What came next for Bros – and horror illness that left one member unable to walk

Bros twins Matt and Luke Goss and their friend Craig Logan were just schoolboys when they were catapulted from starry-eyed teens to bona fide pop gods in 1986.

They sold 16 million records worldwide, hit the number one spot with tracks including I Owe You Nothing and When Will I Be Famous and drove legions of obsessive fans wild with hysteria dubbed 'Brosmania'.

But the gruelling schedule of interviews, flights and shows took its toll on the group, in particular on bassist Craig, whose health rapidly deteriorated.

Aged just 19, he was diagnosed with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, and quickly became too sick to walk and had to be carried on stage.

In a featurette for the DVD version of Bros' 2018 documentary, After the Screaming Stops, the now 51 year old said: “Your body starts to say I’ve had enough and you don’t listen. That happened several times and it had a real effect on me.

"Berlin was my last show and by that point we had been on the road for some time and I was pretty sick.

“Doctors gave me injections to get on the stage every night and it got to the point where I couldn’t walk any more, I was in a wheelchair.

“The security guy had to pick me up, put me on a stool and I would sit with the bass and play.

“I remember trying to pick up the phone but was too weak. I had to be carried to the bathroom.

“I got on a plane, went home, and was admitted to the hospital within an hour. I was in for several weeks and then the rehabilitation process started to learn to walk again. That took six months.

“It was a tough time, but a lot of that were my issues, not the band's."

So, at the peak of their fame in 1989, Scottish-born Craig - who had met the twins at Collingwood School in Camberley, Surrey - decided to walk away.

At the time, he was dating singer Kim Appleby of Mel and Kim fame, and it was her sister Mel's battle with rare cancer paraganglioma that finally convinced him to quit.

Lying in bed at the Lister Hospital in west London as the sisters tried to rally him, Craig told the BBC how he decided there and then that enough was enough.

"Mel was the most incredible person and had undergone a lot of therapy. She was trying to make me laugh and I was thinking, 'I'm going to be all right because... here's a girl who would give her left arm to run across a field again and just do normal things.'

"I turned to them both at that point and said, 'I'm leaving the band'."

However, his departure wasn't an easy one and resulted in six costly court battles with bosses - which he won.

And it was during the process that he learned about contracts and payments, paving the way to his multi-million pound career as a manager, producer and songwriter.

He continued: "I used to sit with [the lawyers] and go through the contracts every day. Suddenly I realised how an artist and a producer were paid and what deductions were taken out. That was probably the moment that opened the door for me onto the business side."

Craig has since looked after the careers of Robbie Williams, Justin Timberlake, Pink, Tina Turner, Anastasia and Dido and keeps homes in London, France and Los Angeles.

He enjoyed a hot and heavy romance with Dannii Minogue in 2001 after meeting while she was recording material for her album Neon Nights.

But after rumours swirled that he'd proposed and she'd accepted, they parted ways after two years.

Meanwhile, when Bros reunited in 2017, Craig gave it a wide berth, insisting, "It's not something I've ever wanted."

"I'm going to save the public from me running around with the bass, because that just wouldn't be pretty any more. That part of my world has moved on," he told the BBC, although he gave the lads his 'blessing'.

And Luke, who turns 52 today, confirmed that despite Craig's absence from the gig at London's O2 arena, there's no bad blood.

“There is no acrimony at all, but we don’t see each other because we stayed in the creative side and he went to the executive side," he told The Sunday Post.

“Before all the noise, Craig was our best mate and I will always have a lot of love for the guy. I’m proud of what he has done.”

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Kim ApplebyChronic fatigue syndromeLuke GossMatt Goss