A1

For other uses of A1 please see A1

A1 are a British/Norwegian boy band who were originally made up of Mark Read, Paul Marazzi, Ben Adams and Christian Ingebrigtsen (from Norway). Their first single, "Be the First to Believe", entered the UK singles chart at number six in early 1999. They had relative success in the charts with 2 number 1's and 8 top 10 hits. Adding to this they also won a BRIT Award for "British Breakthrough Act" in 2001. They were formed by band manager Tim Byrne, who also formed Steps. A1's journey came to an end when original member Paul Marazzi left in 2002 and the band subsequently decided to split. In August 2009 it was announced that the group would reform, albeit without Marazzi, for a series of concerts in Oslo in December 2009 at the Christiania Theater..

Career

Mark Read (b. 1978, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, England), Ben Adams (b. 1981, Middlesex, England), Christian Ingebrigtsen (b. 1977, Oslo, Norway), and Paul Marazzi (b. 1975, Wanstead, London, England) were formed in 1998 by the management team of Tim Byrne and Vicky Blood. They signed with Columbia Records in February 1999 and released "Be the First to Believe" in Summer 1999. In 2000 they achieved two number ones with a cover of A-Ha's "Take on Me" and it's follow up "Same Old Brand New You".

In 2001 the band toured Asia, where they were well-received. The music video for their single "No More" was filmed in Singapore. During the Indonesian leg of their tour in the Taman Anggrek Mall, four teenage girls were killed in a stampede.

Their third album, Make It Good, featured a sound closer to traditional rock music, but was to be their last studio project. The album's title track narrowly missed the top 10, then on 8 October 2002, Paul Marazzi left the group citing personal reasons, and A1 subsequently decided to split.

They released The Best of a1, a compilation album throughout South East Asia in January 2004, featuring all their singles (excluding "Be the First to Believe"), two previously unreleased concert recordings and three previous B-Sides. Another compilation album was released in February 2009 following Ben Adams appearance on Celebrity Big Brother.

Post A1 and Solo Careers

Since their split majority of the groups members went off to pursue solo projects whilst some went onto producing and song writing. Ben Adams stepped out of the A1 bubble when he released his solo single, "Sorry", which reached #18 in the UK in April 2005. Adams was a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother series, He finished 5th in the shows finale .

Since 2003 Christian Ingebrigtsen started his career as a solo artist. His debut was the specially written duet "In Love with an Angel" for the new talent Maria Arredondo and himself. The song became a smash hit, staying 3 months on the top 10 list of VG-Lista Topp 20 (Norway's official single chart). In May of the same year he made his debut as a solo performer with the song "Things Are Gonna Change".

After a1 disbanded in 2002, Mark Read focussed on writing for other artists, signing a publishing deal with Metrophonic. Read has written and collaborated with a number of international artists, such as: Charlotte Church, Joe Brown , Sam Brown, Jarvis Cocker, Roger Cook (songwriter) among others. Read launched 'Greatest Lady In My Life', his debut single, at the Tesco Magazine 'Mum Of The Year' Awards on March 1 2009. The single was available for download from retailers such as iTunes and Amazon.com from March 2 2009 along with a 'karaoke' version or backing track of the same song.Mark has also released his first solo album "Peace at Last" in June 2009.

Online

The four band members formed a MySpace group in November 2008 to keep fans updated of their progress .

Albums

Year
Name
Sales and certifications
Charts


UK


IE


Japan
1999
Here We Come
First studio album
Released on 6 November 1999
Labels: Sony BMG
Formats: CD,
UK sales: -
Total Sales: -
20
-
-
2000
The A list
Second studio album
Released in 2000
Labels: Sony BMG
Formats: CD,
UK : Gold
Total Sales: 100,000+
14
-
-
2002
Make It Good
Third studio album
Released in 2002
Labels: Sony BMG
Formats: CD,
UK : Gold
Total Sales: 100,000+
15
-
-
2004
The Best of a1
Asian-market Greatest Hits album
Released in 2004
Labels: Sony BMG
Formats: CD,
UK : Gold
Total Sales: 100,000+
88
-
-
Singles
Year
Title
Chart position
Album
UK
NOR
IRE
AUS
NZ
SWE
1999
"Be the First to Believe"
6
?
?
?
?
?
Here We Come
"Summertime of Our Lives"
5
?
?
44
22
?
"Ready or Not/Everytime"
3
3
?
?
?
56
2000
"Like a Rose"
6
2
3
?
?
?
"Take on Me"
1
1
2
46
?
9
The A list
"Same Old Brand New You"
1
1
18
?
?
15
2001
"No More"
6
?
?
?
?
56
2002
"Caught in the Middle"
2
3
19
23
14
3
Make It Good
"Make It Good"
11
?
?
?
?
55