Blue (boy band)

Blue
Blue performing in Manchester in 2011 (From left to right: Duncan James, Antony Costa, Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe ])
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	R&B, pop
Years active	2000–present (2005–08 on hiatus)
Labels	Innocent, Virgin, EMI, Sony
Associated acts	RedOne, Elton John, Stevie Wonder Bruno Mars
Members	Antony Costa Duncan James Lee Ryan Simon Webbe

Blue are an English R&B group consisting of members Antony Costa, Duncan James, Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe. The band originally formed in 2000, releasing three studio albums, All Rise (2001), One Love (2002) and Guilty (2003) that all peaked at number one in the United Kingdom alongside releasing 16 singles, over a four-year period. The group also worked alongside artists such as Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Lil' Kim. In late 2004, the group announced a hiatus and released their first compilation album, Best of Blue, on 15 November 2004.

On 28 April 2009, Blue announced that they had reformed, and would return to the stage in the summer of that year. The band reunited once again in January 2011 and represented the United Kingdom at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf with the song "I Can", coming in 11th place with 100 points. Blue released their fourth studio album, Roulette on 25 January 2013 with "Hurt Lovers" as the lead single. The following month, it was confirmed that the group would be joining The Big Reunion, in which six groups from the past (including Liberty X, Atomic Kitten and 5ive) reform for a one-off gig. From May 2013, the group toured the UK and Ireland with the other groups in The Big Reunion concert series. On 27 March 2013, the group announced they would embark on their first headlining tour later on in the year, their first tour in nearly ten years. As of 2013, Blue have sold 15 million records worldwide, including 3.3 million albums and 1 million singles in the UK alone. In April 2015 Blue were dropped by their record label Sony due to the poor sales of their fifth album Colours, which sold just 4,000 copies in its first week.