Take Five

Add Take Five to the long list of teenage pop bands manufactured by corporate mogul Lou Pearlman. This five-piece boy band came together in 1997 and based itself in Orlando, where Pearlman ran his own label, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Trans+Continental+Records%22">Trans Continental Records</a>. All five members -- Stevie Sculthorpe, <a href="spotify:artist:7b3CiUvWl1Ob4wO9FH2zFt">Tilky Jones</a>, TJ Christofore, and brothers <a href="spotify:artist:1KrDd8tfcITeBIHGXXIx4s">Clay</a> and Ryan Goodell -- were veteran performers, most of whom had experience on-stage and in front of cameras. Christofore had won Star Search in 1995 and played the role of Gavroche in the Broadway musical Les Miserables. Sculthorpe did some modeling, starred in several commercials, and performed in musical theater. Ryan and Clay Goodell were classically trained pianists who dabbled in commercials and musical theater. <a href="spotify:artist:7b3CiUvWl1Ob4wO9FH2zFt">Jones</a>, on the other hand, was the drummer for a local Vero Beach ska-punk band called User Friendly. With such collective experience under their belts, Take Five hoped to join the ranks of fellow boy bands like the <a href="spotify:artist:5rSXSAkZ67PYJSvpUpkOr7">Backstreet Boys</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6Ff53KvcvAj5U7Z1vojB5o">*NSync</a>.

Unfortunately, the group never found an audience in America. Prior to releasing debut album Against All Odds, Take Five spent two years traveling the globe, releasing several singles in Europe and Asia and honing their performance skills before heading back home. Against All Odds received its American release in 2000, while the market was still sympathetic to the group's blend of R&B and glossy teen-pop, but it failed to make a dent in the charts. Sculthorpe left the lineup months later to attempt a solo career. Take Five contributed a song to Pearlman's failed attempt at coming-of-age cinema, Longshot, and broke up soon after, becoming a footnote in the history of late-'90s teen pop. ~ MacKenzie Wilson & Andrew Leahey, Rovi