If you experienced your teenage years in the 90s, chances are you knew of, or were into the music of Chris Leng, Giles Kristian, Jamie Browne and Richard Micallef, aka former boyband, Upside Down.
Alongside Britpop, the 1990s was the decade of the boyband, and the era produced other major stars like Take That, Boyzone, Backstreet Boys and Five.
While some groups and members (Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Ronan Keating – we're looking at you) managed to carry their success through to the 2000s, the 2010s and even into 2023, for some, the bright lights of the music industry fizzled out, and the fresh faced stars headed for pastures new.
One such example is Upside Down's Giles, who after hanging up his boyband jacket due to his record label going bankrupt, has gone on to achieve impressive success in a whole different industry altogether.
So, what has Giles – who looks completely unrecognisable these days – been up to in the 27 years since he found fame? Here's everything you need to know….
He's an established author
If you look on Giles' Wikipedia page, you have to scroll right down to the bottom before it says anything about him being in a boyband. Instead, he's described as "an English novelist, known for his action adventure novels in the historical fiction genre."
If you're now catching on, you'll recall that it was his Raven series that kick started his literary success. The series follows a young man who is coming of age amid a band of Viking warriors.
His first novel in the string of Raven books, Raven: Blood Eye, was a bestseller, and even received acclaim from Bernard Cornwell, the celebrated English-American historical novelist.
He's also a Sunday Times and The Times bestseller
Thanks to his 2018 novel, Lancelot which focuses on the British myth and legend, Giles reached number 6 in The Sunday Times bestseller list.
He also achieved third place in The Times' bestseller list, too.
He has his own production company
As well as being a former boyband member and a best selling and prize winning author, Giles is also the co-founder of his own production company. The UK based World Serpent Productions, which he set up with filmmaker and director Philip Steven, is a "creative partnership dedicated to scriptwriting, screenwriting and filmmaking," as per Giles' website.
It details some of the projects they've worked on, including the author's own 2016 short film, The Last Viking.
We don't know about you, but he's one busy guy!
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