Bars and Melody (B.A.M.) are a British pop duo consisting of rapper Leondre "Bars" Devries and singer Charlie "Melody" Lenehan.[1] They took part in the eighth series of Britain's Got Talent in 2014. During their audition, they were automatically sent into the semifinals of the competition after the head judge, Simon Cowell, pressed the "golden buzzer."[2] They ultimately finished in third place in the series.[3].[4][5] They brought out a new song, "Shining Star", on 30 July 2014; this was an extra to their acoustic version of the song "Hopeful".[6] Bars and Melody released their debut studio album 143 on 21 August 2015.[7] It debuted at number four in the UK.[2] One year later, their EP Teen Spirit was released.[2] They refer to their fans as "Bambinos."[8]

They have appeared in the UK, the United States, Japan, mainland Europe, and Australia. [5]

Contents 1 History 1.1 2013–14: Formation and Britain's Got Talent 1.2 2014–15: 143 1.3 2016 1.4 2017 2 Members 2.1 Leondre Devries 2.2 Charlie Lenehan 3 Lawsuit 4 Discography 4.1 Studio albums 4.2 Extended plays 4.3 Singles 4.3.1 As lead artist 4.3.2 Promotional singles 5 References 6 External links History 2013–14: Formation and Britain's Got Talent

Devries and Lenehan first met on Facebook[1] in September 2013, after Devries had seen Lenehan's videos. They first met in person in January 2014 and decided to form a music duo as Bars and Melody.[9]

On 8 February 2014, Bars and Melody auditioned in Manchester for the eighth series of Britain's Got Talent. They performed a song based on Twista and Faith Evans' "Hope", with Devries replacing the original verses with ones protesting against bullying. After the performance, Simon Cowell pressed the golden buzzer, sending them through straight through to the live semifinals.[1][8]

Before the semifinals, the boys appeared and performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the United States.[10] In the BGT semi-final on 29 May, they performed Puff Daddy and Faith Evans' "I'll Be Missing You", coupled with new verses about someone who had recently lost a friend; audience members were given candles to wave during the performance. They won their semi-final and progressed through to the final,[11] where they performed the song they sang in their audition and ultimately finished third behind Lucy Kay and Collabro.[3] According to Billboard magazine, the video of their audition was number six in the top ten trending videos for 2014.[12]

2014–15: 143 Main article: 143 (album)

Despite not winning, Bars and Melody signed a £500,000 record deal with Simon Cowell's record label,[1] Syco, which released "Hopeful" in July 2014.[1] Their debut single went straight to number five on the UK Singles Chart.[4] The music video of their song "Hopeful" was released on YouTube on 7 July 2014.[13][14] To promote the song, they appeared on television shows such as Good Morning Britain,[15] This Morning,[16] and The Official Chart on BBC Radio 1.[17] By late September, the song "Hopeful" was number 33 on the Twitter Top Tracks.[18]

Bars and Melody also participated in their first HMV signing tour to promote Hopeful. They released the song "Shining Star", which came out as part of Hopeful Acoustic.[6] Their second single, "Keep Smiling", was released on 28 February 2015,[19] with a music video filmed in Plymouth.[20][21] It peaked at 52 in the Official Charts Company.[19] Their third official single, "Stay Strong", was released on 18 April 2015 and peaked at 53 in the Official Charts Company.[19] Two physical editions of the CD could be purchased with each one containing an image of either Lenehan or Devries, promoted through a second HMV signing tour.[22] They released their fourth single "Beautiful" in June 2015 alongside a music video.[citation needed]

The boys released their debut album, 143, on 21 August 2015,[7] which peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart on 28 August 2015.[2] The album included their previously recorded singles and additional songs. To promote the album, they toured across the United Kingdom in the summer and had a winter tour in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Poland,[23] where the album went platinum.[24]

Following a guest presenting stint in 2014,[25] Bars and Melody made a red carpet appearance at the premiere of CBBC show Friday Download in May 2015.[26] They also participated in the Friday Download movie called Up All Night.[27] They performed the third ending theme "Unite (Live Forever)" for the anime series Future Card Buddyfight Triple D.[citation needed] They appeared on BBC's Newsround during a week-long series about bullying in February 2015.[28]

2016 Main article: Teen Spirit (EP)

In 2016, they toured five cities with Kiera Weathers, a contestant on The X Factor, in February and April of that year. The cities included London, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, and Liverpool.[29] They also became ambassadors for the Anti Bullying Charity campaign that year.[2] In August 2016, their album Teen Spirit was released by Syco.[2] They toured Australia and Japan by August 2016.[24]

In August, 2016 they released their first Japanese album, titled Hopeful by Avex Music Creative, including fourteen tracks from the UK albums 143 and Teen Spirit as well as UK and Japanese versions of Hopeful.[30]

They toured thirteen cities in Austria, Germany and Switzerland in November and December, opening for German teen singer Lukas Rieger .[31]

2017

On 15 February 2017 they released their second Japanese Album, titled Never Give Up, for distribution in Asia, by Rhythm Sound a division of Avex Music Creative.[32] In April they announced the future release of a new album, titled Generation Z, scheduled for September 2017 as well as the immediate digital release of new song Faded on 14 April.[33] In April they toured ten cities in the UK opening for the dance troupe Diversity.[33] Announced digital release of single Thousand Years on 26 May.[34] On 1 September, they released a new album titled Generation Z featuring the songs Thousand Years, Faded, Fast Car, and others.

Members Leondre Devries

Leondre Antonio Devries was born 6 October 2000[1] to stonemason Antonio and personal trainer Victoria Devries.[35][36] From Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, he has three older brothers—Jacob Lee, Joseph Devries (Joey), and the eldest is Ben Lee —and a younger sister, Matilda Devries (Tilly).[35] Joey was part of the boy band Overload Generation who participated in the eleventh series of The X Factor.[37] Leondre Devries has spoken openly about his experiences of bullying for four years before he switched schools.[35] He attended the Glan Afan Comprehensive School at the time of the Britain's Got Talent competition.[8] Previously he rapped solo under the stage name 'Little Dre'.[35] His father said that Devries lived with him until he appeared on Britain's Got Talent, and after that has lived with his mother.[38] Although Devries said that his father was a stonemason during the contest,[36] his father now says he is a music promoter.[38]

Charlie Lenehan

Charlie Lenehan was born 28 October 1998 in Frampton Cotterell.[1] He lives in South Gloucestershire[21] with his mother, a school cook; his step-father, a businessman;[39] his younger brother, Joel; and a younger sister, Brooke. His mother, Karen James, is a cook in Thornbury at Gillingstool and New Siblands schools.[40] Lenehan took up singing at the age of 11 when his schoolmates invited him to join a band.[1] He has been attending the Winterbourne International Academy[9] since he was 11, and was interested in drama, music, and engineering at the time of the competition. He returned to school the first day after the Britain's Got Talent finale.[40] He is Melody in the group.

Lawsuit

Antonio Devries, Leondre's father, threatened to file a suit against the group in March 2016, saying that he wrote Hopeful due to troubles that he was having in his life.[38] He claims that he helped promote the boys until their Britain's Got Talent contest, is unhappy that the boys are moving away from the anti-bullying theme, and claims that their management overworks them. He says that he does not have any issues with Bars and Melody,[38][41] but he took over the boy's social media accounts and posted music from his son Joey and other artists he represents until the management team regained control of the accounts.[9] The management team, who Devries says is the root of the problem, have stated that the boys wrote Hopeful. A spokesperson for the boys says that they are happy with their career and management team and do not feel exploited or overworked.[38][41] They also said, "Bars and Melody are sorry to hear that legal action is being threatened and they hope it will resolved quickly and amicably."[38]

Discography Studio albums Title Details Peak chart positions Certification UK[19] IRE[42] POL[43] SCO[44] 143 Released: 21 August 2015 Label: 143 Records Formats: Digital download, CD 4 11 31 12 ZPAV: Platinum[45] Covers Released: 17 February 2017 Label: Zeneration Records Formats: Digital download — — — — Generation Z[46] Release date: 1 September 2017 Label: Zeneration Records Formats: Digital download, CD 83 — 3 54 "—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released.