5ive star Ritchie Neville has revealed the staggeringly small amount he earned during his band’s hayday, despite selling 20 million records worldwide.
The singer, 45, soared to fame when he and bandmates Scott Robinson, Sean Conlon, J Brown and Abz Love – were signed by signed by Simon Cowell and BMG/RCA for a six-album deal in 1997 but struggled to cope with the pressure of fame and their gruelling schedules.
Opening up about the experience on upcoming BBC series Boybands Forever, Ritchie claimed the group were exploited by those profiting from their success.
He said the group had just ‘two days off in two years’ while starting out and were paid just £100 each a week to begin with, even after hit singles like Everybody Get Up had been released.
In one shocking moment, Ritchie claimed he even had his passport confiscated so he couldn’t go home when he fell ill on tour.
5ive’s Ritchie Neville revealed the small amount he earned during his band’s heyday, despite selling 20 million records worldwide, as he appeared on BBC’s Boybands Forever
He said the group had just ‘two days off in two years’ while starting out and were paid just £100 each a week (L-R Richie, Scott Robinson, Abz Love, Jason Brown and Sean Conlon)
As reported by The Guardian, 5ive were touring Australia and New Zealand when he contracted chickenpox and was advised by a doctor to fly home and rest at his parents for two weeks.
Yet Ritchie claims he was told by a label representative: ‘Doctors over-exaggerate, don’t they?’.
He added: ‘In the end they wouldn’t give me my passport to fly home. [bandmate] Scott had to go in and nick my passport and just hand it to me and bundle me in a taxi at four in the morning.
‘At the time, I didn’t think that much of it. Now, that’s an encroachment of power, isn’t it really? It’s almost imprisonment.’
Ritchie previously revealed that once the band split his stress levels didn’t subside because he quickly ran into financial troubles.
5ive split in 2001 and after reuniting several times over the years, the group are currently a trio formed of Ritchie, Sean and Scott.
He told The Times in 2022: ‘We sold 20 million records worldwide, so people assume the royalty cheques kept on coming, but you’d be surprised at the actual figures.
‘Obviously it’s split between five members, then you’ve got the production teams and the producers. It was a classic example of how record companies treat young artists…
‘You think you’ve won the lottery, and don’t get me wrong we had some brilliant experiences, but financially they take the lion’s share and by the time it’s finished it’s too late. It’s done.’
The singer and his bandmates soared to fame when they were signed by signed by Simon Cowell (centre) and BMG/RCA for a six-album deal in 1997 but struggled to cope with the fame
Ritchie revealed that he was ‘flat broke’ within 18 months of the band splitting and was told by his accountant that he only had two months before he wouldn’t have a penny left to his name.
In the end he had to sell his home and his BMW car in order to stay afloat.
He revealed his financial struggles left him near-suicidal explaining: ‘I felt like the biggest loser on the planet. I’d gone from opening the Brits and performing there with Queen to having nothing in two years and it nearly broke me.
‘Without the care and help of my partner at the time I don’t think I would have survived.’
Elsewhere in the documentary, Ritchie’s bandmate Scott, 44, confessed he reached breaking point in 2001, recalling: ‘I pinned one of the big cheeses at the record label up against his desk with my foot, crushing him into the wall, and said, “I will f***ing leave this band, you try and f***ing stop me”, with Simon Cowell trying to fight me off him.’
Simon admitted: ‘We almost ended up in a fist fight. I was that close to punching him in the face.’
Scott went on to confess: ‘I’d lost my mind. They had to call security and carry me out of the building kicking and screaming like a f***ing wild dog.’
Admitting the music industry came with a dark side, Simon mused: ‘You could make a lot of money, but it’s a really horrible, disgusting business at times. You’ve got to have thick skin.’
Elsewhere in the documentary, Ritchie’s bandmate Scott, 44, confessed he reached breaking point in 2001, and Simon Cowell nearly punched him in the face
Despite this, he claimed stars shouldn’t complain because they were warned what they were getting themselves into.
‘There is a contract you sign which says, I will be available to shake every hand, to have my picture taken whenever requested and my privacy now has pretty much disappeared. It’s just a fact,’ Simon explained.
‘If you don’t want that, be an accountant. You can’t have it both ways.’
Boybands Forever, made by Louis Theroux’s production company Mindhouse, which takes a deep dive into the careers of Nineties and Noughties acts such as Take That, Westlife and Blue, is set to hit screens on Saturday.
The three hour-long episodes will follow the life changing reality of stars finding fame at a young age and will dive into topics such as drink, drugs, bust-ups and exploitation.
The likes of Robbie Williams and Brian McFadden were interviewed as well as music label boss Louis Walsh.
Speaking ahead of his boyband series, Louis Theroux said: ‘I couldn’t be more thrilled about this series. An epic story featuring a cast of stars and star-makers, spanning three decades, it involves some of the icons of modern British pop.
‘We see them through them through their highs and lows, hearing from the key players, as we chart the golden years of boybands.
Simon opened up about the ‘horrible and disgusting’ side to the music industry but claimed stars shouldn’t complain because they were warned what they were getting themselves into
‘How they came together, the experience of sudden fame, the opportunity and temptations that came their way, conflicts within the groups, between the groups, and between the boys and their managers.
‘It’s a gripping fable about getting everything you dreamed of, and it not being what you imagined, centred on a generation of young men, and their managers, who were wildly successful and also immensely vulnerable, having the times of their lives and also in some cases cracking up.
‘Those boys we all watched singing and dancing in tight formation – Take That, East 17, Westlife, Blue, Five, Damage, 911 and so many others – are now middle aged men who have the time and the maturity to look back reflect on what they went through. It’s taken us more than a year to make the series.
‘Now I’m just excited for people to see it.’
The first two episodes of Boybands Forever air at 9.15pm and 10.15pm on BBC Two