Busted

Busted were a British pop group made up of three members: James Bourne, Charlie Simpson and Matt Jay. They were signed to Universal Island and released seven singles and two albums in the UK Charts. Their sound could be described as "pop-rock" or "pop-punk". They could also be described as a boyband, although they sang live and in all but their earliest songs played their own guitars.

The band was formed in 2001 by James and Matt, with Charlie joining a few months later after answering an advert in the NME. Their first single, What I Go To School For, was released on September 16 2002 and got to number three in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album was released on September 30 2002 with mixed success in the beginnings, debuting in the Top 40 Album Chart, but drifting out fairly soon after.

In 2003, the band released another single, Year 3000, reaching number two in the charts, and prompting a resurgence in album sales. Two more singles from the first album were released later in 2003. A second album, A Present For Everyone was released in October 2003, with the first single, Crashed the Wedding, reaching number one in the charts. A second single, Who's David?, also reached number 1, but the third single, Air Hostess, only reached number 2. They finally returned to number 1 with Thunderbirds Are Go/3am, the first song being from the soundtrack of the movie "Thunderbirds", and the second being the third song from their album. None of their previous number one singles have stayed at number one for longer than a week, with this single staying at the top spot for two weeks.

A series about Busted's attempts to break America, America or Busted, started on MTV in the UK in November 2004.

Busted were also known for their feuds with other pop groups including Girls Aloud and Kelly Osbourne.

McFly, a similar group and friends of Busted, also enjoyed chart success.

After two sold out arena tours in one year, performing to a quarter of a million people on those two tours alone, Busted released a live album, called A Ticket For Everyone in late 2004. To promote this, they released a limited edition 3" CD single, She Wants To Be Me.

On 4 December, 2004 Busted's "Thunderbirds" won the public vote for Record of the Year 2004 in the UK in a live show on ITV.

Busted were also winners of Best Pop and Best Breakthrough Act at the 2004 Brit Awards.

After months of speculation, and an announcement that Charlie Simpson was to 'take a break' to tour with his rock group, Fightstar, Busted called a press conference on January 14th 2005. It was announced that Busted were to split, as Charlie had become disillusioned with the band, and wanted to concentrate fully on Fightstar.

Busted's last venture together was as part of Band Aid 20, a charity group put together by Bob Geldof. The group released a new version of 80s hit Do They Know It's Christmas? in order to raise funds for the Darfur region in Sudan. The single spent several weeks at number one in the UK charts.

The future of the band seems questionable: Simpson is musically involved with Fightstar, Jay plans to set up a solo career, and Bourne is currently launching a new band. Not much is known about either of the latter endeavours, but it is rumoured that James's band's first single is to be a song entitled Ticket Out Of Loserville.

Subsequent Statements By the Band

James Bourne; "I’m devastated that Charlie has chosen to quit Busted, but I have to respect his decision and I fully support him and wish him all the best for the future. I would like to say a personal thank you to all the fans who have made the last three years the best years of my life. I’ll remember these years forever."

Charlie Simpson, lead singer; "I’m incredibly proud of everything that we’ve achieved in Busted. We’ve enjoyed some of the best times in our lives together. I wouldn’t change one single bit of it. This has been a really difficult decision and I hope the fans will understand".

Matt Jay; "It’s a really sad day for all of us but we’ve always said that if one member left then we’d call it a day. The last three years have been unbelievable and I’d like to say a massive thank you to all our fans- you’ve been amazing."

Discography

• Albums (UK chart positions)

1. Busted (2002) – #2
2. A Present For Everyone (2003) – #2
3. Busted Live: A Ticket For Everyone (2004) – #11

One Busted album specifically released for the U.S. market, a self-titled debut (officially called Busted (2004)), enjoyed limited success.

• Singles (UK chart positions)

From Busted:

1. "What I Go to School For" (2002) – #3
2. "Year 3000" (2003) – #2
3. "You Said No" (2003) – #1
4. "Sleeping with the Light On" (2003) – #3

From A Present For Everyone:

1. "Crashed the Wedding" (2003) – #1
2. "Who's David?" (2004) – #1
3. "Air Hostess" (2004) – #2

From Thunderbirds soundtrack/A Present For Everyone:

1. "Thunderbirds Are Go"/"3am" (2004) – #1

Guest appearance:

1. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (as part of Band Aid 20) (2004) #1

External links

• "Busted Split Announcement (http://www.busted.com/news/?month=1&id=281)", Official Busted Site, 14 January 2005
• "Busted fansite tracking the future careers of all three former members (http://www.bustedonline.org)"de:Busted

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