US5

Formed in 2005, US5 was a short-lived multinational boy band formed on the German television reality show Big in America. The group’s line-up was originally comprised of Christopher ‘Richie’ Stringini (United States), Izzy Gallegos (United States), Tariq Jay Khan (United Kingdom), Michael ‘Mikel’ Johnson (Germany), and Christoph ‘Chris’ Watrin (Germany). Their first single, “Maria”, charted in the US but most of their success was in Europe. The same single hit the Number 1 spot on the German Singles chart and entered the Top 10 in Austria, Switzerland, and Poland. Their debut album, Here We Go (2005), featured several other hits including “Just Because of You”, “Come Back to Me Baby”, and “Mama”. Their second album, In Control (2006), was another Top 10 album for US5 and was the last to feature Mikel Johnson, who was replaced in 2007 by Vince Tomas. That same year, the group released the ‘Reloaded’ version of In Control, which featured new tracks plus recordings from the original album now featuring vocals by Tomas. By the time the group issued the Around the World album in 2008, Chris Watrin was on his way out of the group. Instead of replacing him, U25 became a quartet. Back Again, their fourth studio album, was released in 2009 and signaled another change in the group with the departure of Vince Tomas, who was replaced by Jayson Pena. Relocating to the US, the group hoped to capitalize on their mostly American line-up. However, the group lost momentum and split in 2010.