Boy band East 17: From the top of the charts to homelessness | Entertainment

In the 1990s, the four-piece East 17 Team stormed the UK charts with a refreshing approach. While the competition primarily made teenagers swoon, Brian Harvey, Tony Mortimer and Co. appeared grounded and rebellious.

No extravagant hairstyles – a stronger alternative to the Bubi image, for whom Boy bands otherwise known until now.

A working class band from the London borough of Walthamstow! East 17 sold more than 18 million records worldwide. Songs like “Stay Another Day” and “House of Love” also stayed in our top 10 for weeks.

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“Daily Mail” now met members Terence Mark Coldwell and John Hendy. Coldwell always stayed on the ground. Him: “I’ve always seen East 17 as a job – the best job in the world, don’t get me wrong – but it is a job. “I’m no bigger than the guy sweeping the street. We have the same job, just a different one.”

Former boy band, then homeless: “We had no money”

His former colleague John Hendy lost everything in the meantime. “We had no money,” he says of the time when he and his family had to leave home and move to Spain. Shortly before the pandemic, which threw his plans overboard.

They had to go back to England. Hendy: “I had to borrow money from my cousin to pay for the return flight.” Then we had no place to stay, no one wanted to put me up.”

He lived in a hostel for more than a year. “It was bad,” remembers the ex-singer. “If you walked down the hallway, there were crack addicts there.”

East 17 star is now a roofer

Today Hendy works as a roofer, Coldwell has since ended up at Volvo: “I drove the cars to the branches and probably drove 14 hours a day.” For the equivalent of just 16 euros a day. “I got a normal job because I had kids and that’s what you have to do.”

The band’s collapse came very suddenly…

In 1997, singer Brian Harvey did his colleagues a disservice when his drug use became public. East 17 was dissolved overnight by the scandal.

A year later, the band started anew – with Harvey, but without founder Tony Mortimer. The comeback under the name E-17 turned out to be a megaflop without its new main star.

In 2010 the team temporarily disbanded. As of 2015 they still appeared sporadically. But there will probably never be a great career in the spotlight again.