‘Mental health back then wasn’t a thing’

For many ’90s and noughties kids, the boyband Blue were part of growing up.

Their hits featured in the soundtrack to school discos, people would flick through magazines for posters and debate who their favourite member was.

After notching up three number one singles, three number one albums and two Brit awards, the band struggled to find the same charts success again and were dropped by their record label.

In a year when nostalgia for their golden era is driving comebacks and bands including Five, Pulp and Oasis are back on the road, Blue members Simon Webbe, Duncan James, Antony Costa and Lee Ryan are preparing for one of their own.

Their upcoming tour marks 25 years since the band first got together – so a quarter of a century later, what’s changed?

“My body every morning – it’s like Rice Krispies,” moans Manchester-born Simon Webb.

“It’s snap, crackle and pop when I get out of bed.”

It’s a very different picture from their early music videos, with the band performing synchronised dance moves in dark rooms under bright lights, or striding through the streets in tank tops preaching the virtues of One Love.

The singers agree growing up means priorities have changed. They are touring, says London’s Antony Costa, not only because they love it, but also because “we’ve got to work to provide for our families and put food on the table”.

“We have a different mindset now from when we were doing it last time because we were just kids,” says Duncan James. All four members are dads now.

“My daughter’s 20, she lives in Germany – she’s a ballerina,” says the Wiltshire-born singer.

“My responsibilities are looking after her and, of course, my mum.”

For Duncan, their new single One Last Time and its themes of grief and being there for loved ones in hard times are personal.

“My best mate Terry, he was a dancer on our first ever tour back in the day 25 years ago,” Duncan says.

“We just became best mates and I lost him very tragically and sadly last year and I was gutted. But I wrote this song in his memory and it was almost like a bit of a love letter to him.”

Terry John, a model, dancer and choreographer, has been previously described by Duncan as the most loving, giving and caring person he knew.

Meanwhile, he says Simon’s wife broke down in tears when she heard the song.

“It’s not easy to talk about but we lost her dad about a year or so ago suddenly as well and it’s just the shock factor of that,” says Simon.

“This song is one of those songs that takes you back to that one special person – or those special people in your lives that have passed on or those who you might not have seen for a long time and are hoping to do so.”

The band have all experienced grief, but didn’t want to make One Last Time a sad song.

“We wanted to put an uplifting beat on it,” Duncan says as they speak about how positivity has helped them through difficult times.

Writing previously in The Radio Times, Blue’s former manager Daniel Glatman said if he was managing boybands now he would hire 24/7 therapists.

“We didn’t have that luxury of talking at the time,” Antony explains.

“It was just literally in and out and it was just graft, graft, graft. So it’s nice that we can sit down and take a step back and if we want to talk, we can.”

“We’ve got each other now,” Simon says.

“I’ve had a few dark shadows linger over me and Duncan’s always been there and so has Antony and so has Lee.”

Listening to them chat, the conversation flows easily. They go from emotional talk to banter, taking the mick out of each other and themselves.

“I think they all decide on who’s going to talk to me next,” Simon laughs.

“Who’s going to say something to Simon? They spin the bottle in that aspect.

“But we do have that with each other anyway – there’s always the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Mental health back then wasn’t a thing,” says Duncan.

“It wasn’t something that anybody talked about.”

Now they speak about the benefits of having the discipline to keep talking to others, whether a therapist, colleague or friend.

“Talking about your problems is really important – don’t ever filter feelings,” says Duncan.

“Don’t sit there on your own thinking you’ve got no-one to talk to.”

He says at different times in their careers, each of the band members had found talking “a real saving grace”.

Blue’s new studio album Reflections is out on 9 January and their world tour begins in 2026.