The List: Best boy bands
By John Haydon - The Washington Times
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Boy bands are back in the news. We’re talking about bands that are made, not born. The ingredients: a handful of handsome young male singers with good voices. These bands first became popular in Britain and the United States but now are all the rage in Japan and Korea. Earlier this month, the band One Direction became the first British band to debut its first album at No. 1 in the U.S. Not even the Beatles did that. And in the U.S., Big Time Rush is all the rage. This week, the List looks at some of the best and biggest boy bands over the years.

8. Westlife — This Irish boy band, made up of Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, and Brian Mc Fadden (left in 2004), has had 14 No. 1 hits in the U.K. Across its 14-year career, it has sold 6.8 million singles, 11.9 million albums and 1.5 million videos. The band was originally signed by Simon Cowell.
7. The New Edition — The band was formed in Boston in 1978. At the height of its early popularity in 1983, the group consisted of Ronnie DeVoe, Ralph Tresvant, Bobby Brown, Michael Bivins, and Ricky Bell. The song “Candy Girl” was a No. 1 hit in the U.K. Mr. Brown went on to have a solo career and is the ex-husband of pop singer Whitney Houston.
6. Boyz II Men — This rhythm-and-blues vocal group was formed in 1988 and went on to sell 60 million albums worldwide. The current lineup is the trio of founding members Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman. In 1994, the band released its second album, “II,” which sold 12 million copies in the U.S., becoming one of the best-selling albums ever released by an R&B group. This year, the band released its 10th album, “Twenty.”
5. Take That — This band was formed in Manchester, England, in 1990 with founding members Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow. It’s probably Britain’s biggest boy band, with career sales of more than 8 million albums, including 11 No. 1 hits. Mr. Williams went solo in 1995 to have a huge career selling more than 70 million albums worldwide.

Note: People would argue that the Beatles was a boy band. But while packaged and put together, they formed themselves and did many gigs in Germany before Brian Epstein took them over. The Beatles wrote their own songs and played their own instruments, as did the Osmonds, not included on this list. A special mention for Boyzone.
Compiled by John Haydon


原址：
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/29/list-best-boy-bands/

都让1D和The Wanted折腾的……