O-Town
The boy band America watched get built. O-Town was assembled on ABC's Making the Band in 2000, under Lou Pearlman, and for two years it delivered exactly what the show promised — "Liquid Dreams," "All or Nothing," a platinum album — before the label let them go in 2003.
Making the Band premiered on ABC on March 24, 2000, a Friday night on TGIF; it turned out to be the block's last new series. Produced by Lou Pearlman's Trans Continental with Bunim/Murray Productions, it followed auditions in eight cities down to 25 young men, then eight finalists, then five: Ashley Parker Angel, Jacob Underwood, Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick and Ikaika Kahoano. The group took its name from Orlando, where the auditions were held. Kahoano left — he later said he "did not respect the other members on a musical or personal level" — and the remaining four picked Dan Miller from the original 25 to replace him. Pearlman managed them for that first season; Mike Cronin and Mike Morin took over from there.
Clive Davis, the former Arista executive, signed O-Town to his new label, J Records. "Liquid Dreams," released on October 31, 2000, was a song about a composite fantasy woman assembled from Destiny's Child, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Halle Berry; it reached number ten on the Hot 100, number one in Canada and went gold. The debut album, O-Town, arrived on January 23, 2001, debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum a month after release. Then came "All or Nothing," a Steve Mac and Wayne Hector ballad that Westlife later said had been offered to them first and turned down by Simon Cowell. Released in March 2001, it climbed to number three on the Hot 100 — the biggest hit of their career — complete with a key change after the bridge. Westlife recorded it themselves in 2006.
The second album, O2, came out in November 2002 with the single "We Fit Together," and in 2003 J Records released the group from its contract and O-Town disbanded. Angel signed to Blackground, released Soundtrack to Your Life in 2006 and played Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway in 2007. The other four reunited without him, and put out Lines & Circles in 2014 and The O.T.W.N. Album in 2019. Making the Band moved to MTV for two more seasons, and by 2002 a new talent search was being run by P. Diddy.
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