A1’s Ben Adams reveals surprising secret second career away from 90s boyband
A1 star Ben Adams' good looks and famous curtains haircut made him the poster boy of late 90s pop.
But for most of the past year the handsome singer, 41, has kept his recognisable face hidden underneath a yellow space wolf mask for a wildly successful side project.
This week Ben was unveiled as one half of Norwegian Eurovision sensation Subwoolfer, alongside writing partner Gaute Ormåsen.
Competing against Sam Ryder and Ukrainian winners Kalush Orchestra, Subwoolfer's novelty track Give That Wolf a Banana helped them finish in 10th place.
Since the contest, the duo's songs have been streamed over 88 million times and cracked the top 10 in Norway, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and Ukraine.
What started as a bit of fun making a crazy song for Melodi Grand Prix (MGP) - an annual songwriting camp to find Norway's Eurovision entry - about wolves named Jim and Keith has turned Ben's life on its head.
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In an exclusive interview, he says: "We basically just laughed for the entire day and put down the most ridiculous lyrics we could think of.
"This is my type of humour. I just thought it was totally stupid to have the names Keith and Jim in a song and it to be about preventing wolves from eating your grandma's banana.
"At the end of these songwriting days, you play the song to everyone else and, lo and behold, everybody in the room was killing themselves laughing and wanted to hear it again."
Norwegian broadcaster NRK approached the duo months later and told them they wanted the track to be in the competition but couldn't find an artist to sing it.
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Eventually Ben, who lives in Norway with wife Sara and daughter Skylar, and Gaute decided they would perform on the condition their identities remained secret, in case the track completely flopped.
It was far from a failure though, and the pair have been performing as Subwoolfer ever since.
Ben says: "It's the longest version of The Masked Singer there is.
"You kind of know who it is behind there, but if people give you a shred of doubt you do go 'is it?'"
"Because it was going so well all the big artists over here, they weren't confirming or denying that it was them because actually the press was quite good for them. It just grew into this monster of a project."
But it is just one of the many pieces that make up Ben's career.
There will be more Subwoolfer, with the aptly titled new single Worst Kept Secret out now, gigs and appearances lined up, and the duo have signed a kids book deal with a major Norwegian agent.
A1 is still very much active, too, especially on the lucrative nostalgia circuit. Ben likened their foreign tour dates with contemporaries such as Blue to a stag do and said all the acts are more friendly with one another than in their chart-topping heydays.
He says: "Its a very good time for 90s, noughties pop, we sell a lot of tickets so we're constantly booking those all the time. It's a big juggling act for me."
And while Ben is continuously writing for the group, he'd be forgiven for resting on the band's big hits that still provide a sizeable income.
He says: "Songs like Caught in the Middle and Same Old Brand New You, I don't really have to do anything anymore, I still get royalty cheques through every month that are amazing. That really is the golden ticket to everything really. Which is why a project like Subwoolfer that will get streamed over a 100million times is incredible."
In Norway, Ben is playing the lead role in a theatre version of We Will Rock You, singing and speaking in English while his castmates perform in Norwegian.
Then in May, he returns to the UK to launch his comedy musical Eugenius! at the Turbine Theatre inside Battersea Power Station.
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Alongside all of that, Ben is trying to balance his home life with Sara and Skylar, one.
He says: "It's been a really odd year and I feel my life has been all over the place. I'm really trying to be at home. I've bought this amazing house up in the mountains, I was going to go up there loads and I haven't been able to visit there as often as I like or be around to take my kid to school, so I'm going to try and squeeze that in at the same time."
