Yes it’s true. Our four piece boyband was dressed in pastel shirts (when wearing them), CK jeans and wore gallons of wet look gel to channel our inner Sonic the Hedgehog… Oh yeah, we were the cool kids!
It was 1997 and I had just turned eighteen. I was the wide-eyed northerner now living in London. This wasn’t my first brush with fame, I had been working in television for two years and was the youngest (ever) television director in the country at just seventeen years old. But I was a born performer and no matter how amazing my current job was, I had to follow my heart and my dreams.
The problem with dreams is they rarely go the way we plan. Once the contract was signed, I gave up my job and moved to the big city. We recorded our songs, did all the press shoots and even went on a shopping trips with a stylists. Unfortunately The Firm was never destined for greatness as just six months later and only one week before our single release, the management company collapsed. All four of us were left out in the cold with nothing to show for it. Well, I say nothing – I did get a tape of our almost final cut for Faith, the proposed first single. It’s not polished, it’s been through many formats and it wouldn’t stand up to anything released today – but it is a constant reminder that I have and always will follow my heart. At least I won’t be left wondering “what if” on my deathbed.
Obviously I would prefer the band to have been successful and really wish I had stayed in contact with the other three guys. But before social media and smart phones – I have long since lost my rolodex and many of my contacts. (Seriously, I had a rolodex!)
So, below is the video for Faith by The Firm. We were meant to be the next big thing to rival Five – not that you’d believe it listening to the song now. (We could have been like the Misfits from #JemTheMovie).
Oh and the images are of me from around the time I was in the band – except for the first and last, they were taken in 2004.
Enjoy!
#TerryGee