1998–1999: Formation and Here We Come Paul Marazzi, who had missed the cut for
Steps, met Tim Byrne in 1998 to talk about forming a second group. Auditions were held where
Christian Ingebrigtsen, Mark Read, and
Ben Adams were recruited and the band was formed by the management team of Byrne and Vicky Blood. A1 signed with
Columbia Records in February 1999 and released "
Be the First to Believe" in Summer 1999. In November they released
Here We Come, which reached number 4 in Norway and had four top ten singles in the UK.
2000–2002: The A List, Make It Good, Marazzi's departure and split In 2000, they achieved two number ones with "
Take On Me" and "
Same Old Brand New You". The video for their seventh single, "
No More", was filmed in
Singapore while they were on tour there. In 2001, the band began a massive arena tour of Asia, where they were very well received. During a mall signing in
Indonesia, four teenage girls were killed in a stampede. and a1 subsequently decided to split.
2002–2009: Post A1 and solo careers In January 2004 a
Best of A1 album was released in Asia; a compilation featuring all of their singles, two previously unreleased concert recordings, and three exclusive B-Sides. In 2009, following Adams' appearance on
Celebrity Big Brother, the band released its
Greatest Hits in the UK. In 2005, Adams went on to release his first solo single, "Sorry", which peaked at number 18 on the UK singles chart. Adams was also due to record an album but parted with his record label. In 2009, he appeared as a contestant on
Celebrity Big Brother, eventually placing fifth. He attracted much attention later that same year when he posed naked for the cover of
Attitude. In 2003, Ingebrigtsen also began a solo career, with his first solo single, "In Love With an Angel", being released in 2004. The single stayed in the Top 10 of the Norway Singles Chart for nearly three months. The song was swiftly followed by "Things Are Gonna Change", which became Ingebrigsten's final solo single before he moved into other areas of showbusiness. In 2002, Read focused on becoming a songwriter for other artists, after signing a deal with Metrophonic. Read has written for artists such as
Charlotte Church,
Boyzone,
Michael Bolton,
Robin Gibb, and
The Hollies. Read released his debut solo single, "Greatest Lady in My Life", on 2 March 2009. His debut solo album,
Peace at Last was released in June 2009. Months after he left the band, Marazzi hosted the Andy Cole Children's Foundation (now All Star Kids) on 26 April 2003 together with
Jo Good. He turned down the offer to appear in
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2004. In late 2005 he formed a soul/rock band in Sunderland, Northeast England called Snagsby. He left the band in early 2009. Marazzi then went to work in The George Hotel in Whitby as a club DJ. In summer 2009 the band announced that they to reform and play a series of concerts in Oslo in December of that year. Marazzi posted on his Facebook that he wished them good luck when he found out about his former bandmates' reunion on a TV show in Norway. The announcement also stated that the band's first new single in seven years, "
Take You Home", would be released via
iTunes in Norway on 2 November. The single entered the Norway Singles Chart at No. 9, based on download sales. It was announced in late 2009 that the band would compete to represent
Norway in the
2010 Eurovision Song Contest, with the band's second single since their reformation, "
Don't Wanna Lose You Again". The song peaked at No. 4 on the Norwegian Singles Chart. The band reached the national final of the contest and finished in second place. The band made their UK comeback on New Year's Eve by performing at the
Heaven New Year's Eve Party in London. In March 2010, the band embarked on a worldwide tour that began in Norway, with performances in Oslo, Stavanger, Kristiansand, Bergen, Trondheim and Haugesund. The tour extended to Europe and ROTW in autumn 2010. The band's first new studio album since 2002 was released on 11 October 2010, and includes the singles "
Take You Home", "
Don't Wanna Lose You Again", "
In Love and I Hate It" and "Waiting for Daylight".
2011–2014: Rediscovered and The Big Reunion In October 2011, the group appeared on
Channel 5's
OK TV to promote their British comeback gig at the
O2 Academy Islington on 31 October 2011. The gig received positive reviews from
This Must Be Pop and Time Out. On 18 November 2011, the band released a single, "Another Year Gone". On 28 February 2012, the group performed at the
Singapore Indoor Stadium with
Blue and Jeff Timmons from
98 Degrees. The concert was entitled "The Greatest Hits Tour: Blue, Jeff Timmons of 98 Degrees and a1 – Live in Singapore." They also visited
Jakarta, Indonesia and
Manila, Philippines as part of the concert tour. On 8 May 2012, the band announced the release of a new single, "
Just Three Words", a duet with
Annie Khalid. In December 2013 it was announced that A1 would be appearing, again without Marazzi, on the
ITV2 documentary
The Big Reunion. In October 2014, A1 with other bands from the TV show
Blue,
Five,
Damage,
3T,
911 and a new band called
5th Story toured together in October 2014, the tour was called
The Big Reunion Boy Band Tour 2014. On 3 October 2014 A1 performed on the Norwegian show called
The Hit, choosing to perform the song "Physical Love" written by Mathilde Johnson, which became the single "Critical Love" after winning. Their albums
Waiting for Daylight and
Rediscovered were released in UK on 12 June 2015.
2017–present: Marazzi's return and 20th-anniversary tour A1 gave a concert on 22 October 2016 in Singapore and in Manila and Cebu on 23 and 25 October, respectively. On 22 July 2017 Paul Marazzi met with his past band-mates in Newcastle. On an
Instagram post, the group posted a picture with all four original members
Ben Adams,
Christian Ingebrigtsen, Mark Read and Paul Marazzi. A follow-up post on the band's Facebook page suggested that they may reform for "One last song.. or 2 or 3". On 7 May 2018 Ben Adams called BBC Radio 2 host
Matt Lucas, announcing A1 would go on a 20th anniversary tour the next year. He said they probably had to do something slightly special for their 20-year reunion, and they had invited original member Paul Marazzi back. On 23 May 2018, it was announced that they would be doing a set of concerts in Southeast Asia with Marazzi on board. On 12 October 2018, they released their first single,
"Armour", with all members since the departure of Marazzi, and the disbandment of the group, 16 years previously. On 27 February 2019 the group announced their UK comeback, with their first live show with the original line up in 15 years. The show was held at the
O2 Academy Islington,
London on 1 November 2019. In 2021, A1 released their single, "Spiders", which was written by the four band members. In September 2023, a1 released "Call Me When You Land", a song they wrote during the pandemic, ahead of their Asian
a1 Twenty Five tour. ==Jakarta mall incident==