8 Embarrassing Adult Re-Inventions From Famous Musicians

4. Richard Breen, AKA Abs From Five, AKA Abz Love

Don't try and act like you don't know who Five are. I guarantee you that Everybody Get Up and If You're Getting Down (they liked naming their songs after exercise moves; see Slam Dunk Da Funk for more proof) are somewhere in your music library. Five were one of the biggest UK boybands at the end of the 90s and Abs was their cheeky, fun-loving rapper, spouting genius lines such as "Wiggy wiggy/I'm getting jiggy" and break-dancing in their videos. They had three UK No. 1 singles and even managed to get into the Billboard Top Ten with When The Lights Go Out. They made a few mistakes, notably covering Queen's We Will Rock You and turning down what became N*Sync's best song (Bye Bye Bye), but they were definitely one of the most successful boybands of the 90s, despite the fact that most of their songs were complete rip-offs (for example Everybody Get Up uses the music from I Love Rock And Roll by Joan Jett). When the band split up for the first time, Abs was the only member against the break, and was the first and only member to launch a solo career. His album Abstract Theory spawned three top ten UK hits, but like Victoria Beckham before him, Abs' foray into his own musical style left a lot to be desired. As mentioned earlier, Five were not well known for their original musical compositions and Abs continued that grand tradition while also trying to pass himself off as a reggae musician. His first single, What You Got, sampled both I'm Still In Love With You by Alton Ellis and Uptown Top Ranking by Althea and Donna (which had already sampled the Ellis song when it was released in the 70s, making this the Inception of pop songs). He didn't do too well as a solo artist €“ his album failed to set the charts alight and he was dropped from his record label. He is however back with Five and still touring, so he's recovered from his solo phase admirably. Although he is now calling himself Abz Love. Oh dear.