US5: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Fibes Oh Fibes
• O-Town
• 98 Degrees
• *NSYNC

• New Kids on the Block

• Lou Pearlman

Genre:

Rock Music

Decades Active:

2000's

US5 was one in a long line of boy bands assembled and managed by impresario Lou Pearlman, who previously guided the careers of the Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync and OTown. Pearlman put together the group in conjunction with the reality series Big in America, which premiered on the German television network RTL 2 in the summer of 2005after assembling an international lineup comprising Germanborn Christoph Watrin and Mikel Johnson, Americanborn Izzy Gallegos and Richie Stringini, and Londonborn Tariq Jay Khan, the show put the aspiring singers through their paces, shipping them off to an industry boot camp where they honed their talents and respective personas. With Big in America a major television success, it was inevitable US5's debut single would generate significant media attention, and their debut single "Maria" not only topped the German charts but also entered the Top Ten in Austria and Czechoslovakia. Their 2005 debut album Here We Go was also a blockbuster, buoyed by the followup singles "Just Because of You," "Come Back to Me, Baby" and "Mama." US5 dropped its sophomore effort In Control in late 2006, returning to the upper reaches of the German charts via "In the Club" and "One Night with You."

- Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide