JB Gill

Jonathan Benjamin "JB" Gill (born 7 December 1986) is an English singer and farmer. He is best known as a former member of boy band JLS, who came second place on The X Factor in 2008. They went on to have five number-one singles and sold over 10 million records worldwide before disbanding in December 2013.

Early life

Gill is the son of Cynthia and Keith Gill and has one brother, Neequaye. He spent the first five years of his life living in Antigua, discovering his musical talent at a very early age. After completing his exams at university, he decided to audition for The X Factor in 2007. It was at this point that he came into contact with the other members of JLS. Gill grew up, mostly, in Croydon and began making music at the age of seven when he played the recorder, piano, flute and guitar. At the age of nine, he joined the choir and went onto perform at the local church. Gill concentrated on his music and began studying at The Centre for Young Musicians, After leaving the CYM, Gill stayed involved with the school music scene. He was involved with the choir at school. He continued this until he was 15 but had to give it up due to the pressures from the school to concentrate on his rugby career; he was involved with London Irish rugby club until he was 18. He eventually decided that he wanted to sing rather than play rugby and took up vocal coaching during a year out before attending university. During this period, Gill was contacted by Oritse to try out for the band because of his musical ear and attention to harmonies. He studied theology at King's College London, staying in halls in Russell Square, before dropping out to pursue a music career.