Busted

Originally called Buster, boyband Busted adopted their new name after Geri Halliwell mispronounced their name while introducing them on a TV show. They went through various line-ups and at one time briefly included Tom Fletcher - later a founder of McFly - as singer and lead guitarist. Charlie Simpson took over the front man role when they signed to Universal in 2002 and the boys featured on the cover of Smash Hits magazine before they'd even released a record. Their run of hits began the same year with 'What I Go to School For' followed by 'Year 3000', although they didn't get their first UK number one until their third single 'You Said No'. They were back at number one the following year with 'Crashed the Wedding' and recorded the theme music for the 2004 'Thunderbirds' movie. The group was a hugely popular live act, too, inciting enthusiastic reactions from a mainly female audience with their high energy sound. However, Charlie Simpson's penchant for heavy metal was always an issue and when he launched his offshoot band Fightstar in 2005, it triggered the beginning of the end for Busted. James Bourne went on to form Son of Dork and also released music through his solo alias of Future Boy and Matt Willis, after a spell in rehab, released a solo album and was crowned winner of reality show 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here' in 2006. In 2013, after years of rumour and speculation, Bourne and Willis reunited to join long-time friends McFly on their tenth anniversary tour. Simpson stated that he would never again be part of Busted, but in 2014 Bourne and Willis revealed a partnership with Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd that they would call McBusted, with a sold-out UK tour and a self-titled album. After years of refusing to partake, Simpson eventually rejoined Busted in 2015 and they embarked on a UK arena tour with new album 'Night Driver' released in 2016. They followed this with 'Half Way There' in 2019.

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