O-Town (band)
Encyclopedia
O-Town is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...

 formed from the first season of the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

-produced reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 series Making The Band
Making the Band
Making the Band is an ABC/MTV reality television series that exists in separate iterations, each iteration focusing on a specific music act. It spawned musical acts O-Town, Da Band, Danity Kane, Day26, and Donnie Klang...

in 2000. The original members of the band were Jacob Underwood, Ashley Parker Angel
Ashley Parker Angel
Ashley Parker is an American singer and actor also known as Ashley Parker Angel.-Early years:Ashley Parker was born Ashley Ward Parker, the child of Darren and Paula Parker, and raised in the town of Redding, California. His grandparents are of German and Irish descent...

, Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick, and Dan Miller. After releasing two albums near the end of the boy band fad of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the group disbanded in 2003. Some of their songs remain popular as cover tunes by other groups. The group was originally managed by Lou Pearlman
Lou Pearlman
Louis Jay "Lou" Pearlman is a former impresario of the successful 1990s boy bands such as The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Take 5, O-Town and US5. In 2006, it was discovered that Pearlman had perpetrated one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in American history, leaving more than $300...

 during their first season of Making the Band, but later managed by Mike Cronin and Mike Morin for their debut album and remaining television seasons.

The band was named after Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

, despite the fact that none of the bandmembers came from the city.

History

O-Town was assembled for the first season of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 reality television series Making the Band
Making the Band
Making the Band is an ABC/MTV reality television series that exists in separate iterations, each iteration focusing on a specific music act. It spawned musical acts O-Town, Da Band, Danity Kane, Day26, and Donnie Klang...

. Originally Ikaika Kahoano
Ikaika Kahoano
Ikaika Kahoano is an American singer. He was a finalist on the ABC television series Making the Band in 2000, which formed the boy band O-Town. Kahoano left the group to return home to his native Hawaii and was replaced by Dan Miller...

 was one of the five members selected but an undisclosed dispute caused him to back out, making way for Dan Miller
Dan Miller
Dan Miller may refer to:* Dan Miller , Middleweight fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship* Dan Miller , former Premier of British Columbia* Dan Miller , former member of the U.S...

 who was selected by the four remaining members. The ratings of Making the Band were strong enough to warrant a second (and eventually third) season, which made O-Town the first cast of a reality TV show to remain the same on their second and third seasons. These subsequent seasons depicted their development as a pop group, following their tours and performances etc. Such events included the development of their second album, O2
O2 (O-Town album)
O2 is the second and last album by O-Town, following after the success of their triple-platinum self-titled debut album. The band was on the verge of obscurity, due to the public's taste of music changing. The album became a commercial flop...

, their transition to a new record label (J Records
J Records
J Records was an American record label, owned and operated by Sony Music Entertainment, and was distributed through the RCA Music Group.-Company history:...

), and an ongoing struggle to "prove themselves" as legitimate artists. The third season of Making the Band was broadcast on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

, instead of the original network, ABC.

After season one, Clive Davis
Clive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...

 of J Records
J Records
J Records was an American record label, owned and operated by Sony Music Entertainment, and was distributed through the RCA Music Group.-Company history:...

 signed O-Town to his new label. Davis believed in the marketability of the group, and scheduled O-Town to be the label's debut act. Their first album, the self-titled O-Town
O-Town (album)
O-Town was the eponymous debut album of the American boy band O-Town. It was released after their #10 hit, "Liquid Dreams". The album peaked at #5 and spawned the #3 follow-up single, "All or Nothing", which also made it to #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart...

, boosted by the publicity of the weekly television series, sold more than two million copies. Their first single, "Liquid Dreams", was the first single to reach #1 on the Billboard singles sales chart without making the Airplay chart. The single managed to peak at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart.

However, their novelty as television personalities soon wore off, and O-Town would enjoy only temporary success. Jacob Underwood even commented, on a Making the Band recap of seasons one and two, that after "Liquid Dreams", they alone had to prove themselves to the public that they weren't a "flash-in-the-pan" success. However, in the late spring of 2001, O-Town released "All or Nothing", and the song became their biggest hit of their career as a group. "All or Nothing" reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the song was nominated for numerous awards, including "Song of the Year" during the 2001 Radio Music Awards. The success of "All or Nothing" granted them the ability to air another season of Making the Band. Near the end of the third season, O-town fans and television viewers watched as they tried to take their careers to the next level by writing their own music, earn the respect of their industry peers, and market themselves beyond being labeled as a "boy band". They never found the market acceptance they sought. Their second album, O2, originally scheduled for the summer of 2002 (and planned debut single "I Showed Her" a few weeks before release), was delayed numerous times, and as time between their last U.S. single, the moderately successful "We Fit Together", and the anticipation of "O2", without any new singles to get radio airplay and no new episodes of Making the Band, the popularity of O-Town began to wane.

O-Town had burst onto the scene when boy bands and other types of bubblegum pop were beginning to decline and lose their influence. Sales of O-Town's second album, O2
O2 (O-Town album)
O2 is the second and last album by O-Town, following after the success of their triple-platinum self-titled debut album. The band was on the verge of obscurity, due to the public's taste of music changing. The album became a commercial flop...

, were below expectations. Their debut single for O2, "These are the Days" eventually broke into the Billboard Top 40 at #40, and critics, such as those from Billboard.com, praised their second single, "I Showed Her" for being a well-developed song. Despite this moderate success, "O2" was nowhere near the commercial success of their first album, O-Town, and the band went on tour in the summer of 2003 to promote the album. J Records dropped the band from the label in November 2003.

Though fans tried to organize campaigns to get O-Town signed to a new label, their efforts met with little success. The group disbanded in late 2003, and O-Town sent a personal e-mail to all their fans, via O-town.com [defunct], thanking them for the great memories and experience they had shared together. In the e-mail, O-Town themselves stated that they had disbanded due to the changing climate of the music industry, along with certain financial problems, hinting that Lou Pearlman
Lou Pearlman
Louis Jay "Lou" Pearlman is a former impresario of the successful 1990s boy bands such as The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Take 5, O-Town and US5. In 2006, it was discovered that Pearlman had perpetrated one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in American history, leaving more than $300...

 and his company, Trans Continental Records, may have been involved with these issues. At that point, Pearlman had already experienced many legal challenges by previous acts managed by his company, Trans Continental, including highly successful acts such as the Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...

, 'N Sync
'N Sync
N Sync was an American boy band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, *NSYNC consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick...

, and Aaron Carter
Aaron Carter
Aaron Charles Carter is an American singer. He came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the early-first decade of the 21st century....

.

The members of O-Town moved on to solo careers. The most successful member of the group has been Ashley Parker, who was signed to Universal
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

's Blackground Records
Blackground Records
Blackground Records is an American record label owned by entertainment attorney and artist manager Barry Hankerson and his son Jomo Hankerson.-History:...

, and also given his own reality show on MTV, There and Back
There and Back (TV series)
There & Back: Ashley Parker Angel was a MTV reality television series than ran for 10 weeks in early 2006. It chronicled the efforts of former O-Town member Ashley Parker Angel to launch a solo career while providing for his new family...

. Released in 2006, Ashley's solo debut album was heavily promoted, but did not achieve solid sales numbers. In January 2007, he began playing the role of Link Larkin in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production of Hairspray
Hairspray (musical)
Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues...

. Ex-bandmate, Trevor Penick, now professionally known as "Tre Scott", was signed to Mach 1 Music, and worked with established industry producer Eddie Galan
Eddie Galan
Eddie Galan is a Los Angeles born singer/musician, songwriter and record producer, who has worked on albums that have accumulated over 18 million in sales worldwide, garnered him 5 #1 records as a writer/producer and 4 #1 records as a publisher...

. The other band members retained a fanbase and had success in their own right, as evidenced by their Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 profiles. Erik eventually decided to join the Army and embarked on a training programme. He had decided that it was time for a change and was looking to experience different aspects of life.

Reunion

As of January 2011, according to Jacob's Facebook account and TMZ.com
TMZ.com
TMZ.com is a celebrity news website that debuted on November 8, 2005. It was a collaboration between America Online and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. However, it is still affiliated with AOL News and has the AOL News logo affixed in...

, 4 of the 5 original members are back together. Jacob, Erik, Dan, and Trevor have reunited and are in the studio, presumably recording a follow up to O2. Apparently the reunion has been in the works for at least a year, when the 4 tried to persuade Ashley to return. However, upon realizing he was not interested, they decided to get back together as a foursome. Shortly after Ashley opened up as to why he did not agree to a reunion. In a statement, he tells TMZ.com, "O-Town was one of the greatest chapters of my life, so when the idea of a reunion was brought to me, of course I was intrigued. However, I have made the decision not to be a part of an O-Town reunion. It was a difficult decision, but ultimately necessary to move on with the next chapter of my career.” Erik Michael Estrada responded to the statement saying "If Ashley really wanted to rejoin O-Town … he would have figured out a way to 'multi-task' the reunion and his acting career." Erik says he and the rest of the band have all come to terms with Ashley’s rejection — but explains, “I would just think he would want to come on board and be a part of it … but he doesn’t and that’s cool.”

Covers

Nearly three years after O-Town ceased to exist, the Japanese group w-inds covered O-Town's "All or Nothing", calling it "Kaze Uta" (or "Wind Song"). "Kaze Uta" was released on May 25, 2006 on w-inds' single for the song "Trial". While the melody was retained, the lyrics were completely reworked by Takamitsu Shimazaki, and are predominantly in Japanese with a less repetitive chorus. In 2009, Irish boyband Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...

 also covered "All or Nothing" on their eighth studio album The Love Album. The American punk band Fake ID also covered it in an upbeat, pop-punk fashion for the compilation album Punk Goes Pop
Punk Goes Pop
Punk Goes Pop is a compilation album part of the Punk Goes... series created by Fearless Records. It contains a collection of songs by various artists performing covers of pop songs. It was released on April 3, 2002.-Track listing:...

.

Albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...


(sales threshold)
US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...


AUT
CAN
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...


GER
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...


IRE
Irish Albums Chart
The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...


NL
MegaCharts
MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...


SWI
UK
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...


2001 O-Town
O-Town (album)
O-Town was the eponymous debut album of the American boy band O-Town. It was released after their #10 hit, "Liquid Dreams". The album peaked at #5 and spawned the #3 follow-up single, "All or Nothing", which also made it to #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart...


  • Released: January 23, 2001
  • Label: J Records
    J Records
    J Records was an American record label, owned and operated by Sony Music Entertainment, and was distributed through the RCA Music Group.-Company history:...

5 22 2 14 34 37 50 7
  • US
    Recording Industry Association of America
    The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

    : Platinum
  • CAN
    Canadian Recording Industry Association
    Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada...

    : Platinum
  • 2002 O2
    O2 (O-Town album)
    O2 is the second and last album by O-Town, following after the success of their triple-platinum self-titled debut album. The band was on the verge of obscurity, due to the public's taste of music changing. The album became a commercial flop...


    • Released: November 11, 2002
    • Label: J Records
    28 64 14
    "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

    Singles

    Year Title Peak chart positions Certification Album
    US
    US
    Pop
    US
    AC
    Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
    The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...


    AUS
    ARIA Charts
    The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

    AUT
    Ö3 Austria Top 40
    Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...


    CAN
    Canadian Singles Chart
    The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....


    GER
    Media Control Charts
    The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...


    IRE
    Irish Singles Chart
    The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...


    NL
    NZ
    Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
    The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...


    SWI
    Swiss Music Charts
    The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...


    UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...


    2000 "Liquid Dreams" 10 25 7 1 44 41 41 71 3
    • US
      Recording Industry Association of America
      The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

      : Gold
    O-Town
    2001 "All or Nothing" 3 1 4 14 5 5 10 25 18 25 9 4
    "We Fit Together" A 104 25 50 39 95 20
    "Love Should Be a Crime" 72 32 38
    2002 "These Are the Days" 64 16 20 29 66 61 36 O2
    2003 "I Showed Her"
    "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country.
    A Song was used in the film Dr. Dolittle 2
    Dr. Dolittle 2
    Dr. Dolittle 2 is a 2001 American comedy film, and the theatrical sequel to the 1998 film Dr. Dolittle. The continuing tale of the doctor who can talk to the animals—this time, it's Dolittle versus Darwin when the animals launch a labor strike to protect their forest from unscrupulous human...

    as soundtrack.

    External links

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