Jake

Jake
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Jake entering the U:BB House
Background information
Born	19 May, 1985
Origin	Milton Keynes, England
Genre	Pop, Electropop, Accoustic
Years active	2005 - Present
Label	Ensemble
Associated acts
Jack Stevens Indigo Peak Jon Farley

Jake burst onto the Urapopstar scene in 2005 after originally progressing through the final stages of U:Factor. The show subsiquently went tits up, and Jake pulled out of the competition. However within days of pulling out Jake had already been signed by Justin Case's now defunct label 'Spike'.
He released his first single imaginatively titled I want to break free (from reality TV). It peaked at number ten on the official singles charts, and spent a further four weeks bothering the top twenty before quietly slipping out of the top fourty all together.

Jake went on to follow up the minor success of I want to break free with the release of Cummin' Soon which was released through Tigerstar Records due to Spike Records going under. The track was written alongside label boss Malena and was famous for it's discustingly dirty lyrics, it was banned from radio and as a result peaked at number fourteen in January of 2006.

Jakes third single release was to be a cover of the Erasure 'classic' Star. The track was originally released as a promo cd under the name Short Circuit to clubs to generate interest. The name vocal was later revealed to be Jake. Short Circuit went onto become part of the Knobfeelers. Star peaked at number thirteen in May of 2006.

After a start/stop to his career as a popstar Jake enlisted the services of Alesha, Ivy and Fifth Element to help get his first album off the ground. The album, Run for your life did not originally feature the first three singles. However a special edition, including a bonus disc included the singles released prior to the albums release.

Run for your life[edit | edit source]

Annoyed by the lack of success gathered with his first three singles, Jake took the bull by the horns and teamed up with Alesha, Fifth Element and Ivy to work on the release of his debut album. Jake released the self-penned track Real in September 2006. This gave Jake his first top five hit, peaking at number four, remaining in the official top fourty for 12 whole weeks. Jake followed up the release of Real with Overdrive/Out Of Lives, written by Alesha and Ivy respectivley. The double AA side peaked at number two in November 2006.

The album Run For Your Life was released the week after, and charted at number two in the official chart, cementing Jakes recent run of success.

Christmas 2006 saw Jake teaming up with then girlfriend Nikki to release Grease EP for xmas. The pair grabbed the Chrismas number one and held onto the top spot for two weeks.

Jake took part in the second Tango Challenge. He was teamed with Suzie and the outcasts, and they released a track written by Suzie called Red. It peaked at number sixteen, despite being one of the favorites to win the competition.

Run for your life was re-released shortly after the challenge, inlcuding all the singles that were not included from his pre-Ensemble days, and new tracks, including Red

The final single from Run from your life (re-release) Not My Fault was released in March 2007, and gave Jake his first solo number one.

Just Jake[edit | edit source]

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Jake began work on his second studio album in winter 2006, recording a number of tracks that were put onto the Run for your life re-release. He eventually released the lead single from Just Jake in May 2007. The single a double aa side with the Run for your life re-release track Promises. Just Jake/Promises entered the chart at number one.

The album was released in September 2007, with good reviews. The single My Love was released in late August 2007, again reaching the top spot, holding onto it for 2 weeks, before yo-yo'ing up and down the top 40 for several weeks. Jake then took a short break from promoting the album to collaborate with Jack Stevens and Jon Farley for the Children in Need single that year. Trendy Pop Boys went on to be the biggest Urapopstar single, EVER, raising 1000's of millions of pennies for charity.

After the success of the trendy pop boys single, it was rumoured that Jake would be re-releasing Just Jake with some new tracks including Trendy Pop Boys, however this never happened, and the third single Dirty Little Secret was released in January 2008. Again it charted at number one on the official charts, and eventually went on to be in the top 5 selling singles of 2008, earning a nomination for record of the year, narrowly missing out to Jack Stevens.

During the promotion for Dirty Little Secret Jake revealed that there could be upto 3 more singles from the album, with fans speculating that Mr Right now, Vertigo and Washing my hair were all on the verge of being released, and in March of 2008 Vertigo and Mr Right Now were released on promo to radio. The version were altered slightly for release. However despite recieving a good reception from fans and radio, the single release was cancelled. Promos of the failed single now reach upto £75 on ebay.

Save it for your wife[edit | edit source]

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It was announced on August 18th, that Wham! Bam! Thanks Man! would be the first single taken from Jakes third studio album Save it for your wife. On the same day, in the same press released Ensemble announced that Save it for your wife would be released on October 13th.

Wham! Bam! Thanks Man!, written by Jack Stevens was released in the first week of October 2008, entering the charts at number one. It went on to sell over 350,000 copies and ended up being one of the highest selling singles of 2008.

Jake teamed up with husband Yannik McQueen for the track Partners in crime. The pair released this track for christmas, with a cover of Not Tonight Santa as a double a side. Partners In Crime/Not Tonight Santa entered at number one on the 21st of December 2008, giving them the coveted xmas number one, as well as becoming the third highest selling single in the history of Urapopstar with over 600,000 copies sold during its first month on the charts. Dropping to number two the week after release, the single later regained the number one spot on the 4th of January 2009 and remaining there for a further three weeks.

The loved up pair also recorded a full album of ballads, in the form of Love. The album became an unexpected success, managing four weeks in total at number one, leading to its eventual re-release for the valentines market.

The third single to be released from Save It For Your Wife was the Indigo Peak penned Kaboom. A firm fan favourite, the track easily became Jake's ninth number one. Surrounding release was the notorious controversy involving Mahlee Wohp, of whom had taken it upon herself to "sabotage," Jake's strong relationship with his husband. However her efforts failed, as documented by GMTV.