Five: The 90s boy band ‘traumatised by stardom’

Sean Conlon (left), Abz Love, Scott Robinson, Ritchie Neville and Jason Paul Brown of Five. Photo / Getty Images

• Five have reunited for the first time since 2001, despite past mental health struggles.
• Ritchie Neville and Sean Conlon described the group’s initial fame as ‘traumatising’ and challenging.
• The band will tour in autumn, with Abz Love expressing pride in their comeback.

Five were left “traumatised” by pop stardom. The 1990s group – which consists of Abz Love, Jason “J” Brown, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon – have got back together as a quintet for the first time since their split in 2001, but have admitted the first time around, being in the group took a mental toll on all of them.

Ritchie told the Independent: “We should have had six months off. It’s taken us 25 years – I’m not even joking – literally 25 years to be able to even get my head around it.”

Sean added: “It’s almost like we’ve been traumatised.” Ritchie insisted: “No, we are traumatised!”

But Ritchie admitted once it was all over, he felt “completely lost” and turned to alcohol in a bid to cope. “Jesus, straight after the band, for three years I was sat in a living room, frozen, drinking too much, completely lost.

“I used to say, ‘I feel like I’m a rowing boat in the sea with no oars or sail'.”

Meanwhile, J admitted he started to suffer from insomnia during his time with the Everybody Get Up hit-makers because of the demanding schedule. “I went through the whole [experience] with chronic insomnia, from about three months after it all kicked off.

“Most nights I was getting maximum three and a half hours’ sleep. Sometimes I’d go four or five days on an hour and a half, and then have to get up at 5 in the morning and film a new video.”

The group will be back on the road throughout autumn (spring in NZ) for the Keep on Movin’ Tour, and Abz said he was “proud” of the way he and his bandmates had put themselves back in the spotlight again.

“What I feel like I want to say is how proud I am of these guys and how brave they are to put themselves into this environment again.”