Collabro

Since winning Britain’s Got Talent in June 2014, Collabro’s diary has been a whirlwind of champagne, business meetings, recording studios and TV appearances. The five piece musical theatre group swept to victory on the ITV reality show and won a £250,000 cashprize as well as a much coveted slot on The Royal Variety Show. Shortly after the final, they signed a record deal with Syco Music.

Over the past six months, Collabro have released a #1 album called ‘Stars’ which remained in the Top 20 for six consecutive weeks, performed for Prince William & The Duchess of Cambridge at The Royal Variety Show alongside Dame Shirley Bassey, One Direction & Alfie Boe, and have recently begun their near sell out 32 date tour including a sold out date at London Palladium. Yet just a few months ago, it was a very different story.

The band - Michael Auger, Richard Hadfield, Jamie Lambert, Matt Pagan and Tom Redgrave - first got together in a grotty north London pub where the floors were sticky with beer and the musty air thick with dust motes. Having met through mutual friends and on social media, the five young men planned to spend some time rehearsing a few songs they could then use to audition for cruise ships and international tours.Each night, those who didn't live in the capital had to trek back to their £30-a-night hotel to contend with dodgy electrics, no hot water, and bed bugs.It was an inauspicious start to life in a band, and the boys admit they were facing an uncertain future.In fact, if it hadn't been for their success on BGT, the boys might have gone back to their day jobs - which included accounting, teaching, and working in a petrol station. "It was pretty grim," admits Richard. "The pub had no windows or natural light, it was just cheap rehearsal space. I'm pretty sure it cost moreto buy our lunch than it did to rent that room! And the hotel - I won't name it, but my God. There was no electricity, no hot water. We found all these sweet wrappers under the bed! It clearly hadn't been cleaned for ages. So we moved, but the new place had bed bugs. It was pretty nasty.

With no regular income, it took nerves of steel to turn down offers of regular work to pursue their dream. Jamie says, "During that time, I got offered a couple of cruise ship jobs: one in particular was very well paid and it would have been good, steady work with a chance to see the world. But I turned them down in favour of Collabro, even though we were scraping money together to keep going. But I just had a feeling about Collabro. We'd only just met, but our voices sounded good together and we got on really well. I just felt it was worth a shot."Jamie was right to trust his intuition. Just five months after meeting for the first time, Collabro won Britain's Got Talent.

2015 looks to be a very exciting year for the five piece with their next album out in June, their book due for release for Mother’s day and International releases with trips to Japan, America and Australia imminent! Collabro are one of the freshest and most promising boy bands – albeit with a twist- of this generation!