A BAND of three brothers from Witham who once toured with Britney Spears and Westlife and had a chart hit in the 1990s are making a comeback on this year's X Factor.
Next of Kin, once dubbed "the British Hanson" in their teenage years due to their similar haircuts and sound, are hoping to impress judges Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Scherzinger on the ITV talent contest.
The Bass sibling's rise to childhood fame began when gifted middle brother Mark won Young Guitarist of the Year at the age of 11.
Not wanting to be left out, the other two brothers also wanted to start taking up music with Nathan learning the drums and Kieran starting on the bass.
After hitting the big time with a number 13 hit 24 Hours From You in 1999, the group, aged just 18, 15 and 13, were tipped for big things and a second single was in the pipeline.
They then embarked on a Smash Hits tour with stars like Britney Spears, 5ive, Boyzone and Westlife, before many of them were household names, and at a time when Britney's first track Hit Me Baby One More Time was going global.
"It was incredible to be there witnessing it," said Nate, now 32, who lives with his brothers in Witham.
However, despite a follow up single More Love reaching number 33 in June 1999, the youngsters say they were victims of the ruthless showbiz industry and claim most of their earnings went to their bosses.
When they were dropped by their record label Universal Records, they were left broke and with massive bills from the taxman, while their parents even lost the family home in Braintree.
But they continued to gig at pubs in the county and have even recorded a track for Help for Heroes in tribute to Lee Rigby, the soldier killed in Woolwich.
During the ups and downs since their initial chart success, Next of Kin even made a heavy metal album of Rammstein covers in Germany.
But the record company that wanted to make the album went into liquidation before it could be released, they say.
"It is literally soul-destroying to constantly keep meeting the wrong people at the wrong time, but all you can do is keep doing what you're doing because you love it," said Nathan, who even left the band for a short time – not because of any falling out, just to try something new.
But he soon returned and now the trio want to take the X Factor by storm.
"The reason the boys and me went into X Factor is there's been a lot of boy bands over the years and we're told they want more bands with guitarists to audition as this year they're looking for something different, and hopefully we are that because we're not the average boy band.
"When we were auditioning we were told this is what we are looking for, and that they were looking for more bands like us because a lot of boy bands that go through the audition stage, everybody is so, so young.
"But we've got a bit more experience and we're one of the few to go on and audition with an acoustic guitar.
"Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger – and even Gary Barlow, who's supposed to have replaced Simon Cowell as the bad guy, still gave us good feedback. We're just going to do our best and hope for the best.
"We really want to succeed to make this happen for our family. They've been so supportive over the years and it's been a financial burden for them. They put so much into us and they have lost so much.
"We've got a more grown-up production and have more of a Brian Adams feel now."
Nathan issued a word of warning to his fellow, less-experienced, fame-hungry contestants about the pitfalls of the music industry. "A lot of the young bands really don't know what they are in for. People will offer you the world, but I would say always look into who it actually is and their background. Nowadays you can just Google someone and find out if they've been bankrupt before or anything like that.
"Some bands owe their success to having the right team around them from the start. Westlife had Louis Walsh from the beginning, but we weren't that lucky."
Clips of next week's contestants revealed the boys should be performing on Saturday's X Factor at 8pm before the follow-up show at 8pm on Sunday.
To follow the band's X Factor journey, visit www.facebook.com/NextOfKin13 or www.twitter.com/NextOfKin13.
