James Michael Constable (born 21 September 1971) is an English

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

singer, songwriter and dancer. He is a member of the

band

911 911, 9/11 or Nine Eleven may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** The 2001 September 11 attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda, commonly referred to as 9/11 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that ousted the ...

Early life

Constable was born in Oxford Street Maternity Hospital, Liverpool to parents Margaret and Ronnie. He is a fan of

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

Career

1990s: ''The Hitman and Her''

Constable began his career in the early 1990s as a dancer on the late-night ITV

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

show '' The Hitman and Her''.

1995–2000: 911

Whilst on the show, Constable met Simon "Spike" Dawbarn and

Jason Orange Jason Thomas Orange (born 10 July 1970) is an English former singer. He is best known for being a member of the pop group Take That from the band's creation in 1990 until their split in 1996, and again from their reunion in 2005 until he retire ...

. Having seen how successful the latter went on to become with his band

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

, Constable and Dawbarn put their own band together, and

was born.

Lee Brennan Lee Anthony Brennan (born 27 September 1973) is an English singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He was the lead vocalist of boy band 911. Early and personal life Lee Brennan was born on 27 September 1973 in Carlisle, Cumbria.. Brennan was diag ...

joined the line-up and they became a trio. 911 spent several months building up a fanbase from scratch, performing gigs in schools and small public venues. After independently releasing two singles which both made the UK top 40, " Night to Remember" and "

Love Sensation "Love Sensation" is a 1980 song performed by American R&B singer Loleatta Holloway, taken from her album of the same name. The song was produced and written by Dan Hartman, arranged by Norman Harris, and mixed by Tom Moulton. It was a hit on ...

", 911 were signed by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

. 911 sold over 10 million singles and six million albums worldwide before splitting up in 2000. Constable announced the split live on Radio 1 and in 2005 said: "I didn't have any time to get my head around it. I had a lump in my throat saying it, then we came out of Radio 1 and the other two guys went to the pub. I got in my car and took off and I never saw them for two years."

Post-split

After the band split, Constable turned to drink and drugs, admitting "I found myself in my old single bed with a bottle of

Jack Daniel's Jack Daniel's is a brand of Tennessee whiskey produced at Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, which has been owned by the Brown–Forman Corporation since 1956. Packaged in square bottles, Jack Daniel's "Black Label" Tennessee wh ...

and a bottle of pain killers and thought about ending it there and then. The only thing that stopped me was thinking about the devastation it would cause for my family." Constable return to the music industry in 2006 by taking part in the

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

series '' Totally Boyband''. The series followed ex-members of other boy bands forming into a new band, called

Upper Street Upper Street is the main street of the Islington district of inner north London, and carries the A1 road. It begins at the junction of the A1 and Liverpool Road, continuing on from Islington High Street which runs from the crossroads at Pe ...

. But their first single was a commercial failure, charting at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart and the band disbanded. On 28 August 2007, he appeared on the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

game show ''Identity'', billed as an 'ex boyband member'.

2012–present: ''The Big Reunion'' and 911 comeback

On 18 October 2012, it was announced that 911, along with

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 ...

, Five,

Atomic Kitten Atomic Kitten were an English girl group formed in Liverpool in 1998, whose original lineup comprised Kerry Katona, Liz McClarnon, and Natasha Hamilton. The group was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) members Andy McCluskey an ...

Honeyz The Honeyz are a British Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group currently composed of members Célena Cherry, Heavenli Abdi and Cherry's sister, Candace Cherry, as a touring member. The group had five UK top 10 hits between 1998 and 2000, with "Final ...

and

Liberty X Liberty X (originally called Liberty) are a British girl group consisting of Michelle Heaton, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. The group's best-known line-up also included Tony Lundon and Kevin Simm. The group was formed by the five finalists of ...

, would be reuniting again for 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 series ''

The Big Reunion ''The Big Reunion'' is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed ...

''. Constable also does songwriting for other artists. He has worked with

Les McKeown Leslie Richard McKeown (12 November 195520 April 2021) was a Scottish singer. He was the lead vocalist of the pop rock band Bay City Rollers during their most successful period in the 1970s. Early life Leslie Richard McKeown was born in Broomho ...

of the

Bay City Rollers The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity, as a band in the 1970s. One of many 70s acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Beatles", they were called the "tartan teen sensations fro ...

and

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

Personal life

Constable was previously in a nine-year relationship with his girlfriend Bernadette Robertson, whom he met in 1985. He proposed to her in 1988 and four years later she gave birth to their son, Scott. In 1994, Constable left Bernadette in order to move to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland and focus on his music career with 911, although he did agree to give her away at her next wedding. Constable lives with his wife Claire (whom he married in 2009) and two other children in

St Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Constable became an ambulance driver for the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constable, Jimmy 1971 births 911 (English group) members English male dancers English male singers English pop singers Living people Musicians from Liverpool Upper Street (group) members People from Toxteth