Busted through the years from their debut hit to their Summer tour (2024)

James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson formed Busted in 2000. The band originally had the line-up of James, and Matt along with Ki Fitzgerald and Owen Doyle, after they auditioned to be in a new band for Warner Music, however that line-up didn't last long.

Both Charlie Simpson and Tom Fletcher (now part of McFly) were offered places to complete the band's line-up, however it was later decided that Charlie would join James and Matt to form the line-up we know and love.

The band officially launched in August 2002 and released their debut song 'What I Go To School For'. The song was written by Matt about a teacher he used to have a crush on and it saw the band get their first Top 5 song, with it reaching Number 3 in the UK.

This success was followed by the release of their debut album 'Busted' which went to Number 2 in the UK.

Following the success of their debut song they released 'Year 3000' a few months later which reached Number 2 in the UK. However, it was with the release of their third song 'You Said No', that Busted got their first Number 1.

The band went on tour and also released their second album 'A Present for Everyone' in November 2003, which featured their Number 1 hits 'Crashed the Wedding', 'Who's David' and their double A side 'Thunderbirds' / '3AM'.

Busted went on their second and third tours in 2004 called 'Busted: A Ticket for Everyone' and 'Busted: A Ticket for Everyone Else'. They also released three Top 2 hits from their album, 'Who's David', 'Air Hostess' and the double A side 'Thunderbirds' and '3AM'.

2004 was also the year that Busted picked up Best British Breakthrough Act and Best Pop Act at the BRIT Awards, and they took part in Band Aid 20's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.

During the years that Busted had separated the individual members did their own solo work.

Charlie spent time playing with the rock band Fightstar, which he joined while he was part of Busted. He also released four solo albums, the first two of which reached the Top 10 in the UK.

James also released music, both with pop punk band Son of Dork and as a solo artist Future Boy. He also became a songwriter, writing for Melanie C, McFly and the Jonas Brothers, as well as for the ITV hit show Britannia High.

After the band's split, Matt released several solo songs and an album called 'Don't Let It Go to Waste'. He also released a song called 'Crash' for the film Mr Bean's Holiday.

Away from music, Matt won I'm a Celeb back in 2006, and acted in several other TV shows including EastEnders and Birds of a Feather, as well appearing in several musicals on stage.

The new supergroup went on tour in 2014 and even supported One Direction on their European tour, continuing into 2015.

In October 2014 they released their first song as a supergroup, 'Air Guitar', followed by their album 'McBusted'.