Ashley Parker Angel, former member of the early 2000’s boy band O-Town, recently joined ComicBook.com‘s Chris Killian for an exclusive interview. The 35-year-old singer opened up about his life since his days of touring with O-Town, and whether we can expect to see him belting out “All Or Nothing” ever again on stage with the vocal group.
Angel first rose to stardom on the hit ABC series Making the Band in the year 2000. The show featured five singers coming together to form a pop music group, and it was the first reality series of the type to be picked up by a major network.
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The band was managed by Lou Pearlman, the man responsible for creating arguably two of the other greatest boy bands The Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync.
The band’s popularity hit the stratosphere in the late spring of 2001 after releasing the ballad “All or Nothing.” The song soared to the #1 spot on the U.S. top 40 charts and was nominated for numerous awards.
After the band’s second album was released, O2, the teen-pop genre had begun to decline. The album was moderately successful, but it made nowhere near the market impact of the first one the band released. Subsequently in the year 2003, O-Town was released from J Records label.
After 8 long years, O-Town shocked everyone and announced that the band would be reuniting. However, Ashley Parker Angel released a statement that he would not be part of the reunion.
He told TMZ at the time, “O-Town was one of the greatest chapters of my life, so when the idea of a reunion was brought to me, of course I was intrigued. However I have made the decision not to be a part of an O-Town reunion. It was a difficult decision, but ultimately necessary to move on with the next chapter of my career.”
At the time, Angel felt like his life was going in a different direction. In his recent interview with Comicbook.com, Parker explained more about his decision not to team up once again with O-Town.
“You know it’s crazy man, when you go through something like that you’re bonded for life,” Parker said in reference to his band’s formation on the show Making the Band. “And me and the guys, I mean, through the years we had talked about doing a reunion. All of a sudden it’s ten years later and not everybody is in the same place, and it was really tough to have five people be on the same schedule and have the same availability.”
Although O-Town moved on without him, Angel doesn’t harbor any ill will towards his former band mates.
“I’m so glad they did because O-Town is such a talented band,” he said. “Even though I was sort of going in a different direction, I’m really glad that they reunited and they did another album. They are out touring again, the fans are loving it.”
O-Town fans will be excited to know that when Angel discussed joining the band in the future, he seemed reluctant but was not entirely opposed to the idea. He even said that it was “hard to imagine” that it wouldn’t happen one day!
“Life is long man, I never say never,” Parker said. “You know what I mean, if they’re going to be a band for the next ten years it’s sort of hard to imagine a time where there wouldn’t be some opportunity like a special concert or a special television event where we’re all on stage singing ‘All Or Nothing’ again. It seems hard to imagine that that wouldn’t happen at some point.”
It’s fair to say that all the fans of the band would go crazy for a full-band reunion, so here’s to hoping that Ashley Parker Angel is correct in his assumptions that all five of the singers will one day get back together.
Check out the full video with Ashley Parker Angel above.
To keep up with Ashley Parker Angel, follow him on Instagram here.
Do you hope Ashley Parker Angel reunites with O-Town?
[H/T Wikipedia]
