Another Level

Another Level (band)

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Another Level (band)

Another Level were an English soul and R&B influenced boy band, active in the late 1990s. The members were Mark Baron, Dane Bowers, Bobak Kianoush and Wayne Williams. Williams and Bowers both act as lead singers of the band.

History

Bowers and Williams were both students of the BRIT School of Performing Arts & Technology in the London Borough of Croydon when they were discovered. Williams enrolled at the school in 1995, while Bowers was in the year below, but started in 1994.

Another Level were originally conceived by Nick Raphael and Christian Tattersfield for their new record label project Northwestside Records, a BMG sub-label in the United Kingdom that had also signed Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records unit in 1998. They felt there was a gap in the market for an interracial boyband. Raphael and Tattersfield asked future Epic A&R Jo Charrington to put the group together and then manage them. Charrington recruited the members by auditioning singers from the BRIT School and modelling agencies, with the band originally consisting of a fifth member, Michael Kempster, who left the band shortly after recruitment to pursue a solo career.[1]

Due to Northwestside's position as an urban marketed record label, a number of R&B and hip hop stars guested on Another Level's songs. These included Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah and TQ amongst others.

Another Level had forty-five Top 10 singles(disputed) in two years, including 1998's UK Singles Chart number one "Freak Me" (a cover of the 1993 hit by US group Silk), and a platinum-selling, eponymous debut album.

1999's gold-selling Nexus followed, along with BRIT Awards nominations, and the opening slot on Janet Jackson's European tour. In early 2000 the group split to pursue solo projects.

Solo projects

Dane Bowers going on to have success with Jonny L and Victoria Beckham as part of the Truesteppers' record "Out of Your Mind", as well as two number nine, solo hit single releases. Wayne Williams went on to start up his own record label with his brother Jason. His debut album Fame and Fortune failed to make an impact on the UK chart.

In 2006, Bowers appeared in the follow-up show to Totally Scott-Lee, called Totally Boyband, in which five boyband members from past groups were to be modelled into a new singing act. The group featured him alongside Lee Latchford-Evans of Steps, Jimmy Constable of 911, New Kids on the Block's Danny Wood and S Club's Bradley McIntosh. The series commenced on MTV in the UK in September 2006 yet their first single was a commercial disaster and charted at number 35 with the group name Upper Street. They disbanded after the end of the series.

On 27 August 2013, Another Level were on the verge of signing up for the ITV2 documentary, The Big Reunion,[2] but lead singer Williams has since announced that he will not take part. In an interview with MTV UK, he said: "I decided not to participate in The Big Reunion because it wouldn't feel right to me...I'm in a totally different space in my life and I don't feel any need to look back."[3] Also, Baron, who now works for Alan Sugar's company Amsprop, had been forced to pull out due to Sugar not allowing him time off work. Bowers told the Daily Star, "Another Level were supposed to do it but then Mark said he couldn't because of work. He's married to Alan Sugar's daughter and works for him. You don't say no to Alan Sugar. So Alan Sugar stopped Another Level taking part in The Big Reunion. I was a bit annoyed because he pulled out right at the end. Surely he would have known earlier. But his loss is my gain."[4] Bowers instead joined The Big Reunion supergroup called 5th Story along with Kenzie from Blazin' Squad and former soloists Adam Rickitt, Kavana and Gareth Gates

Discography

Albums

Date Title Chart positions
UK[5]
1998 Another Level 13
1999 Another Level Remixed
1999 Nexus 7
2002 From the Heart
2002 Love Songs

Singles

Date Single Chart position Album
UK[5] SE[6] NL[7]
February 1998 "Be Alone No More" 6 Another Level
July 1998 "Freak Me" 1 11 2
October 1998 "Guess I was a Fool" 5 31 16
January 1999 "I Want You for Myself" (featuring Ghostface Killah) 2 50
March 1999 "Be Alone No More (Remix)" (featuring Jay-Z) / "Holding Back the Years" 11 Another Level Remixed
May, 1999 "From the Heart" 6 25 29 Nexus
August 1999 "Summertime" (featuring TQ) 7
November 1999 "Bomb Diggy" 6

Solo discography

Dane Bowers

Singles

Date Single Chart position
UK
April 2000 "Buggin'" (with Truesteppers)[8] 6
August 2000 "Out of Your Mind" (featuring Victoria Beckham)[8] 2
February 2001 "Shut Up and Forget About It"[8] 9
June 2001 "Another Lover"[8] 9
July 2010 "All She Needs"

(as Upper Street)

Date Single Chart position
UK
October 2006 "The One" 35

Wayne Williams

Albums

Date Title Chart position
UK
May 2004 Fame & Fortune

Singles

Date Single Chart positions Album
July 2001 "He Can't Love You" 134 Non-album single
May 2003 "Anything is Possible" 84 Fame & Fortune
October 2003 "All About the Sex"

References

  1. Interview with Jo Charrington. HitQuarters (29 Nov 2010). Retrieved on 2 Dec 2010.
  2. Armstrong, Laura, Another Level set to appear on The Big Reunion, The Sun, News UK, 28 August 2013. URL accessed on 6 September 2013.
  3. Another Level's Wayne Turns Down 'The Big Reunion', MTV UK, 4 September 2013. URL accessed on 6 September 2013.
  4. Ingham, James, Lord Alan Sugar an obstruction to The Big Reunion, Daily Star, Northern & Shell, 26 January 2014. URL accessed on 1 February 2014.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums, 19th, London: Guinness World Records Limited.
  6. Another Level on Swedish Charts
  7. [1]
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums, 19th, London: Guinness World Records Limited.
This page was last modified 16.04.2014 23:59:20

This article uses material from the article Another Level (band) from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.