| Ritchie Neville | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Richard Neville Dobson |
| Born | 23 August 1979 |
| Origin | Solihull, West Midlands, England |
| Genres | pop |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Associated acts | 5ive |
Ritchie Neville (born Richard Neville Dobson on 23 August 1979 in Solihull, England) is an English singer most noted for being a member of the successful boyband Five. Neville attended the private schools Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire and Solihull School in the West Midlands, where he sang in the school's Chapel Choir.
Neville was born to musical parents and at the age of four, after engaging in activities that often involved singing and acting with his friends, Neville joined the church choir. Whilst growing up, Neville's musical tastes began to centre around grunge - identifying with many rock bands including Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden. He started his own group, Anal Beard. The lure of the stage brought him to London where, in 1997 at the age of 17, he saw an advertisement in the national newspaper The Stage, asking for young male singers to audition for a new boyband with "attitude and edge". Neville, J Brown, Sean Conlon, Abz Love and Scott Robinson, who had during the audition arranged themselves into a group, were subsequently picked and later became Five.
Since Five's break-up in late 2001, Neville has made occasional appearances as a TV presenter, guest, actor and reality show celebrity contestant. He made a brief foray back into music with his own rock band in early 2003.
In September 2006, four of the five original band members of Five announced they were reuniting - minus bandmate Sean Conlon. The band began recording their first album since their breakup in 2001,[1] but disbanded once again in 2007.
In the autumn 2007 Neville was a participant in the second series of Cirque de Celebrité on Sky One in the United Kingdom. During his time in Five he dated the singer and actress Billie Piper. He dated and eventually married Australian model Emily Scott. They wed in the town of Henley-on-Thames on 23 October 2008. They moved to Sydney, Australia following their wedding and split four months later. Their relationship only became public knowledge when Scott confirmed on 28 June 2009 that New South Wales police had taken out an interim Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) for the allegations on Neville until the matter was heard in a court.[2] Scott alleges she has a scar - a few centimetres long - above her left eye, alleged to have been caused by a glass hitting her, but the case was dismissed in Manly Magistrates court on 30 July 2009.[3]
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