Facebook fan campaign behind Damage reunion

Damage are known for songs like Forever and Ghetto Romance

Former boyband Damage say they decided to reform after receiving hundreds of messages through Facebook.

The group originally split up in 2001 after releasing two studio albums, Forever and Since You've Been Gone.

But the R&B outfit, which includes Emma Bunton's boyfriend Jade Jones, say they decided to give Damage another go after fans called for a reunion.

Noel Simpson said: "It was good times when we got together and just sat down talking. There was a lot of laughter."

The group are reforming to play live shows but aren't planning a new album at the moment, although they say they may release a Greatest Hits package.

Their biggest hit was a cover version of Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight, which made it to number three in 1997.

Jade Jones said singing together again felt natural after so many years.

"It seemed so easy," he said. "It's been such a long time since we've done anything but getting back together, it's like riding a bike.

"As soon as we got back together, everything just slipped into place. We're ready. I don't know if the world's ready for it but we're ready."

Live performances

A number of former boybands have reformed in the past few years, including the likes of Take That, Blue and Boyzone.

Newcomers JLS have also taken the chart by storm since finishing second on X Factor in 2008, with three number one singles including this week's best-selling track The Club Is Alive.

Jade Jones took his and Emma Bunton's son on the Spice Girls tour

Speaking at the launch of this year's Urban Music Award nominations, Jade Jones says they don't see their rivals as competition.

"People opened doors for us and then we opened doors for other people to come through," said Jade Jones.

"Everyone's doing amazingly well. It's great for the UK [music] industry because it's taking it commercial. R&B now is commercial."

The group have had varied success since splitting up.

Coreé Richards formed pop group City Boy Soul, Andrez Harriott put together CherryBlackStone with Jade Jones while Rahsaan J Bromfield and Noel Simpson became youth workers.

Jade Jones, 31, also went out on the road with Emma Bunton when Spice Girls reformed in 2007 and took their newborn son Beau with him.

He says he started getting the bug to perform live again after travelling around on their world tour.

He said: "It was nice to see them back on stage and I think it gave me a little bit of a twitch to get back in there and do something with the boys again.

"It's great to be back together. It'll be nice now for our kids to see what daddy used to do back in the day and it's nice to get back out on the road."