The Wanted

The Wanted
The Wanted on the Empire State Building Observation Deck in April 2012. From left to right: Nathan Sykes, Tom Parker, Siva Kaneswaran, Max George and Jay McGuiness.
Background information
Origin	United Kingdom
Genres	Dance-pop, pop
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Geffen, Island, Mercury (U.S.)
Members	Max George Jay McGuiness Siva Kaneswaran Tom Parker Nathan Sykes
Website	thewantedmusic.com

The Wanted are a British-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.

Their debut album, The Wanted, was released on 25 October 2010 and peaked at #4 in the UK. The album had three UK top twenty singles released from it, Their debut single, "All Time Low" which hit the UK #1 spot,^[1] "Heart Vacancy" which reached #2 and "Lose My Mind" which managed a peak of #19 in the UK.

The group's second album Battleground saw release on 4 November 2011 and hit #5 in the UK and #4 in Ireland. The lead single from the album "Gold Forever" was released in aid of Comic Relief and reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. Their second #1 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 #2 and #21 in the UK.

In early 2012, the group began to see success in the US and Canada, with hit single "Glad You Came" selling three million copies there, hitting #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 whilst their second single "Chasing The Sun" has become their second Billboard chart, hitting the top spot on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

Scooter Braun is their manager.^[1][2]

The group formed in 2009 through mass auditions which saw over 1000 people attend, held by Jayne Collins who also put together The Saturdays and Parade.^[3][4] The audition process took over 9 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.

Shortly after their formation, the group began working on their debut album with producers and co-writers Guy Chambers, Taio Cruz and Steve Mac. 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 Mac, who also produced it, Wayne Hector and Ed Drewett. It hit #1 in the UK and spent 17 weeks in the UK top 40. The second single "Heart Vacancy" again written with Wayne 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 #19 in 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 #4 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

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 hit #3 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 #2 in the UK and #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 #5 in the UK and #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. Between 15 February – 9 March 2012, the group embarked on "The Code" tour, to promote the release of the album. The sixteen 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 group went on a short promotional, radio and club tour of the 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 #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold over 3 million copies there. Their debut American EP, The Wanted, was released in April 2012, debuting at #7 in the US and #8 in Canada. "Chasing The Sun" was been released as the band's second official single there, peaking at #70 on the Hot 100 whilst reaching #1 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 United States for a number of promotional concerts.

The group began working on their third studio album in late 2011.^{[citation needed]} On 27 August, the band filmed the video for their new single, "I Found You", due for release on 29 October 2012.^[8] The band also collaborated with Dappy on a track titled "Bring It Home"^[9] as well as songs with duo LMFAO^[10] and Rita Ora^[11] or the forthcoming album.

Max Albert George, born (1988-09-06) 6 September 1988 (age 36), grew up with his family in Manchester.^[12] Before music, he had been a football player with Preston North End and was on the verge of signing a two-year deal with them, whilst he has been a Manchester City supporter since a young age.^[13] Previously he was a member of Avenue, a five-piece boy band made up of Jonathan Lloyd, Scott Clarke, Ross Candy and Jamie Tinkler in addition to George. They entered the third series^[14] of The X Factor in 2006 and made it to Louis Walsh's bootcamp, but media reports exposed that Avenue had not strictly adhered to the rules, having been signed by an earlier music X Factor director to a deal. They were banned from participation for having professional representation rather than being specifically formed for the competition.^[15][16][17] Avenue admitted they had failed to duly report their engagements and George admitted it was "not The X Factor's fault"^[18] in the video showing their disqualification in Walsh's office. With Andrew (Andy) Brown joining as a member of Avenue replacing Jamie Tinkler, the band went on to have some success beyond their X Factor appearances with their debut single "Last Goodbye", reaching number 50 on the UK Singles Chart. They had a follow up release with "Can You Feel It?". Avenue disbanded in April 2009. In 2008, while still a member of Avenue, George appeared naked on cover of British gay magazine AXM's "Naked Issue" in support of cancer research.

George was engaged to actress Michelle Keegan after meeting her at one of The Wanted's concerts,^[19] but he recently revealed that the engagement has been broken off.^[20]

Nathan James Sykes,^[12] born (1993-04-18) 18 April 1993 (age 31), and known as the baby of the group, grew up in Abbeydale, Gloucester with his mother, who was a music teacher, and younger sister.^[21] He started singing and performing at the age of 6 and attended Sylvia Young's theatre school from the age of 11.

Sykes continued to perform as a child singer winning various competitions including "Britney Spears's Karaoke Kriminals" in 2003, where he got to kiss Britney Spears on live TV as part of his prize, and The Cheltenham Competitive Festival of Dramatic Art also in 2003. He appeared on ITV's Ministry of Mayhem in 2004, and won the Door Youth Project's "Undiscovered Youth Talenhugyt Contest" held in Derker performing "Mack the Knife".^[22] and performed for the "Live and Unsigned".^[23] Music Competition in Bristol in 2008.^[24]

Sykes attempted to represent UK in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 held in Lillehammer, Norway. In the British qualifying finals, he sang "Born to Dance"^[25] coming 3rd overall, after winner Cory Spedding and runner-up Andrew Merry.

Siva Kaneswaran, born (1988-11-16) 16 November 1988 (age 36), grew up in Blanchardstown, Dublin with his Sri Lankan Tamil father, Irish mother, twin brother Kumar and six other siblings.^[26][27] Kaneswaran started modelling at 16 and appeared in various ads and landed a contract with Storm Model Management. Kaneswaran took part in Rock Rivals, televised in eight episodes between 5 March and 23 April 2008.^[28] His brother took part as well. Kaneswaran played the role of Carson Coombs and his brother that of Caleb Coombs. The brothers also appeared briefly in one episode of Uncle Max. The episode "Uncle Max Plays Tennis" aired on 11 July 2008. Kaneswaran was spotted through his modelling campaigns and recruited as a result for the band.^[29] He is the younger brother of former Dove member and former Popstars: The Rivals contestant Hazel Kaneswaren.

James "Jay" McGuiness,^[12][30] (1990-07-24) 24 July 1990 (age 34), grew up in Newark, Nottinghamshire.^[31] He attended Holy Trinity Roman Catholic school in Newark. At the age of 13, McGuiness went to Charlotte Hamilton School of Dance.^[32] He has a non-identical twin brother called Tom^[33] and three other siblings.

Thomas "Tom" Anthony Parker, born (1988-08-04) 4 August 1988 (age 36), grew up in Bolton.^[34] Parker learned to play the guitar at the age of sixteen after trying out his older brother's. He then went on to audition for The X Factor but did not get past the first round. He went to Manchester Metropolitan University and studied Geography, but dropped out in pursuit of a professional singing career.^[35] Parker joined a Take That tribute band known as Take That II and toured Northern England, before joining The Wanted in 2009.^[36]

The group run a weekly online podcast, #WantedWednesday featuring backstage footage, social activities and exclusive performances.

The Behind Bars Tour was the band's first theatre tour which sold out within weeks of going on sale. It began on 26 March 2011 and concluded on until 15 April. The tour featured 12 different cities with a total of sixteen dates.

It was announced on Friday 16 December 2011 that the group would embark on their first US tour, with 10 dates to be held over January and February 2012.

The Wanted announced that they would embark on their first arena tour across the UK and Ireland in February and March 2012. Known as #TheCode Tour and T.W.A.T., each concert features an interactive element that links to their official Facebook and Twitter pages.

• Official website
• The Wanted on Twitter
• The Wanted at IMDb