Richard Abidin Breen (born 29 June 1979), better known as Abz Love, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, producer and TV personality. Love was a member and the lead singer of the boy band

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

. In 2003, Love released his debut solo album '' Abstract Theory'', which earned him a further three top-ten hits. After years out of the spotlight, Love featured on

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, ...

's '' The Big Reunion'' in 2012. In 2013 he appeared on '' All Star Mr & Mrs'' and became the runner-up for Channel 5's '' Celebrity Big Brother 12''. In 2015, Love starred in

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

's documentary series ''Country Strife: Abz on the Farm'', followed by a Christmas special titled ''Country Strife: Abz on the Christmas Farm''.

Early life

On 29 June 1979, Love was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to Turkish father Turan Sanveren and Irish mother Kathleen Breen. Love was raised on a council estate in Hackney,

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the ...

where he was brought up until he left home at 16 to join boyband

. He won a scholarship to attend the Italia Conti Stage School where he studied acting. One day his teacher suggested he audition for a boy band that was being groomed by

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of '' The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on ...

. After performing in front of Cowell and a panel of managers, Love was chosen from over 3,000 auditionees to be in the band

(also known as 5ive), which went on to have international success winning a Brit Award for Best Pop Act 2000, an MTV award and ASCAP awards for songwriting. Love and fellow Five members Jason "J" Brown and Sean Conlon were involved in writing many of the band's hits such as " Everybody Get Up", " Keep On Movin'" and "

If Ya Gettin' Down "If Ya Gettin' Down" is a single by English boy band Five. It was released on 19 July 1999 as the lead single from their second studio album, ''Invincible'' (1999). It was co-written by Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher, and band members J Br ...

Career

1997–2001: Career with Five

(stylised as 5ive) were a successful British boy band in the '90s consisting of members Richard Abidin Love (Abz), Jason Brown (J), Sean Conlon, Ritchie Neville, and Scott Robinson. Formed in 1997 by father/son management team Bob Herbert and Chris Herbert of Safe Management, the same team that originally formed the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and ...

, the band went on to be signed by music industry boss and A&R

, who at the time was a music executive at Sony BMG. Based on current BPI certifications, Five have sold over 1.6 million albums and 2 million singles in the UK alone. The band split up on 27 September 2001 when new father Robinson convinced the other members to take a break. Love has since stated on ITV's '' The Big Reunion'' that he "did not want the band to split and wanted to continue", saying "It felt like they were taking something away from me".

2001–2003: Solo career and debut album

After Five split, Love was signed to

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyou ...

as a solo artist and became the only band member to release a solo album. '' Abstract Theory'' had three top 10 hits on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

with " What You Got" ( 4), "

Stop Sign A stop sign is a traffic sign designed to notify drivers that they must come to a complete stop and make sure the intersection is safely clear of vehicles and pedestrians before continuing past the sign. In many countries, the sign is a red oc ...

" (No. 10), and "Miss Perfect" (No. 5). Plans for "7 Ways" as the fourth single were scrapped despite the fact a music video was filmed for it. Abstract Theory reached No. 29 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, leading him to be dropped by Sony in December 2003.

2012–2013: ''The Big Reunion'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother 12''

On 18 October 2012, it was revealed via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that Five would be taking part in an

documentary series called '' The Big Reunion'', which also featured Atomic Kitten, Blue,

911 911 or 9/11 may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende * November 9 Numbers * 911 ...

, Honeyz,

B*witched B*Witched are an Irish girl group consisting of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O'Carroll. Originally active between 1997 and 2002, they enjoyed success in both Europe and North America between 1998 and 2002, r ...

and

Liberty X Liberty X (originally called Liberty) are a British-Irish group originally consisting of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. The group was formed by the five finalists of the 2001 ITV talent show '' Popstar ...

and followed their journey as they prepared for a comeback show at

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ha ...

. '' The Big Reunion'' aired in January 2013 and was an unexpected hit for

, with each episode averaging 1 million viewers. The show revealed what had happened to the bands after finding fame, with Five's stories, both as a band and as individuals, heavily featured on the show. In episode 4, Love gave the audience a tour of his vegetable garden and showed off his "curly carrots", which subsequently trended on

. Love's eccentric choices of headwear, particularly his "rainbow unicorn hat", garnered him attention from fans. Love entered the '' Celebrity Big Brother'' house on 22 August 2013. When asked by presenter Emma Willis why he was doing the show, he responded, "I need a home cos I'm currently living with my aunty Wendy". While Love has never confirmed how much he was paid to do the show, it has been speculated that he was offered a £100,000 fee. Whilst in the house, Love confessed in the diary room that he has Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism. On 13 September, Love was announced as the '' CBB12'' runner-up, behind

Charlotte Crosby Charlotte Letitia Crosby (born 17 May 1990) is an English television personality, known for appearing in the MTV reality series ''Geordie Shore'' and winning the twelfth series of ''Celebrity Big Brother''. In 2017, she began presenting ''Just ...

2014: Leaving Five via Twitter

In August 2014 Love announced via Twitter that he had left Five, stating: "As of today I am no longer a member of 5ive, thank you to all the fans who supported. I love you all"." Since Love's exit, his former bandmates continue to tour nightclubs as a three-piece using the name Five.

2015: ''Country Strife: Abz on the Farm''

After a brief attempt at rural living in Lincolnshire from 2011 to 2013, Love decided to buy a

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

in rural Wales with his partner and manager Vicky Fallon. Fallon felt that Love's transition to farmer would make for entertaining viewing, so she contacted executive producer and owner of Norfolk-based production company Tin Can Island, Andrea Cornes. Cornes presented the project to Tom Mcdonald at BBC2, who commissioned the series. The

docu-series Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

''Country Strife: Abz on the Farm'' aired on

in August 2015, with the BBC camera crew following the couple's journey throughout 2014 as they purchased a dilapidated smallholding and adjusted to rural life on a budget. BBC Two were criticised by some viewers for Love's appearance on the channel, which was felt to be at odds with the majority of their content, but Love became a cult hit with viewers and critics alike. On 8 September 2015, Love put his

Brit Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

for Best Pop Act 2000 up for auction on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

. The morning the auction went live he announced his plans on ''

The Wright Stuff ''The Wright Stuff'' is a British television chat show which was hosted by former tabloid journalist Matthew Wright from 2000 until 2018. It aired on Channel 5 on weekday mornings from 9:15 to 11:15am. The series characterised itself as "Br ...

'', explaining that he hoped to raise some funds for "topsoil and some gardening tools" for his farm. The bidding started at 99p and Abz constructed a tongue-in-cheek item description to go with the award. The high level of media interest in the auction resulted in bids rapidly rising, eventually reaching over £1 million. Love was reportedly made several offers to end the auction early (including a Ferrari sports car), but turned them down believing that the 1 million bid was real. The day before the auction ended eBay's fraud squad cancelled the account, denying him the chance to see if the top bid was genuine. In January 2016, Abz released his first solo single in over a decade, a comedy track called "Cockadoodledoo" with the hope of raising money for his farming project.

2019–present: Boyz on Block

Since 2019, he has been part of the supergroup called

Boyz on Block Boyz on Block are an English and Irish supergroup formed in 2019 consisting of Phats & Small singer Ben Ofoedu and former boy band members Abz Love, Dane Bowers and Shane Lynch from the groups Five, Another Level and Boyzone, respectively. Car ...

, composed of Another Level's

Dane Bowers Dane Leon Bowers is a British singer, songwriter, DJ and producer. He was a part of pop boy band Another Level between 1997 and 2000 when he performed on seven Top 10 singles, before taking up solo projects with True Steppers and Victoria Beck ...

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

Shane Lynch Shane Eamon Mark Stephen Lynch (born 3 July 1976) is an Irish singer, but best known as a member of Boyzone. In recent years, he has taken up auto racing, participated in reality shows such as '' Celebrity Big Brother'' in 2018 and appeared as ...

and

Phats & Small Phats & Small are a British electronic dance music duo formed in Brighton, in 1998, and composed of Jason "Phats" Hayward and Russell Small. They are best known for their single " Turn Around", which became an international hit in 1999. Musica ...

's Ben Ofoedu. On 20 November 2020, the group released their first single, a cover of

East 17 East 17 are an English pop boy band started by Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Hendy, and Terry Coldwell in 1991. As of 2020, the group consists of Coldwell, Robbie Craig, and Joe Livermore. East 17 have undergone multiple lineup changes, wi ...

's 1994 single "

Stay Another Day "Stay Another Day" is a song recorded by British boy band East 17, released on 21 November 1994, as the third single from their second album, ''Steam'' (1994). It is their only number-one song on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the Christmas num ...

", featuring

Tony Mortimer Anthony Michael Mortimer (born 21 October 1970 in Stepney, London) is a British singer, songwriter and record producer from London. He is a former member of the boy band East 17, who were originally active from 1991 to 1997 and sold over 20 mill ...

. They released their second single during February 2021, a cover of K-Ci & JoJo's " All My Life". Neither single appeared on the official UK charts. On 27 October 2021,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

announced Love would be taking part in the tenth series of '' Celebs Go Dating'', alongside Ulrika Jonsson, Ryan-Mark Parsons, Miles Nazaire,

Chloe Brockett Chloe Brockett (born 3 December 2000) is an English television personality. After moving to Chafford Hundred, Essex, at a young age, she began acting with various appearances in television advertisements. Whilst working as a hairdresser, she wa ...

, Nikita Jasmine, Marty McKenna and Jessika Power. The series began airing in January 2022.

Personal life

Love dated singer/songwriter Vicky Fallon starting in 2009 and the couple were subsequently engaged. They split in 2017. In October 2014 Love bought a dilapidated smallholding in

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Early life

Career

1997–2001: Career with Five

2001–2003: Solo career and debut album

2012–2013: ''The Big Reunion'' and ''Celebrity Big Brother 12''

2014: Leaving Five via Twitter

2015: ''Country Strife: Abz on the Farm''

2019–present: Boyz on Block

Personal life

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Featured

References

External links