O-Town Biography
This Orlando, California, USA-based teen pop outfit rose to fame on the back of the ABC network's documentary about the creation of a boy band, Making The Band, a series which could be viewed as either a savage indictment of the state of pop music or compelling, voyeuristic television. Over the course of 22 weekly episodes the viewer saw the many hopeful young singer/dancers whittled down to a quintet by a panel of judges headed by boy band impresario Lou Pearlman. The lucky five were Trevor Penick (6 November 1979, Fullerton, California, USA), Ashley Parker Angel (b. Ashley Ward Parker, 1 August 1981, Redding, California, USA), Jacob Underwood (b. 25 April 1980, El Cajon, California, USA), Erik-Michael Estrada (b. 23 September 1979, New York City, New York, USA), and Dan Miller (b. 4 September 1980, New Hampshire, USA). At the end of the series the band was seen signing a recording contract with Clive Davis' new venture, J Records. Pearlman, who had recently settled financial disputes with former employees *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys, had the last laugh when the name-dropping, zeitgeist-hugging single "Liquid Dreams" climbed inexorably up the Billboard Hot 100. The group's debut album was also an instant Top 5 success when it was released in January 2001.
The law of diminishing returns then took grip, with successive singles and a second album failing to match the success of previous releases. The group fell apart in 2003, with frontman Angel going on to launch a solo career.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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