They were discovered by a Warner Bros. Records talent scout while working as decorators in a shop near Oxford Street, singing during their tea break.
The members were originally in a band called DYYCE, which then reformed as Lexi Joe, which formed the basis of The Overtones.
With four members originally – Mark Franks, Mike Crawshaw, Darren Everest and Timmy Matley – the band had been performing for several years.
Later, they met Lockie Chapman, discovered similar tastes in music and reformed themselves as a five-piece band, under the name of The Overtones.
It was while painting a shop near Oxford Street in London that the band was discovered by a talent scout, while singing "The Longest Time".
In 2010, they made a number of high-profile public appearances, supporting Peter Andre on tour,[2] and performing at Stockport's Christmas lights switch-on[3] and at the Abbey Park fireworks display in Leicester.
In November 2011, they performed on The Saturday Night Show when the presenter Brendan O'Connor had to hold up a curtain after a "terrible mishap occurred in the RTÉ studio".
On 9 December 2012, they appeared as special guest performers in the final episode of series 9 of The Xtra Factor.
[9] In November 2014, The Overtones announced the release of their fourth studio album, Sweet Soul Music.
On 21 November 2016, Matley announced via Twitter that he would not be joining the rest of the band on tour, having been diagnosed with skin cancer in September 2016.
In order to grieve, all touring commitments were initially cancelled, except for a planned gig at the University of East Anglia, which had already been put back by three months due to Matley being ill.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was cancelled, and instead the band used the time to record material for what would become their sixth studio album, '10'.
A '10 Year Anniversary Tour' was announced to accompany the album, initially set to take place in November/December 2021.
In November 2022, the band released a cover of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" in support of England's participation in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
A former serviceman at 16, he joined the Royal Navy and served for 10 years before leaving the military to pursue a career in music.
The album featured written collaborations with Booker T. Jones and John Legend and was recorded between New York and Los Angeles with producers Mike Peden and Malay.
He has also worked for Made Television and hosted regional sports and entertainment series Sportsline for Bristol.
The Sunday Social with Jay James was a new series that featured guests Mark Ronson, Louis Tomlinson, The Stereophonics and Olly Murs.
In October 2014, he took part in the BBC Great British Sewing Bee for Children In Need, winning the show.
[16] Lachlan Alexander "Lockie" Chapman (born 7 February 1981) comes from Manly, New South Wales, Australia.