New Edition

Kicking the lovable soul of the Motown vocal groups into a new era, New Edition laid a template for the boy bands of the 1980s and 1990s with their strutting attitude and pouting, urban pop. Inspired by The Jackson 5, the Boston school friends formed in 1978 and got their break when they finished second in a high profile local talent contest and earned a deal with Maurice Starr's label Streetwise Records. Led by the swaggering Bobby Brown, the group (all aged between 13 and 15) shot to Number 1 in the UK with debut single Candy Girl, but it was double platinum second album New Edition (1984) and hits Cool It Now and Mr Telephone Man which made them teen stars in the US. More success came with the Sean Combs-produced Heart Break (1988), before comeback album Home Again (1996) topped the US charts and produced the Top 10 singles Hit Me Off and I'm Still In Love With You. The controversial Brown - who was excluded from the band for 10 years because of "behaviour problems" - went on to huge solo stardom and a high profile relationship with Whitney Houston; but the boys were reunited for the album One Love (2004) and were rewarded with a Soul Train Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.