Next of Kin are an English

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

band from Braintree,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, composed of brothers Nathan (drums), Mark (guitar) and Kieran Bass (bass guitar).Wright, Matthew (1999) "Matthew Wright Column: Check Out Next Of Kin", ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'', 19 January 1999

History

Discovery and record deal

The band was discovered when the brothers visited the Musical Exchanges music shop in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, after an event at the nearby

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

had been cancelled. Shop owner Gary Chapman was impressed by Mark's guitar playing and put them in touch with

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

."Single of the Week", ''

Birmingham Evening Mail The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire ...

'', 9 February 1999Coleman, Andy (1999) "Stardom", ''

Birmingham Mail The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire ...

'', 12 January 1999, p. 12 They subsequently signed a record deal with

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

.Somerville, Colin (1999) "Are these the girls to spice up your life", ''

Scotland on Sunday ''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by JPIMedia and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate ''The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in 2013 ...

'', 16 May 1999, p. 4

Early career

The band performed on the ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' tour in 1998 and supported

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

on their UK tour in 1999.Young, Graham (1999) "Pet Shop Brum!", ''

'', 15 June 1999, p. 28 Their most notable

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

was "24 Hours from You", which was co-written by Richard Drummie of Go West, and helped by a promotional video shot in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

,"The hotshots to watch in 99", ''

'', 5 January 1999 and an appearance on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

television show ''

Mad for It ''Mad for It'' is a British game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrat ...

''."Wednesday TV", '' Daily Record'', 30 January 1999 It reached #13 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in February 1999. Their follow-up release, "More Love", peaked at #33 in June that year.Next of Kin
Chart Stats, retrieved 3 April 2010 At the time of their first single they received comparisons with

Hanson Hanson or Hansson may refer to: People * Hanson (surname) * Hansson (surname) * Hanson (wrestler), ringname of an American professional wrestler Musical groups * Hanson (band), an American pop rock band * Hanson (UK band), an English rock ba ...

, with their ages ranging from 13 to 18 when they broke through in 1999."Mega Mirror: Kin will be the Next big thing", ''

'', 30 January 1999Barnes, Anthony (1998) "Ex-Spice manager lines up the next generation", ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'', 26 December 1998, p. 4

Later work

In 2012, the brothers went to Los Angeles to record with Hollywood actor

Stephen Dorff Stephen Hartley Dorff Jr. (born July 29, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Roland West in the third season of HBO's crime drama anthology series ''True Detective'', PK in '' The Power of One'', Stuart Sutcliffe in ''Backbe ...

and his composer/producer father

Steve Dorff Stephen Hartley Dorff (born April 21, 1949) is an American songwriter and composer whose work is mainly in the field of country music. Career Dorff has written several songs for other artists, including "Hypnotize the Moon" and " My Heart Wi ...

. They recorded an album at

NRG Recording Studios NRG Recording Studios is a recording facility located in North Hollywood, California, that was created by producer and mixer Jay Baumgardner in 1992. Facilities The facility consists of three studio consoles: *Studio A console: custom vintage N ...

, California, with guest musicians

John JR Robinson John Frederick Robinson (born December 29, 1954), known professionally as JR, is an American drummer and session musician who has been called "one of the most recorded drummers in history". He is known for his work with producer Quincy Jones, in ...

on drums,

Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...

on bass,

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitch ...

on guitar, George Deoring on acoustic guitar, and Jimmy Nichols on keyboards. In 2013 they auditioned for the tenth series of

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

, but they were cut at Bootcamp.

Discography

*1999: "24 Hours from You" - Universal Records - UK #13 *1999: "More Love" - Universal Records - UK #33

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Next Of Kin (Band) English boy bands English pop rock music groups Musical groups established in 1998 Musical groups from Essex English musical trios Sibling musical trios