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Damage are a British R&B
boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...
who achieved success in the 1990s with eleven hit singles, including four top 10 successes on the UK Singles Chart. They have sold 4 million records worldwide. The band currently consists of Jade Jones, Rahsaan J Bromfield, Andrez Harriott, and Noel Simpson.


History


1995–1999: Formation and ''Forever''

The band was formed by Rahsaan "Ras" Bromfield and Noel Simpson who were students at the Barbara Speake Stage School in the London neighbourhood of Acton. They rapped and danced at school assemblies. Jade Jones was brought into the band when Bromfield and Simpson heard him sing a high note. Andrez Harriott, a student at Sylvia Young Theatre School, was recruited after he and Jones performed together in the musical play '' Carmen Jones''. Coreé Richards was asked to join the band after he was heard singing at a bus stop. The band sent a demo tape of a
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of the Jackson 5 song "Anything" to Jazz Summers of Big Life Records in early 1995. Damage made inroads into the UK Singles Chart and the second single " Love II Love" reached number 12 while the follow-up, "
Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama, based on the novel by Judy Blume * '' ...
", charted at number 6 during the Christmas period. "Forever" was also notable for being both the first song that
Steve Mac Steve McCutcheon (born 15 January 1972), known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British record producer, songwriter and musician. A multi-award-winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern Briti ...
and
Wayne Hector Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including " World ...
wrote together, and the song that caught the ear of
Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...
and effectively led to Mac becoming the chief songwriter-producer for Cowell's subsequent projects. Damage's debut album ''
Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama, based on the novel by Judy Blume * '' ...
'' followed in 1997, along with two further UK top 10 singles – " Love Guaranteed" and a cover version of
Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
's " Wonderful Tonight", the latter reaching number 3. The quintet subsequently embarked on an extensive touring schedule while negotiating a new
recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...
following the collapse of Big Life. Jones remained in the media spotlight through his long-term romance with Emma Bunton of the
Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...
.


2000–2001: ''Since You've Been Gone''

In 2000, the band signed with Cooltempo Records and released the first single from their second album, " Ghetto Romance". The song was produced by production duo Tim & Bob, and peaked at No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart. On 30 August, "Rumours" was released as second single. The song is a mixture of R&B and 2-step. The CD2 single contains
UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...
remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
es of "Rumours" and their previous single "Ghetto Romance", as remixed by
Ed Case Edward Espenett Case (born September 27, 1952) is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he has served as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 1st congressional district since 2019, which covers the urban core o ...
& Carl H and Groove Chronicles, respectively. The second album was initially due for release on 25 September 2000, following the release of "Rumours". However, the release date was subsequently pushed back to allow for new material to be recorded. This resulted in the album's track listing being revised. The initial track listing includes the tracks "Feelin' Me" and "Midnight Caller", as well as an outro called "Before We Leave". The second album, '' Since You've Been Gone'', was released on 2 April 2001. However, the final release omits the last tracks and instead replaces them with "I Don't Know" (featuring Emma Bunton), "After the Love Has Gone" and a Mushtaq mix of "So What If I". " After the Love Has Gone" was released as the fifth and final single from the album in December 2001.


2002: ''Live & Liberated'' and split

A short while later, after being dropped by their record label, the band decided to become independent artists, setting up their own management company, Set It Off Management. In April 2002, the band supported Gabrielle on her UK Arena Tour, where they premiered new material for the first time. In an attempt to re-invent themselves, the band decided to become a
musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform Instrumental music, instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist ...
, with Andrez moving to drums, Noel to keyboards and Rahsaan to lead guitar, retaining Jade and Coree on lead vocals. An EP of tracks recorded on the tour, entitled "Live and Liberated", was made available for a short time. The tracklisting includes the previously unreleased tracks "Scum", "Boogie Woogie", "That's It", "So Ridiculous" and "Diamonds & Roses", the intended lead single from a third album that the band were recording at the time. The group claimed that the EP was the first time they had recorded music "we truly wanted to make". Shortly after the tour, after much tension in the Damage camp, and a bust up with Jones, Richards decided to leave the band. Although the remaining four members decided to continue, less than six months later, the band had split. Harriott and Jones formed CherryBlackStone, a six-piece ensemble, which also included Harriott's wife Wendy. After releasing an EP in 2006, and supporting
Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English singer, songwriter, actress and radio personality. She released her first album, ''The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke ...
on her UK Arena Tour in 2007, the band subsequently split. In 2010, the original line-up reformed for a one-off gig at Party in the Park in
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
on 25 July, but did not officially reunite at that time.


2013–present: Return

In late 2013, Damage reformed as a quartet without Richards for the second series of the
ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, 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 fiv ...
documentary '' The Big Reunion'' along with other groups such as Eternal and A1, although Richards did appear on the show to talk about the band and meet with his bandmates one last time. Since their reformation the group have sporadically performed at gigs together.


Discography

*''
Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama, based on the novel by Judy Blume * '' ...
'' (1997) *'' Since You've Been Gone'' (2001)


Concert tours

*Forever Tour (1998) *Live in Concert (2014)


References


External links


Damage on BBC Music
* Biography at AllMusic {{DEFAULTSORT:Damage (British Band) British contemporary R&B musical groups English boy bands Black British musical groups Contemporary R&B musical groups from London Musical groups established in 1995 1995 establishments in England Big Life artists