Another Level

Another Level were a British soul / R&B influenced quartet in the late 1990s. The members were Mark Baron, Dane Bowers, Bobak Kianoush and Wayne Williams. Bowers and Williams were both students of the Brit School of Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon, Surrey, when they were discovered. Williams enrolled at the school in 1995, while Bowers was in the year below, but started in 1994. Mark used to be a Royal Marine Commando. Another Level were originally signed to Northwestside Records, a BMG sub-label in the United Kingdom that had also signed Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records unit in the mid 1998. Due to Northwestside's position as an urban marketed record label, a number of R&B and hip-hop stars guested on Another Level's records. These included Ghostface Killah and TQ amongst others. Another Level had seven Top Ten singles in two years, including 1998's UK Number One "Freak Me" (a cover of the 1993 hit by US group Silk), and a platinum selling, eponymous debut album. 1999's gold selling Nexus followed, along with BRIT Awards nominations, and the opening slot on Janet Jackson's European tour. The band split up in 2000 after the release of their second album Nexus, with member Dane Bowers going on to have success with Jonny L and Victoria Beckham as part of the Truesteppers' record "Out of Your Mind", as well as two, number nine, solo hit single releases. Wayne Williams went on to start up his own record label with his brother Jason. His debut album Fame And Fortune failed to make an impact on the UK charts. In 2006, Bowers appeared in the follow up TV show to Totally Scott-Lee, called Totally Boyband, in which five boyband members from past groups were to be modelled into a new singing act. The group featured him alongside Lee Latchford Evans of Steps, Jimmy Constable of 911, New Kids on the Block's Danny Wood and S Club's Bradley McIntosh. The series commenced on MTV in the UK in September 2006 yet their first single was a commercial disaster and charted at No 35 with the group name Upper Street (band). They have since disbanded since the show's end.