Richard Neville Dobson (born 23 August 1979) is a British singer, songwriter,
sommelier
A sommelier ( or or ; ), or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, normally working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food pairing. The role of the wine steward in hau ...
and restaurateur from
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. He is most noted for being a member of the
boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...
Five
5 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
5, five or number 5 may also refer to:
* AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era
* 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era
Literature
* ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram
* ''5'' (comics), an awa ...
.
Career
Music
The lure of the stage brought him to London where, in 1996 at the age of 17, he saw an advertisement in the national newspaper ''
The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'', asking for young male singers to audition for a new boy band with "attitude and edge". Neville,
J Brown
J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon vari ...
,
Sean Conlon
Sean Kieran Conlon (born 20 May 1981) is an English singer best known as a member of boy band Five before leaving in 2001 a few months before the group announced their split. Conlon rejoined the group in 2013 as part of the ITV2 series ''The Bi ...
,
Abs Breen
Richard Abidin Breen (born 29 June 1979), better known as Abz Love, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, producer and TV personality. Love was a member and the lead singer of the boy band Five. In 2003, Love released his debut solo albu ...
and
Scott Robinson Scott Robinson may refer to:
* Scott Robinson (jazz musician) (born 1959), American jazz musician
* Scott Robinson (ice hockey) (born 1964), Canadian National Hockey League player
* Scott Robinson (singer) (born 1979), English singer in the boy ban ...
, who had during the audition arranged themselves into a group, were subsequently picked and later became
Five
5 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
5, five or number 5 may also refer to:
* AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era
* 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era
Literature
* ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram
* ''5'' (comics), an awa ...
. Because there were two members named 'Richard' in the band (Abs was born Richard Abidin Breen), Breen used his nickname from his middle name whereas Neville kept his name but shortened to "Ritchie" instead.
In 2013 was revealed via Twitter that Five would be taking part in an
ITV2
ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...
documentary series called ''
The Big Reunion
''The Big Reunion'' is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed ...
''.
[Twitter / Scottlarock5: I can confirm that five we'll take part in the big reunion on @itv2 Sometime next year We are all Looking forward to the show #willbegreat](_blank)
Twitter.com. Retrieved on 20 November 2015. In January, before the show began airing, it was reported that the group were looking to find a new member to replace Brown, and also having disagreement over the group's name. They then decided to continue as Five with just the four of them. On 14 January, it was announced that Ritchie would be taking part in the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
celebrity skiing competition ''
The Jump'' finishing in 3rd place on the second of February. He acted as a replacement for actor
Sam J. Jones
Samuel Gerald Jones (born August 12, 1954), known professionally as Sam J. Jones, is an American actor and former football player. He is known for playing the title character in the 1980 film ''Flash Gordon'' and for starring in the short-lived ...
, who had been forced to pull out after a shoulder injury. In August 2014, Abz Love announced that he had left the group via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, without telling the other members beforehand.
The band has since continued as a three piece (Scott, Sean and Ritchie), then in February 2016, they released another album, entitled ''Keep On Movin' - The Best of Five''.
Sommelier and restaurateur
In 2004, Neville moved to Australia and worked as a sommelier. In September 2006, four of the five original band members of Five announced they were reuniting – minus Conlon. The band began recording their first album since their breakup in 2001, but disbanded once again in 2007. In the autumn 2007 Neville was a participant in the second series of ''
Cirque de Celebrité
''Cirque de Celebrité'' is a celebrity reality television show broadcast on Sky One. The show features celebrities training for and then performing various circus acts. The winner of the series of 2006 was Grace Adams-Short.
A second series o ...
'' on
Sky1
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
. In 2012, he opened a restaurant in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
named ''Guerrilla Bar and Restaurant'' with critical acclaim in various media. The restaurant went into liquidation in March 2016.
Personal life
In 2008 Neville dated and eventually married Australian model and DJ
Emily Scott. They wed in the town of
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...
on 23 October 2008. They moved to
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, Australia following their wedding and split four months later. Their relationship only became public knowledge when Scott confirmed on 28 June 2009 that
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
police had taken out an interim Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) for the allegations on Neville until the matter was heard in a court. Scott alleged she has a scar above her left eye that was caused by a glass hitting her. However the case was dismissed in Manly Magistrates Court on 30 July 2009 and Neville was acquitted.
He started dating
Atomic Kitten
Atomic Kitten is an English girl group formed in Liverpool in 1998, whose current members are Liz McClarnon, Jenny Frost and Natasha Hamilton. The group was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) members Andy McCluskey and Stuart K ...
singer
Natasha Hamilton
Natasha Maria Hamilton (born 17 July 1982) is an English singer and a member of girl group Atomic Kitten. Hamilton has so far released 19 singles and three studio albums with the band including three number one singles, their biggest being the 2 ...
in 2013
On 23 April 2014, they announced they were expecting their first child together. Hamilton gave birth to a baby girl, Ella Rose, on 23 September 2014. Neville and Hamilton split in March 2016.
Filmography
References
External links
World of Five – Official Five Site– currently down
Guerrilla Bar and RestaurantGuerrilla Mist Glebe – Broadsheet Sydney
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neville, Ritchie
1979 births
Living people
British male singers
Five (band) members
People from Solihull
People educated at Solihull School
Musicians from the West Midlands (county)