Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the devastating news that 5ive had split.
The chart-topping British boyband decided to call it a day after months of speculation over their future in September 2001.
The nation was shocked and saddened when the lads made the unwelcome announcement live on MTV.
“We’ve matured and developed massively as a band over the last three and half years and have also grown as individuals,” they said in a statement.
“As the band has got bigger on a global scale, the commitment levels have had to increase and, at times, that has been hard on us all…it really is time to call it a day.”
But they curiously remained silent on the massive feud that caused their split.
Having sold more than 10 million copies of their records across the globe, 5ive had the world at their feet.
They were hand-picked from 3,000 hopefuls at an audition set up by the creators of the Spice Girls and went on to be named best pop act at the Brit Awards in 2000.
In January 2001 they performed to an audience of 500,000 people at Rock in Rio, but behind the scenes all was not well.
“On stage we were the best ever. Off stage we were a train wreck,” said Scott on ITV2’s The Big Reunion in 2013.
“Life in 5ive was mental. It was five years of very hard work.
“You see the inside of a hotel room, an airport, a radio studio. It’s hard.”
Band mate Abz added: “I know there were times when one of them would be p*ssed off with another one (in the band). There’d be fights going off.”
In agreement, Richie said: “We were difficult, bordering on being ar*eholes. We were delinquents.”
Rumours began circling when Sean did not appear in their last video for the number one hit ‘Let’s Dance’.
At the time it was claimed he was taking time out to recover from a bout of glandular fever and his place was taken by a life-size cardboard cutout.
It was not revealed at the time he was suffering from a mental breakdown over the stress of being in the band.
Ritchie later claimed that their management kept his departure a secret from the rest of the group, so they believed he was only absent from the video shoot because of illness.
Speaking on The Big Reunion, Sean said: “I remember looking in the mirror and thinking to myself, ‘Who is that?’ I didn’t know myself and I just had the strongest feeling that no matter what happens no matter how much money they throw at me I’ve got to find Sean. Otherwise I make thousands of pounds but I’d be spending it all on therapy.
“I just wanted a week off from being Scott from 5ive. I was on the edge. We quit at our peak, we were number one at the time and we jumped ship.”
Ritchie recalled the moment that he knew it was all over after Scott broke down in tears.
“We were in this hotel and Scott just broke down, he was crying his eyes out,” said Ritchie.
“Jay and I walked out to him and put our arms around him and he said, ‘I just can’t do it anymore.’
“I remember looking at Jay and he just looked at me and just went, ‘It’s done isn’t it?’ And I went, ‘I think it is.'”
The announcement that fans were dreading came in September 2001 after a month of serious meetings with record management.
The very next day, Scott tied the knot with girlfriend Kerry Oaker.
At the time, Ritchie said: “A few things happened, we kept getting a few knocks. We just felt it was done.”
“We don’t have any immediate plans. We’ll assess it over the next few weeks. I think it’s just a case of chilling out for a little while.”
After the split, Abz hit rock bottom and was on the verge of committing suicide at one dark point.
He was left with no friends, was cut off from his family, got in with the wrong crowd and became addicted to drugs.
“My worst points… I had this penthouse and I had no money, I was bankrupt at the same time and they were going to take my house,” confessed Abz on Loose Women in 2018.
“I had no furniture, no cutlery, nothing and I was on the corner of my penthouse, I was on the Thames and thinking about jumping, because what is the point?”
Abz claimed to have had a strange experience with the Devil which made him realise he needed help.
“There was a few incidents, I met the Devil as well, which is pretty far out,” he revealed to the loose ladies.
“The funny thing was it looked like me, I don’t know what it was.
“But I was so far off and I remember my heart palpitations they were punching through my chest into the mattress.
“It happened twice then I heard a voice say ‘one more time, you’ve got one more time at this and that’s it.’
“I knew then I had to sort my life out.”
After the band disbanded, Sean and Abz tried to pursue solo careers and signed record deals with Sony.
But they failed to get anywhere near to the success they had with 5ive.
Fans rejoiced in September 2006 when the band announced they would be reuniting, but Sean decided not to join the rest of the band.
Just eight months after getting back together, they revealed they would not be pursuing their comeback after failing to secure a lucrative enough record deal.
However, there would be another resurgence.
Four members of the band got back together for The Big Reunion in 2013 – but Brown refused.
This did not go down well with the rest of the band.
“I was annoyed with Jay when he said he didn’t want to be a part of this,” admitted Scott.
” I was really angry because I’ve been personally myself been trying to get this band back together for years and years and someone’s let it down. He will be missed.”
Abz added: “I don’t want him to regret because it could be something amazing.”
The band currently consists of just Sean, Ritchie and Scott, who appeared on This Morning in February this year to promote their UK reunion tour – with viewers joking they should be called ‘3hree’ rather than ‘5ive’.
The group admitted that performing together was “better this time around” while insisting that there’s no longer any rivalry with their fellow boy bands.
“We’re back on the stage, we’re out seeing the people again and it’s better this time around,” said Ritchie.