BBMak Artistfacts

BBMak song list

BBMak Artistfacts

1996-2003, 2018-
Christian BurnsVocals, guitar
Mark BarryVocals, Celtic pipes
Ste McNallyVocals, guitar
The group's name comes from the last names of the members: (Christian) Burns, (Mark) Barry and (Ste) McNally. They embellished McNally's name to avoid being BBMc.
BBMak were sometimes considered a boy band because of their good looks and youth (they were in their early 20s when they got popular), but they've always written most of their own songs and played their own instruments. The "boy band" label could be helpful for marketing purposes back in the early 2000s when acts like Backstreet Boys and N' Sync were huge.
All the members of BBMak admit they can't dance.
Their sound is based on their harmony vocals and acoustic guitars played by McNally and Burns.
All members were born in Northern England. Christian Burns and Ste McNally were born in Liverpool and Mark Barry was born in Manchester.
Christian was born on January 18, 1974 which would make him the oldest. Mark was born October 26, 1978 and Ste was born July 4, 1978.
Every member of BBMak considers The Beatles a major inspiration. Christian's dad Tony Burns opened for The Beatles when he was in a rock band called The Signs. According to Ste, he is distantly related to Ringo Starr of The Beatles - his dad's cousin was Ringo's first wife.
All of the members were in different bands when they met after seeing each other at various auditions. When they realized they harmonized very well, they started busking outside of record companies and eventually landed a deal.
They have a ritual before every show. Christian puts his fist out and says "B" and Mark puts his fist out and says "B," then Ste puts his fist in and says "Mak."
During their popular period in the early '00s, they made good use of the internet, regularly interacting with fans in the "BBTalk" section of their website. This was before social media when artist websites were their hubs.
Mark was training to be a fireman before joining the band. Ste was working as a security guard and used to be an engineer.
Christian had a series of jobs straight out of high school. He worked as car salesman, a door-to-door salesman, and he was a baker. His initially wanted to be a chief but he thought about all the hours he'd be working.
In 2003 they broke up to pursue "individual endeavors." The members had been battling with their record label, Hollywood Records, for barely promoting their 2002 sophomore album, Into Your Head. In 2018 they regrouped, and the following year they released their third album, Powerstation.

Comments: 1

Stefanie from Rock Hill, ScYeah, Ringo Starr's first wife was Morene, but I can't for the life of me remember her last name. Cox maybe?

see more comments

More Songfacts:

HumanThe Killers

"Human" by The Killers was the most streamed song on Spotify in 2008, the year that the music streaming service was launched.

Take My Breath AwayBerlin

"Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun was a huge hit for Berlin, but lead singer Terri Nunn was the only band member to perform on it. This caused friction that broke up the group a year later.

SundownGordon Lightfoot

The inspiration for Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" came when he was worrying about his girlfriend, who was out at bars all day while he was home writing songs.

I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)The Four Tops

The Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" was written by the Motown team of Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland. The phrase "Sugar pie, honey bunch" was something Dozier's grandfather used to say when he was a kid.

Chelsea DaggerThe Fratellis

The Fratellis song "Chelsea Dagger" was named for their lead singer's wife - it was her burlesque name.

Wrecking BallMiley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus didn't write "Wrecking Ball" but could very much relate to it. She was having problems in her relationship with Liam Hemsworth, so the theme of giving your love only to have it wrecked really resonated with her.