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B5 - Family Affair
Interview By: Nikki Drag
 ABC. Can You Stand the Rain? Bump, Bump, Bump. The Jackson 5, New Edition and B2K all gave us boy band classic hits. Like the revolving door of the music industry, a new group is stepping in. B5 consists of the five Breeding brothers from Atlanta, Georgia. At 19, Dustin is the oldest. Then the ages trickle down from Kelly (17), Patrick (16), Carnell (15), and Bryan (12). Originally the four eldest brothers were in a group named the TNT Boyz. The siblings later changed their name to B5, after the youngest, Bryan joined the group. B5 has not been idle since their self-titled debut album dropped in 2005, which sold over 500,000 copies identifying it as gold status.
Later that year, the group joined the Scream IV tour and headlined the Radio Disney Jungle Jam Tour. The traveling continued as B5 joined Bow Wow on tour and collabed with him on their biggest hit yet, Hydrolics”. B5 forged a relationship with Disney and appeared on the High School Musical soundtrack along with remaking Earth Wind and Fire’s hit, “Shining Star” which appeared on teen queen Hannah Montana’s soundtrack. In response to Disney hurting their raw tween image, the group says, “There has been a lot of talk about B5 selling out. Disney is just another market that we were able to hit. A lot of other artists can’t hit that market.”
Although the group was not asked to return to the 2007 Scream tour because T.I. said he wanted to go with a more mature act, over the summer, the brothers leapfrogged on the Russ Parr Bus Tour. Before you dismiss them as a gimmick, remember that when you were their age, their smooth crooning and animated live performances is talent any way you judge it.
 Nobodysmiling.com : Tell me about your initial audition with Diddy. What song did you sing for him?
B5 : Can’t really remember which song, it was so long ago. I think it was “Got to Be There” by Michael Jackson.
Nobodysmiling.com : How did Diddy respond to your performance?
B5 : He wasn’t super excited. He kind of had a poker face. He wasn’t letting on that he liked us. I guess that is just the way he is. Two weeks later he sent us a contract.
Nobodysmiling.com : People in the business make several sacrifices in order to achieve their goals. At a young age, what type of sacrifices have you made?
B5 : A lot of sacrifices. We miss our friends and family. We are home schooled and we miss out on going to the mall. It’s hard because when try to go the mall, they kick us out because we cause too much of a scene. Not every time. But then we put on a hat and hoodie and that helps us out alot.
Nobodysmiling.com : With the saturation of boy bands past and present, tell me what makes B5 a memorable group.
B5 : The one thing is that out fans know us. We don’t try to be like other artists. We want our fans close, like family. We try to go above and beyond for our fans. We sign extra autographs and make sure our fans remember us. We can’t break up; we are all brothers. We all live in the same house and spend all of our time together.
Nobodysmiling.com : Are there any hip-hop artists that you would like to collaborate with?
B5 : Will-I-am, Jay-Z is tight. Lupe is tight and Outcast. It is crazy, because one day we were recording in the studio in LA and Will-I-Am was there and I asked him if I could sit in on his session. He said no problem and asked if we were Puffy’s group. Yea hopefully we will get to work with him.
Nobodysmiling.com : You say you do everything for the fans. Who are your fans?
B5 : They are 10-year olds up to 25 or 30-year olds. They are moms. We have a huge variety.
Nobodysmiling.com : Tell me about the song, “All I Do”, which is a classic. Were you familiar with the song before you heard it?
B5 : We never even heard of it. The producer of the song was like, “Oh that’s crazy, that’s the Jackson 5.” We learned everything about it later on.
Nobodysmiling.com : You talk about being in love in a lot of your songs. How many of you can say you truly have been in love?
B5 : We have had many close encounters so far, but I think some of the older brothers have been more infatuation.
Nobodysmiling.com : B5 has been touring a lot over the last two years. Is there any particular venue that you can recall having the most energy or gave you the most love?
B5 : D.C. We have a crazy fan base there and we tap into their energy and they always seem to like us a lot and show us the most love.
Nobodysmiling.com : When Beyonce is on stage; they say she turns into her stage persona, “Sasha”. Do any of you transform when you are on stage?
B5 : We all turn into different people while we are doing out favorite thing which is performing. Recording is also a whole different thing.
Nobodysmiling.com : Where do you see B5 in 5 years?
B5 : Wow. We see us doing everything on top. We want to do movies, more producing, and all kinds of projects. Look our for us!
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