Abz Love

Five (stylised as 5ive) were a successful British boy band in the '90s consisting of members Richard Abidin Love (Abz), Jason Brown (J), Sean Conlon, Ritchie Neville, and Scott Robinson. Formed in 1997 by father/son management team Bob Herbert and Chris Herbert of Safe Management, the same team that originally formed the Spice Girls, the band went on to be signed by music industry boss and A&R Simon Cowell, who at the time was a music executive at Sony BMG. Based on current BPI certifications, Five have sold over 1.6 million albums and 2 million singles in the UK alone. The band split up on 27 September 2001 when new father Robinson convinced the other members to take a break. Love has since stated on ITV's The Big Reunion that he "did not want the band to split and wanted to continue", saying "It felt like they were taking something away from me".[6]

After Five split, Love was signed to Sony BMG by Simon Cowell as a solo artist and became the only band member to release a solo album. Abstract Theory had three top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart with "What You Got" (UK no. 4), "Stop Sign" (UK no. 10) and "Miss Perfect" (UK no. 5). Plans for "7 Ways" as the fourth single were aborted despite a music video shot for it. The solo album reached number 29 on the UK Albums Chart, leading him to be dropped by Sony in December 2003.

On 18 October 2012, it was revealed via Twitter that Five would be taking part in an ITV2 documentary series called The Big Reunion, which also featured Atomic Kitten, Blue, 911, Honeyz, B*witched and Liberty X and followed their journey as they prepared for a comeback show at Hammersmith Apollo. The Big Reunion aired in January 2013 and was an unexpected hit for ITV2, with each episode averaging 1 million viewers. The show revealed what had happened to the bands after finding fame, with Five's stories, both as a band and as individuals, heavily featured on the show. In episode 4, Love gave the audience a tour of his vegetable garden and showed off his "curly carrots", which subsequently trended on Twitter. Love's eccentric choices of headwear, particularly his "rainbow unicorn hat", garnered him attention from fans.

Love entered the Celebrity Big Brother house on 22 August 2013. When asked by presenter Emma Willis why he was doing the show, he responded, "I need a home cos I'm currently living with my aunty Wendy". While Love has never confirmed how much he was paid to do the show, it has been speculated that he was offered a £100,000 fee. Whilst in the house, Love confessed in the diary room that he has Asperger's syndrome, a neurological condition that can cause the person social anxiety and affect speech and communication.[7] On 13 September, Love was announced as the CBB12 runner-up, behind Charlotte Crosby.[8]

In August 2014 Love announced via Twitter that he had left Five, stating: "As of today I am no longer a member of 5ive, thank you to all the fans who supported. I love you all"."[9] Since Love's exit, his former bandmates continue to tour nightclubs as a three-piece using the name Five.

After a brief attempt at rural living in Lincolnshire from 2011 to 2013, Love decided to buy a smallholding in rural Wales with his partner and manager Vicky Fallon. Fallon felt that Love's transition to farmer would make for entertaining viewing, so she contacted executive producer and owner of Norfolk-based production company Tin Can Island, Andrea Cornes. Cornes presented the project to Tom Mcdonald at BBC2, who commissioned the series.

The docu-series Country Strife: Abz on the Farm aired on BBC Two in August 2015, with the BBC camera crew following the couple's journey throughout 2014 as they purchased a dilapidated smallholding and adjusted to rural life on a budget.[10][11] BBC Two were criticised by some viewers for Love's appearance on the channel, which was felt to be at odds with the majority of their content, but Love became a cult hit with viewers and critics alike.[12][13][14]

On 8 September 2015, Love put his Brit Award for Best Pop Act 2000 up for auction on eBay. The morning the auction went live he announced his plans on The Wright Stuff, explaining that he hoped to raise some funds for "topsoil and some gardening tools" for his farm. The bidding started at 99p and Abz constructed a tongue-in-cheek item description to go with the award. The high level of media interest in the auction resulted in bids rapidly rising, eventually reaching over £1 million. Love was reportedly made several offers to end the auction early (including a Ferrari sports car), but turned them down believing that the 1 million bid was real. The day before the auction ended eBay's fraud squad cancelled the account, denying him the chance to see if the top bid was genuine.[15]

Since 2019 he has been part of the supergroup called "Boyz on Block", composed of Another Level's Dane Bowers, Boyzone's Shane Lynch and Phats & Small's Ben Ofoedu. O 20 November 2020, the group released their first single, a cover of East 17's 1994 single "Stay Another Day". The version features Tony Mortimer.[16][17][18]