911 (pronounced "nine one one") are an English pop group consisting of Lee Brennan, Jimmy Constable and Simon "Spike" Dawbarn. They were formed in Glasgow in 1995 and released their debut single "Night to Remember" in May 1996. This was followed by their debut album The Journey in March 1997, which was certified Gold by the BPI in November 1997. 911 released two more Silver-certified albums, Moving On and There It Is, in 1998 and 1999, respectively. There It Is also produced their only UK number-one single, a cover of "A Little Bit More", which topped the UK Singles Chart in January 1999.
In their five years together, 911 scored ten UK top 10 singles. They sold 10 million singles and 6 million albums around the world, and were very popular in South East Asia, where their first two albums went to number one. They split in late 1999.
In October 2012, it was announced that 911 would again reunite for the ITV2 reality-documentary series The Big Reunion, along with Atomic Kitten, Liberty X, B*Witched, Five and Honeyz in January 2013. Due to the highly positive reception, the groups went on an arena tour around the UK and Ireland. Their comeback album Illuminate... (The Hits and More) was released on 8 September 2013, along with their comeback single "2 Hearts 1 Love". In early 2014, 911 headlined their own UK tour - The Illuminate: The Hits and More Tour.
Career
1995: Formation
Dancers Jimmy Constable and Simon "Spike" Dawbarn were introduced to each other in the early 1990s by another dancer called Clive. Before long, Constable and Dawbarn were both chosen to work as dancers on the late-night ITV music show The Hit Man and Her. In 1995, after seeing how successful Jason Orange, who used to be a dancer on the show, had been with boy band Take That (and having also become more popular than the acts they were dancing for), Constable and Dawbarn decided to put their own group together. At Carlisle's radio station CFM Radio, they found Steve Gilmour, who had previously managed PJ & Duncan and Boyzone, and asked him to be their manager a few months later. Gilmour initially turned them down, but Constable and Dawbarn continued to gain more and more fans as time went on. Every time their paths crossed, Constable would show Gilmour the fanmail they were receiving and they were also one of the seven acts to be booked at the Sands Centre in Carlisle, again for CFM.
Gilmour had finally become convinced and he decided to manage them but they were short of a singer. Lee Brennan, who had been a fan of Dawbarn and Constable on The Hit Man and Her, was recruited following a recommendation by Gilmour. After moving into Gilmour's three-bedroom flat in the south side of Glasgow, 911 embarked on a massive tour of schools and under-18 clubs all over the UK in order to build up their growing army of teenage followers, and fast became crowd favourites on road shows during the Summer of 1995. Despite their immense popularity, they were turned down by every record company they turned to. After being unable to secure a major record deal, 911 and their management team Backlash decided to form their own record label, Ginga Records, with funding from businessman Frank Shapiro.
1996–1999: Success
In April 1996, they released their debut single, a cover of Shalamar's "Night to Remember", and it entered the UK Singles Chart at number 38. In July, their second single "Love Sensation", which was later featured in the 1997 live-action film Casper: A Spirited Beginning, charted even higher at number 21. The success of these two independently released singles created a major record label bidding war and in September 1996, 911 were signed up by Richard Branson's Virgin Records on a £3.5 million, four-album deal. 911 won GMTV's 'Search for the Next Big Thing' and were voted the 'Second Best Newcomer' after the Spice Girls in Smash Hits.
911 had their first top 10 hit in 1996 with "Don't Make Me Wait", which reached number 10. Nine more successive UK top 10 hits followed, including "Bodyshakin'" (which became their signature song); "Private Number" and the UK chart-topper "A Little Bit More". During this time, 911 released three studio albums, The Journey (1997), Moving On (1998) and There It Is (1999), all of which hit the top 20 on the UK Albums Chart. They also sold out 35 theatre dates in just 30 minutes for their first headline tour. In Malaysia, The Journey was number one for 20 weeks and every one of their singles was number one as well.