The Lightyears are a 4-piece pop-rock band based in Clapham, London, comprising George Owens (lead vocals and guitar), Chris Russell (vocals and piano), John Owens (bass) and Tony Lyons (vocals and drums). Though The Lightyears formed in 2003, Russell and Owens have been playing and writing together since the age of 13.

Philadelphia-based radio station WXPN have described the band as "the bastard pop-child of The La's

The La's

The La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group is most famous for their hit single "There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Badger in 1984 and Mavers joined soon after...

 and Wham!

WHAM!

Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band....

". The band themselves call their music "glorious technicolour power-pop".

Awards and achievements

In 2007 The Lightyears won "Best Pop/Rock Act" at the first-ever INDY Awards ceremony at the Clapham Grand, which prompted the London Metro to write that the band were "being widely touted as Next Big Things". Following this accolade, legendary producer Hugh Padgham

Hugh Padgham

Hugh Padgham is a British record producer. He has won many awards, including four Grammys, with Producer of the Year and Engineer of the Year. A 1992 poll in Mix magazine voted him one of the world's Top Ten Most Influential Producers....

 asked the band into his studio to record a selection of tracks. Two of these recordings, "Emily" and "Sleepless", feature on The Lightyears' 2009 album London, England.

Press

The Lightyears have attracted press attention from all over the world. BBC Oxford

BBC Oxford

BBC Oxford is the name given to the sub-opt out region serving Oxford and the surrounding areas. Its services include:*BBC Oxford News, the local news service called BBC Oxford on screen...

 have called the band "incredibly talented", and South African rugby legend Robbie Fleck

Robbie Fleck

Robert Frank Fleck better known as Robbie is a former rugby union footballer who played at centre for South Africa....

, interviewed at CapeTownTens.com, described The Lightyears' headline show in Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

 as "without doubt the best party I have ever been to in my life". In the USA, PlayPhilly.com wrote "I haven't been this excited about British pop since I discovered The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

. The Lightyears, simply put, are incredible".

Tours and appearances

The Lightyears have toured to the USA, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa and mainland Europe. They played Glastonbury Festival

Glastonbury Festival

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...

 in both 2007 and 2008 and have supported acts such as Mystery Jets

Mystery Jets

Mystery Jets are an English five-piece indie band, formerly based on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, London. The band was formed by Henry Harrison , Blaine Harrison and William Rees when the boys were still at school and would send each other songs on cassettes...

 and The Levellers. In September 2009, the band performed at Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium

The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

 to a crowd of 45,000 people. They appeared on the same bill as Diversity

Diversity (dance troupe)

Diversity are an English street dance troupe based in London. They are best known for winning the third series of Britain's Got Talent, famously beating Susan Boyle in the live final. They also won the Families United Positive Role Models at the Spirit of London Awards. The group, initially known...

, winners of Britain's Got Talent

Britain's Got Talent

Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...

. Three further performances at Wembley were to follow, supporting acts such as Right Said Fred

Right Said Fred

Right Said Fred is an English pop band, formed in 1989 by brothers Richard Fairbrass and Fred Fairbrass, later joined by their friend Rob Manzoli. The group is named after a song of the same name which was a hit for Bernard Cribbins in 1962...

 and Eliza Doolittle

Eliza Doolittle

Eliza Sophie Caird , better known by her stage name Eliza Doolittle, is an English singer–songwriter from London, who signed to the Parlophone record label in October 2008. Her debut self-titled album, Eliza Doolittle was released on 12 July 2010, where it debuted at number 3 in the UK...

.

In November 2009, The Lightyears appeared in a national advertising campaign for T-Mobile

T-Mobile

T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

. Chris and George wrote a song for the campaign (in collaboration with Josh's Band) called "Come With Me", which was released in January 2009 on Universal Records

Universal Records

Universal Records was a record label owned by Universal Music Group, and it is now owned by Manny Patino and Michael Jackson, and operated as part of the Universal Motown Republic Group.-History:...

.

EPs

• "At Midnight" (September 2008)
• "Phoenix" (July 2006)
• "Rumour Going Round" (August 2004)
• "The Last Men On Earth" (January 2003)

External links

• Official Site
• The Lightyears on Twitter
  Twitter
  Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
  
  
• The Lightyears on 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....
  
  
• The Lightyears on YouTube
  YouTube
  YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
  
  
• The Lightyears on Facebook
  Facebook
  Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
  
  
• The Lightyears on Amie Street
  Amie Street
  Amie Street was an indie online music store and social network service created in 2006 by Brown University seniors Elliott Breece, Elias Roman, and Joshua Boltuch, in Providence, Rhode Island...