Former Bolton School pupil Max George is enjoying continuing
success with boy band The Wanted, whose debut single 'All Time Low'
reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in August 2010.
Max grew up with his family in Manchester and attended Bolton
School until 2005. Before music, he had been a football player with
Preston North End and was on the verge of signing a two-year deal
with them. He started his music career as a member of Avenue,
a five-piece boy band who entered the third series of The X Factor
in 2006 and made it to Louis Walsh's Bootcamp but were banned from
participation for already having professional representation rather
than being specifically formed for the competition. Avenue went on
to have some success beyond their X Factor appearances but split up
in April 2009.
The Wanted (comprising of Max, Tom Parker, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay
McGuiness, and Nathan Sykes) were formed in 2009 through a mass
audition and soon started working on their debut album with
producers Guy Chambers, Taio Cruz and Steve Mac. The single 'All
time Low' was released in the summer of 2010 and upon its first
week of release, the song debuted at number one on the UK Singles
Chart and remained in the UK Top 40 for 11 weeks. The band's second
single, 'Heart Vacancy', was released in October, as was their
debut studio album 'The Wanted' which charted at number 4 in the
UK. The band started working on their second studio album in
January and the first single from the album, 'Gold Forever' was
released in March in aid of Comic Relief. The band are currently on
tour, with concerts in Wolverhampton, Nottingham, London,
Newcastle, Manchester, Brighton, Cardiff, Plymouth, Bournemouth,
Glasgow, Sheffield and Edinburgh. Journalist Kat Dibbits, an Old
Girl of the School herself, went along to review the Manchester
concert - read her article here.