Bros History
Facts not Fiction
Band History from 1986, 1993
Bros were formed in 1986 in Peckham, London the band consisted of twin brothers Matt and Luke Goss and school friend Craig Logan, they were managed by Pet shop boys manager " Tom Watkins, Mike Newton, Marc Evans,, Rob Holden though Massive Managements and Three associates.
Bros released their first single, "I Owe You Nothing" in 1987, and peaked at number 75 on the UK Singles Chart, the boys were disappointed that it didn't hit the Top 40 but they didn't give up, and released their second single, "When Will I Be Famous?", which became their breakthrough single reaching the number 2 position on the UK official chart with sales over 180,000, the single also obtained the number 1 spot on the official IRMA chart.in Ireland with sales of over 100,000.
The single also catapulted Bros on to the worldwide music scene charting in over 30 countries such as Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Australia and South Africa, Asia (including Japan where sales were over 300,000. "When Will I Be Famous? sold over 3 million copies worldwide.
The single has also achieved Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond certification by worldwide Music Industry.
Bros followed up the success of "When Will I Be Famous?" with "Drop the Boy", which also entered the UK official chart's" at number 2 with UK sales over 300,000, being certified Silver, the single once again obtained the number 1 spot on the official IRMA chart in Ireland with sales over 100,000 and charted well across Europe, Asia, and Australia with worldwide sales over 2.5 Million.
Bros then released their debut album "Push" on the 28th March 1988, on the second day of release the album was certified Gold by BPI and went on to sell over 1.4 million copies in UK and staggering 12 million copies worldwide. Push has been certified Gold and Multi Platinum across the globe, with CBS Rob Stringer announcing that Push was their best selling album by "a" debut act in CBS music history.
The album was certified 4× platinum in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry and 5x platinum in Ireland, the album achieved global success and obtained the number 1 spot in over 19 countries, including Japans (foreign chart).
Bros released several more tracks from the album, including a reissue of "I Owe U Nothing", which reached number 1 in the UK with sales over 170.000 and number 2 Ireland with sales over 100,000, the single charted well across Europe, Asia and Australia with sales over 2 million.
Bros continued their success with the announcement they would be doing a UK 14 date tour, simply name BROS PUSH LIVE.
Bros Push Live sold out in less than 40 minutes selling over 80.000 tickets, 19 more dates added due to phenomenal demand. with the success of the UK tour and the Push album, Bros announced that they would be embarking on a 34 date Global Tour. Tickets for every date sold out.
Bros are still the youngest group in history to play at Wembley.
During the Global Push Tour, Craig Logan became unwell with Craig being assisted on the stage by security staff whilst in Japan, the condition worsened, eventually Craig was flown back to the UK and hospitalized for 6 months, subsequently he left the band in early 1989, many rumours circulated including that Craig had ME, when in fact Craig had picked up a virus leaving him unable to walk, this left Matt and Luke to complete the Global Push Tour as a duo.
During this period Matt and Luke were unaware of how bad Craig condition was, with Craig refusing calls and Tom Watkin keeping information from both the Goss brothers. Craig Logan after 2 months decided he no longer wanted to be part of Bros and couldn't face the pressure of fame and the physical pressure of touring and stardom.
Craig Logan's final appearance as a member of Bros was at the 1989 Brit awards, where the band won "Best Newcomer" Craig would later appear on the BBC1 television program Wogan discussing why he had left the band.
Craig Logan later that year took legal action against the Massive management and Three associates over unpaid royalties, which was reported to be over 1 Million pounds. Matt and Luke have been quoted saying "that when Craig left they were devastated as Craig was more than just a bandmate, he was their brother"
Bros released two Music videos this being BROS PUSH LIVE which sold a staggering 1 million copies in just 8 weeks and was HMV best seller for over 8 months. The video was recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo and outsold the best-selling Video at the time, this being the making of Michael Jackson Thriller.
The Second Video was Bros Push Over this was a collection of their hit single Videos taken from the Push Album and also giving the Goss Brothers and Bros fans some closure from the departing of Craig Logan.
During this period of fame, Bros had over 130.000 fans turn up at HMV Oxford Street London when the band did an album signing, the London Metropolitan Police had to close of Oxford Street for up 6 Hours due the number of fans that had turned up to see their Idols, the phrase Brosmania had been born.
Bros fans were global, by November 1988 Bros had the second-largest Fan Club in Britain with over 15,000 British members (Queen was largest 22,000 members) and over 4 Million worldwide fans signing up to the Fan-club known as the Bros Front,
BrosMania was everywhere with boys on practically every front page of every teen pop magazine, including, Number 1, Jackie, Look In, Girl, Bravo, Epic Pop, Going Live, Music Life, Popcorn, Mega Rock and they are also the only group to have appeared in every issue of Smash hits from 1988 -1991.
After a short break recovering from their Global Push tour, Bros went back to the recording studios to record their new album "THE TIME.
The first single to be released was "Too Much" which entered the UK chart at number 2 being certified silver for sales over 300,000, once again the single topped the Irish, (IRMA) Single Chart's, with sales over 100,000 giving Bros their third number one in Ireland.
CBS reported sales, that Too Much sold over 1 Million copies in just 5 weeks from the release date. The single went to sell over 2 million copies worldwide. Following the success of the new single Bros did a one off concert ( their 3rd Concert in 18 months) simply known as "Bros in 2 Summer" which was seen by over 77,000 fans at Wembley Stadium and sold out in just under 40 minutes.
The concert was also one of the first concerts to be shown on Sky pay-per-view with staggering 55,000 customer's subscribing.
After the phenomenal success of their 3rd tour, Bros released their second album, The Time, on 16 /10/ 1989 and reached number 4 on the UK
official Albums Chart, achieving Gold certification for sales over 250,000 copies by 13/10/1989 in the UK. The album also released Worldwide including USA, South Africa, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Argentina, Australia, Chile and went Platinum in Canada, 2 x Platinum in Japan
The Album went on to sell over 4 Million copies Worldwide. Several more tracks from the album were released including "Chocolate Box", "Madly in Love", and "Sister".
During the early 1990 Bros were having issues with their Manager Tom Watkins and their Management team with them eventually sacking them with this then leading to a high court battle and Bros parting ways from Tom Watkins and signing to Elton John Management team.
Bros then signed to Warner Chappell and released their third and final album, Changing Faces, in 1991, the album, unfortunately, didn't get the promotion Warner Chappell promised and entered the UK charts at number 18 with sales over 50,000 un the UK and went on to sell over 500.000 copies worldwide.
Matt and Luke were disappointed, with Luke getting to point where he had no faith in their Management and the music industry, Luke then decided to telephone Matt and informing him, he had left the band.
Two tracks were released from the album, these being "Are You Mine", reaching number 12 on the UK official chart and number 6 on the official IRMA chart in Ireland and "Try", which got to number 27 on the UK charts.
Luke left the band in 1992 before writing his book simply title I Owe You Nothing (Number 1 best seller)
Bros achieved 11 top 40 single, two top 5 and 1 top 20 albums in the United Kingdom and phenomenal success across Europe likes unseen since the Beatles.
Bros to date on just 11 x singles, 3 x Studio album, 1 x Greatest hits' and 1 Remix Album the band has sold over 17 Million Albums and over
10 Million singles
The band split up in 1992
Reformation history to be added.