I Want It That Way’ and he soon became a huge Backstreet Boys’ fan. He also developed a big crush on sexy Baywatch star Pamela Anderson! But with his two obsessions of horses and music, JJ didn’t leave much room for concentrating in class at Soham Village College and Scaltback Middle School and he often found himself getting into trouble with teachers. A big chatterbox, JJ found that teachers got annoyed at his constant talking. It frustrated his cooking teacher so much that she even threw a pencil at his head once!

Animals were a big part of JJ’s life. His family owned a stunning German pointer dog, but he went through a traumatic experience with this dog when he was just 11. Told he was able to take the dog for a walk, JJ proudly set off, determined not to disobey his dad’s instructions to keep the dog on the lead at all times. But he forgot and took the lead off near a local motorway – whereupon the dog ran into the traffic and was hit by a car. Poor JJ ran home in terror and the RSPCA ended up bringing the dog back. He never forgot the experience.

After leaving school at 16, JJ threw himself into the horse world full time and started working for trainers in Newmarket. His dream had always been to work for Sir Michael Stoute, a 10-time champion trainer, but his dad, Paul, hadn’t been sure he would get the opportunity. ‘Dad asked me who I wanted to work for. I said Sir Michael Stoute, but he thought that, with me being only 14 [at the time], he wouldn’t want to take me on,’ he said in an interview as a young rider. JJ was over the moon when he eventually became Sir Michael’s apprentice at just 16 years old. The experienced trainer became a valued mentor to JJ – just like Louis Walsh would be on The X Factor – offering him advice and tips on how to improve. ‘Even when I have an outside ride, he’ll watch the race and have a word with me afterwards, telling me what I did right and what I did wrong. It’s a great help,’ he said at the time.

JJ worked for Sir Michael for four years while he began jockeying professionally. It was hard work, but he loved it, and he was proud of his older brother Ashley, who was apprenticed to trainer Luca Cumani. The boys spent their lives criss-crossing the country competing in races, trying to build up experience and a number of winners on the racecourse. In spare moments JJ and Ashley would sit on the sofa at home, watching their rides back on video to see where they might have improved. Dad Paul was always behind them, encouraging them to race as much as they could. ‘He keeps asking, “Why haven’t you got a ride today? Phone your agent and ask why you don’t have a ride,”’ said JJ at the time. ‘Then he tells us to go for a run or something, to get us out of the house.’ While a horse-mad teenager, JJ’s little sister Otea was born, and he dotes on her to this day.

During this time, JJ even rode one of Her Majesty the Queen’s horses and was then lucky enough to meet Her Majesty. ‘Once or twice a year, she would pop into the yard to check on her horses – it was so weird seeing her,’ he told the Daily Express. ‘She sauntered in wearing Wellington boots as if it was normal – and she walked into the horses’ box that I was in at the time. She said hello, fed the horses grass and left. Apart from The X Factor, it was the most surreal moment of my life.’ Living and breathing flat racing, Ashley and JJ’s bond grew ever stronger, and they were each other’s biggest fans. ‘When I ride against Ashley, if I can’t win, I want him to win instead,’ said JJ.

But a career in horseracing wasn’t to be. JJ was just 21 when he realised that he would have to give up his racing dreams. As a flat jockey, it was important he kept his weight at a very low level: if the jockey was too heavy, it would slow down the horse. At a regular weight of just 7st 12lb, he was much lighter than other guys his own age and ate a special diet at home to keep him at the right frame. At 18, JJ had no problems in keeping his weight down, saying, ‘I don’t have to watch what I eat, but I don’t eat that much anyway – I hate getting full up.’ But as he grew older, it became a struggle. He reluctantly realised he would have to quit the saddle and find something else to focus on in his life. It was a huge decision for JJ to take – horses were his family’s world. Still, he could be proud of his successes – by the time he stopped competing in October 2009 he’d ridden in over 260 race rides and had 24 wins in just four years of appearing on the racecourse. He wasn’t ready to give up horses for good, though, and carried on as a part-time work-rider for Newmarket trainer John Gosden, taking his horse out every morning.

JJ decided to take this opportunity to try to make it in singing, acting and modelling – something he’d always secretly dreamed of. ‘I have always loved singing but never had the bottle,’ he told the Newmarket Journal. ‘When I stopped race riding it gave me the drive to do something else.’With his chiselled good looks and toned body he signed up to a modelling agency and began attending auditions to try to land acting parts. One of his first was for a BBC series called The Cut. Although he didn’t get the role, JJ’s experience was growing and he was really enjoying this new challenge in his life. With the same drive and focus he’d previously applied to horseriding, he was determined to make it in the world of acting, but things were proving difficult. By 22, he’d been involved with a couple of failed singing projects and done a bit of acting but, as he himself admitted, ‘nothing really took off’.

But one day in 2011, JJ was contacted out of the blue by a songwriter who’d seen his picture on his agency website. US-based songwriter Kasey Monroe had seen something in JJ’s publicity shots and got in touch with him, asking if he could sing. JJ recorded a clip of his singing voice on YouTube, which impressed Kasey, who’d worked with some of the biggest names in pop, including Madonna and Westlife. She put JJ in touch with Julian White, a music manager who was putting together a new boyband. He was working with two ex-members of a band called Brooklyn who’d appeared on The X Factor earlier that year – and one of them happened to be a certain Jaymi Hensley! The boys hit it off straight away and JJ was hopeful that this would be the big break he’d been waiting for. ‘This is a fantastic chance for me and I’m really excited,’ he told the local paper in Newmarket. At the time, JJ was known as Jamie, but he quickly realised that with another member also called Jaymi, although it was spelled differently, it wouldn’t work. He came up with a new nickname for himself – JJ, standing for ‘Jockey Jamie’! Having met up with Jaymi and Josh, JJ was onto something good, and the next year would change his life forever.

In the middle of the summer of 1992, Britain was gripped by Olympic fever. The whole country cheered on Linford Christie as he won the Men’s 100m in Barcelona, but in the village of Winkfield, near Ascot in Berkshire, Kathryn and Graeme Cuthbert had something more important to focus on. They’d just had their first baby, Joshua Thomas John Cuthbert, who’d been born on 28 July. With his big sparkling blue eyes, he was a gorgeous boy from day one, and as he grew up he loved nothing more than playing with his favourite toy, Olly the Octopus, and kicking a football about in the garden. He started at the local Cranbourne Primary School at age four, and aged seven he was chuffed to bits when his little brother Callum was born, followed three years later by his sister Victoria.