Boyband The Wanted have announced they will perform together for the first time in seven years at a charity concert organised by member Tom Parker, who has a brain tumour.
The group, best known for hits Glad You Came, Chasing The Sun and All Time Low, will also release a greatest hits album, entitled Most Wanted – The Greatest Hits, which will also feature new music.
The performance at Stand Up To Cancer’s Inside My Head show at the Royal Albert Hall on September 20 marks the first time the five-piece have reunited since they went on hiatus in 2014.
Parker, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour last year, will stage the pop concert to raise funding for more medical research after learning during the course of making a documentary that only 1% of the national cancer budget goes towards researching new treatments for brain tumours.
The Wanted formed in 2009 with Parker, Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Nathan Sykes and Jay McGuiness, but the singers have launched solo endeavours over the last few years.
McGuiness said: “We have been talking off and on for a few years now about getting back together to do something for the anniversary but have all been working on other projects at different times so it didn’t happen.
“This is all about having fun with our mates, no pressure, just fun.”
Here we go!! We are MEGA excited to announce that we are BACK and will be releasing our Greatest Hits Album on November 12th!! We'll also be performing LIVE at the @RoyalAlbertHall as part of @TomParker's 'Inside My Head' concert. It's been far too long… Let's do this! 🌍 💪 pic.twitter.com/8Zsq31jyVN
— The Wanted (@thewanted) September 8, 2021
They announced their comeback in a YouTube video which sees the band bumping into each other in a hospital waiting room.
It sees Parker sitting in the Gold Forever Community Hospital, a reference to their 2010 Comic Relief single, before each member of the band turns up one by one with different injuries.
Parker says: “Seeing as we are all here, fancy getting back together?”
Most Wanted – Greatest Hits will be released on November 12 and will feature their best known songs, including Gold Forever, Heart Vacancy, Lightning, Lose My Mind and Walks Like Rihanna.
When he first announced his diagnosis, Parker said his tumour was “inoperable” and “terminal”.
In January, he announced in an Instagram post that there had been a “significant reduction” in the size of the tumour and that he was “responding well to treatment”.
He has been married to Kelsey Hardwick since 2018 and they welcomed their son, Bodhi, in October last year, joining their daughter, Aurelia Rose, born in 2019.