Bars & Melody (B.A.M) are a British singing/rapping duo consisting of rapper Leondre Devries ("Bars") and singer Charlie Lenehan ("Melody"). They took part in the eighth series of Britain's Got Talent in 2014. They finished in third place, behind runner-up Lucy Kay and winners Collabro, despite being the bookies favourites.
After the show, Bars & Melody signed a record deal with Syco Music. They will release their debut single "Hopeful" in July 2014.
Leondre Devries is a 13-year-old rapper from Port Talbot, Wales and Charlie Lenehan is a 15-year-old singer from BristolEngland. Devries does the bars and Lenehan does the melody. They met in September 2013 via Facebook and decided to form a music duo, naming themselves Bars and Melody (or B.A.M, as stated in their first appearance).
2014: Britain's Got Talent[edit]Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 8) 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 about protests against bullying. Following chants of "Push the gold!" from the audience, Bars & Melody received the golden buzzer from Simon Cowell and went straight through to the live semi-finals. Their audition has been viewed on YouTube more than 35 million times.
Before the semi-finals, they were interviewed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the United States, and numerous adverts were posted on Facebook. They advertised Britain's Got Talent and themselves, as well as performing their audition piece. In the 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; all the audience members had been given a candle to wave during their performance. They won their semi-final and progressed through to the final.
In the final, they performed the song they sang in their first audition. They came in third place behind Lucy Kay and Collabro after receiving 14.3% of the final vote.
2014–present: Debut single[edit]Despite not winning, it was reported that Bars and Melody were set to sign a £500,000 record deal. On 15 June 2014, it was announced that Bars and Melody have signed an initial one-single deal with Simon Cowell's record label, Syco. They will release their version of "Hope" in July.
Charlie Lenehan Charlie Lenehan is from Frampton Cotterell, Bristol, England. He attends the Winterbourne International Academy. He lives with his mum Karen, who is a dinner lady at Gillingstool School (which he had mentioned during his BGT audition) and his eight year old sister Brooke. He returned to school the first Monday after the BGT final. He had only taken up singing aged 11 where he had formed a band with his schoolmates and was chosen as the singer.
Leondre Devries Leondre Devries (born 6 October 2000) is from Port Talbot, Wales. He attends the Glan Afan Comprehensive School. He lives with his dad Antonio and mum Victoria. He has spoken openly about his experiences of bullying at a young age. He has one younger sister and three older brothers.