When East 17 stumbled into the Walthamstow, England limelight in late 1991 they had little idea that their rabble-rousing brand of boy-band pop would create such a storm. Indeed, at the outset, a young Tony Mortimer had been on the verge of signing a solo deal with London Records until ex-Pet Shop Boys manager Tom Watkins suggested that what the world needed was a boy-band antidote to Take That and a band that bad girls could fall in love with. Of course, what Mortimer says now is that he really thought the world needed a UK version of New Kids On The Block and when you think about it this is not a million miles from the inevitable truth. The resultant chaos produced a 1992 debut single, House Of Love, which sold 600,000 copies and a debut album that hit the No.1 spot the following year. The band went on to achieve 18 Top Twenty hits (including Deep, Steam, Let It Rain, It’s Alright and Christmas No.1 Stay Another Day, the latter remaining No.1 for five weeks) as well as four Top Ten albums and sales of over twenty million records. And when East 17 finally split in 1997 it was heralded (and still remains) one of the greatest break-ups in pop history. EAST 17 are Tony Mortimer, John Hendy and Terry Coldwell but it hasn’t always been this way. Back in 1991 Mortimer’s school-friend Hendy had been hired to provide backing vocals whilst Coldwell and Brian Harvey (who were three years younger) were originally commandeered as dancers. Tellingly, however, Mortimer heard Harvey...