Union J were an English boy band, originally consisting of JJ Hamblett, Jaymi Hensley, George Shelley and Josh Cuthbert. Shelley left the group in 2016 and was replaced by Casey Johnson, who left several months later, Cuthbert left the group in 2018 leaving the band as duo until they disbanded in 2019. The band formed in 2011, originally as a trio known as Triple J, consisting of Cuthbert, Hamblett and Hensley. They auditioned for the ninth series of the British television music competition The X Factor where they met Shelley who joined the band at the judges' request. They were the tenth contestant eliminated and were subsequently signed to Sony Music subsidiary RCA Records. Their debut single "Carry You" was released in June 2013. Their self-titled debut studio album followed in October 2013 and peaked at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart.
Union J left RCA Records in April 2014 and signed with Epic Records. In the lead-up to the release of their second album You Got It All – The Album, the band released two singles: "Tonight (We Live Forever)" and "You Got It All". A new EP Who Would've Thought was released on 22 March 2019. Cuthbert left the band in 2018 leaving the group as a duo, they later disbanded in 2019.
On 31 January 2022 Union J confirmed they would be reforming to celebrate their tenth anniversary with Shelley and Cuthbert rejoining the group who respectively left in 2016 and 2018.
History
2011–2012: Formation and The X Factor In 2007, Blair Dreelan of Alpha Dog Management met 14-year-old Josh Cuthbert, who was auditioning for the fourth series of The X Factor in front of judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Dannii Minogue. Cuthbert failed to progress to the bootcamp stage, but Dreelan believed that he looked like a pop star and was impressed by his voice: "I began to sort of work with him on various little projects like just sort of recording stuff because I've got a recording studio in Swindon." In 2011, Cuthbert and Jaymi Hensley met whilst studying performing arts at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in Westminster and later decided to put a band together. Former jockey Jamie "JJ" Hamblett was later added to the group by Dreelan, and they named themselves Triple J (due to each member sharing the same initial).
In May 2012, after eight months together, Triple J and soloist George Shelley both auditioned in London for the ninth series of The X Factor in front of judges Walsh, Gary Barlow, Tulisa and Nicole Scherzinger. Triple J performed Rihanna's international hit "We Found Love", whilst George covered an acoustic version of Britney Spears' "Toxic" – in which he also incorporated his guitar. Both acts progressed to the next stage of the competition, receiving positive critique from all judges present. Bootcamp saw Shelley perform Labrinth's "Earthquake", competing against female contestants; Charlie Cammish and Meg O'Neill. Triple J first sang Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger", before contending for the final place at judges' houses with GMD3 (later District3). They covered Chris Brown's "Yeah 3x", but were sent home after GMD3 were eventually chosen for judges' houses. However, following Rough Copy's forced withdrawal from the show, Dreelan was contacted by The X Factor producers with an offer for the group to return, on the basis that Shelley was added to the three-piece. All parties accepted the offer and the band – now a four-piece – became Union J and advanced to judges' houses alongside fellow recalled Times Red in the groups category, mentored by Walsh. The band's first performance as a four-piece was an acoustic cover of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe". Walsh put them through to the live shows alongside District3 and MK1, and they instantly proved popular with social media users.
In week 1 of the live shows, Union J performed Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now". Despite negative feedback from the other judges, they progressed through to the next week after placing fourth in voting statistics behind Christopher Maloney, Jahméne Douglas and Ella Henderson, respectively. In week 4, the group received the fewest public votes with Jade Ellis, but were saved by Barlow, Scherzinger and Walsh. They found themselves in the bottom two again in week 6, against District3, but were saved for a second time by Barlow and Scherzinger, with Walsh refusing to vote between his acts. Union J were in the bottom two for a third time in the quarter-final, where they were saved by Walsh, Barlow and Tulisa over Rylan Clark. They were eliminated in the semi-final on 2 December. It was later reported that their winning single would have been a cover of Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper", which is featured on their debut album.
Performances on The X Factor Show Track(s) Theme Result Triple J George Shelley Auditions "We Found Love" "Toxic" Free choice Progressed to Bootcamp Bootcamp (1) "Moves Like Jagger" "Earthquake" Bootcamp challenge Rebranded/progressed to judges' houses Bootcamp (2) "Sweet Child o' Mine" Free choice Judges' houses "Call Me Maybe" Progressed to live shows Live show 1 "Don't Stop Me Now" Heroes (songs inspired by the Olympic Games) Safe (4th) Live show 2 "Bleeding Love" / "Broken Strings" Love and heartbreak Safe (7th) Live show 3 "When Love Takes Over" Club classics Safe (8th) Live show 4 "Sweet Dreams" Halloween Bottom two (8th) Live show 4 results "Perfect" Free choice Safe (3/4 majority vote) Live show 5 "Love Story" Number-ones Safe (4th) Live show 6 "Fix You" Best of British Bottom two (6th) Live show 6 results "Set Fire to the Rain" Free choice Safe (2/2 majority vote) Live show 7 "Call Me Maybe" Guilty pleasures Safe (4th) Quarter-Final "The Winner Takes It All" ABBA Bottom two (4th) "I'll Be There" Motown Quarter-Final Results "Run" Free choice Safe (3/4 majority vote) Semi-Final "Beneath Your Beautiful" Free choice/someone special Eliminated by public vote (4th) "I'm Already There" Free choice/songs to get you to the final
2013–2014: Union J and You Got It All Union J first announced that they had signed a record deal with Sony Music Entertainment at a performance in Cardiff, Wales, on 15 December 2012. Their debut single "Carry You" was recorded in London in January 2013 and was released in June 2013, charting at number six in the United Kingdom. On 28 January, it was confirmed that the subsidiary label that Union J had signed with was RCA Records. In June 2013, it was announced that the band would embark on their first UK headline tour, the Magazines + TV Screens Tour, which consisted of 18 dates in December 2013 and January 2014. They also revealed that their debut album would be released on 28 October 2013.
Union J announced that their second single, "Beautiful Life", would be released on 21 October 2013, a week before their self-titled debut album, Union J. On 2 October 2013, the band revealed that they are partnering up with Pokémon for the UK release of X and Y. On 5 November 2013, they announced that their third single would be "Loving You Is Easy".
On 2 January 2014, while guest editing the Daily Stars Playlist column, Union J announced that they would release their second album in 2014. Jaymi said, "Very exciting, we're about to start recording our second studio album, which is massive. And then I think we're going to write on the album as well, work with some new producers." Josh also said that they hope to "find that lane that [they] want to go down." They also revealed that they felt there was pressure on them to match the huge success of One Direction, as Louis Walsh had expected them to have a number-one single. The band also revealed that they did write songs for their debut album which ultimately failed to make the final cut, but hoped to have more self-penned tracks on their second album. Hensley told Digital Spy, "We did write for [their first] album and we'd done about 14 songs but they didn't go on the album, maybe because they weren't right. The thing about writing is it's personal but also the more practice you get, the better you get."
On 5 April, Cuthbert announced via Twitter that Union J had left RCA and signed a new deal with Epic Records. The first single to be taken from the band's second album is "Tonight (We Live Forever)", which was released on 17 August 2014. Following its premiere on Capital FM on 18 June 2014, the single entered the iTunes Top 100 Chart through pre-order sales alone. Union J performed "Tonight (We Live Forever)" live for the first time at Capital FM's Summertime Ball. On 24 August, "Tonight" debuted at number 9 in the UK.
On 14 October, it was announced that the second single from their second album is entitled "You Got It All". Its first play was on 15 October on Capital FM. On 30 October, Union J that announced that their second album will be called You Got It All – The Album and was released on 8 December 2014. Despite promoting the album on The X Factor and The Xtra Factor, it entered at number 28 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 15,000 copies on its first week.
2015–2019: Tour, departures and split Union J were the main support act on The Vamps' arena tour in the UK and Ireland in April and May 2015. They announced that they were doing An Audience with Union J in October and November, and also revealed that they are working on their third album.
Shelley left the group in March 2016; speaking exclusively to The Suns Dan Wootton, Cuthbert blamed Shelley's departure on the latter's changing manner following his stint on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Cuthbert said, "I would much rather have someone who wants to do it and is committed to do it. I’m not going to lose any sleep over him not being in the band." Hensley revealed that Shelley's departure was a mutual agreement between all four members and that there were no bad feelings or jealousy which led to it.
Union J recorded their third album called "Who Would've Thought" in Los Angeles in May 2016. It was also announced that theywould be touring Butlins throughout the summer of 2016. In April 2017, Johnson left the band and the remaining members announced that they would continue as a trio.
In July 2018, Union J announced that they will be releasing their new single on the same month. In the same month, it was announced that the single is called "Alive" and will be released on 13 July 2018. They released a second single, Dancing featuring Ironik, off their third album on 25 August.
Josh Lloyd-Cuthbert then quit the band in October, leaving Hamblett and Hensley as a duo. Cuthbert told The Sun:
"The music industry is really difficult. It plays with your emotions, it's ups and downs and you go through different managers. Over the last few years we’ve had different managers and we've been promised the world and been let down. We've got a label now which are great and I respect them lots and have nothing but good words to say about them, but it is difficult when you change members. George obviously left, which was hard for us, but everyone has different reasons and has different things going on. Now that I'm making this decision myself I understand why George made that decision two years ago. At the time you don't really get it, until you have the same feelings as him, which I now have. I spoke to them on the phone and I just hope that they support me, I want to stay friends with the boys, I love them."
The remaining members of Union J released their third and final single from Who Would've Thought, called "Paralysed", on 14 December 2018, with a video appearing on their YouTube channel on 25 January 2019. JJ Hamblett and Jaymi Hensley then disbanded.
2022–2023: Tenth anniversary reunion On 31 January 2022, the band confirmed they would be reforming to celebrate their tenth anniversary. Shelley and Cuthbert rejoined the group for the reunion and announced a one night residency at The London Palladium on 28 May 2022. On the night of the concert, they announced they would be embarking on a comeback tour.