Bars and Melody
Bars and Melody were an R&B and rap duo consisting of rapper Leondre Devries and singer Charlie Lenehan. BAM took part in the eighth series of Britain's Got Talent in 2014. During their audition, they were automatically sent into the semifinals of the competition after the head judge, Simon Cowell, pressed the golden buzzer. They ultimately finished in third place in the series. Their first single after the show, "Shining Star", was released on 30 July 2014, accompanied by an acoustic version of their song "Hopeful".
Bars and Melody released their debut studio album, 143, on 21 August 2015. It debuted at number four on the Official UK Charts. Their EP Teen Spirit was released in 2016. BAM later released Generation Z and Sadboi. A 2021 EP entitled Carpe Diem signaled a change in their sound. Bars and Melody disbanded in 2025.
History
2013–15: Formation, ''Britain's Got Talent'' and ''143''
Devries and Lenehan first met on social media in September 2013, after Devries had seen Lenehan's videos. They first met in person in January 2014 to form a music duo as Bars and Melody. On 8 February 2014, Bars and Melody auditioned in Manchester for the eighth series of Britain's Got Talent. They performed a song based on Twista and Faith Evans' "Hope", with Devries replacing the original verses with ones protesting against bullying. After the performance, Simon Cowell pressed the golden buzzer, sending them straight to the live semifinals. Before the semifinals, the group appeared and performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the United States. In the BGT semi-final on 29 May, they performed Puff Daddy and Faith Evans' "I'll Be Missing You", coupled with new verses about someone who had recently lost a friend; audience were given candles to wave during the performance. They won their semi-final and progressed through to the final, where they performed the song they sang in their audition and ultimately finished third behind Lucy Kay and Collabro. According to Billboard magazine, the video of their audition was number six in the top ten trending videos for 2014.Despite not winning, Bars and Melody signed a £500,000 record deal with Simon Cowell's record label, Syco, which released "Hopeful" in July 2014. Their debut single went straight to number five on the UK Singles Chart. The music video of their song "Hopeful" was released on YouTube on 7 July 2014. To promote the song, they appeared on television shows such as Good Morning Britain, This Morning, and The Official Chart on BBC Radio 1. By late September, the song "Hopeful" was number 33 on the Twitter Top Tracks. Bars and Melody also participated in their first HMV signing tour to promote Hopeful. They released the song "Shining Star", which came out as part of Hopeful Acoustic. Their second single, "Keep Smiling", was released on 28 February 2015, with a music video filmed in Plymouth. It peaked at 52 in the Official Charts Company. Their third official single, "Stay Strong", was released on 18 April 2015 and peaked at 53 in the Official Charts Company. Two physical editions of the CD could be purchased with each one containing an image of either Lenehan or Devries, promoted through a second HMV signing tour. They released their fourth single "Beautiful" in June 2015 alongside a music video.
The group released their debut album, 143, on 21 August 2015, which peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart on 28 August 2015. The album included their previously recorded singles and additional songs. To promote the album, they toured across the United Kingdom in the summer and had a winter tour in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Poland, where the album went platinum. Following a guest presenting stint in 2014, Bars and Melody made a red carpet appearance at the premiere of CBBC show Friday Download in May 2015. They also participated in the Friday Download movie called Up All Night. They performed the third ending theme "Unite " for the anime series Future Card Buddyfight Triple D. They appeared on BBC's Newsround during a week-long series about bullying in February 2015.
2016–18: ''Teen Spirit'' and ''Generation Z''
In 2016, they toured five cities with Kiera Weathers, a contestant on The X Factor, in February and April of that year. The cities included London, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, and Liverpool. They also became ambassadors for the Anti Bullying Charity campaign that year. In August 2016, their album Teen Spirit was released by Syco. They toured Australia and Japan by August 2016.In August 2016 they released their first Japanese album, titled Hopeful by Avex Music Creative, including fourteen tracks from the UK albums 143 and Teen Spirit as well as UK and Japanese versions of Hopeful. They toured thirteen cities in Austria, Germany and Switzerland in November and December, opening for German teen singer Lukas Rieger.
On 15 February 2017 they released their second Japanese album, entitled Never Give Up. The album was released by Rhythm Sound, a division of Avex Music Creative. They announced the immediate digital release of new song "Faded" on 14 April. Also in April, they toured ten cities in the UK opening for the dance troupe Diversity. On 27 May, they released a song called "Thousand Years," which has a music video with over 28 million views on YouTube as of 14 November 2019. On 1 September they released a new album entitled Generation Z.
In early 2018, Bars and Melody went on their Generation Z Tour around Europe. On 12 October 2018, they released a single called "Put Ü First". They also announced and had shows in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, Japan in December.
2019–2025: ''Love To See Me Fail'', ''Sadboi'', ''Carpe Diem'' and farewell tour
In early 2019, Bars and Melody released a single from their upcoming album called Love To See Me Fail. Just a few weeks after that, Bars and Melody embarked on their Choke Tour from late March to mid-May. On 26 July, they released their long-awaited single "Waiting for the Sun" on YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify and deezer. In late August, they competed on Britain's Got Talent: The Champions where they sang "Waiting for the Sun" in week 5 and reached the final.On 4 October, BAM released their single "Lighthouse". They also set to embark on their primarily-UK tour Lighthouse from October until early November, along with 3 shows in Japan in mid-January 2020. On 13 December, they released the single "Teenage Romance", featuring Mike Singer. On 7 December, they announced their album Sadboi would be released in 2020.
On 27 January, BAM competed on America's Got Talent: The Champions. On 6 March, their new single "Ain't Got You" was released. On 13 March, they made a surprise drop with their new song "Invisible". On 27 March 2020, their album Sadboi was finally released. In late March, they had to postpone their Sadboi tour due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
On 15 January 2021, Bars and Melody released the album Carpe Diem, starting with hit single "Own Ways".
In July 2024, BAM announced that they would part ways as a duo after a farewell tour. On March 14, 2025, Bars & Melody performed their final concert ever in Warsaw, Poland, at VooDoo Club. The date, 14.03, was very special for both the duo and their fans, as it was a reference to their first album, 143.