Tony Mortimer hasn’t spoken to the rest of East 17 “for many years”.
The 54-year-old star quit the group in 2013 following a three-year reunion to spend more time with his family and he admitted he’d still be performing with Brian Harvey, Terry Coldwell and John Hendy if their relationship wasn’t so fractured.
Asked if they are still in touch, he told heat magazine: “No, we’d be performing if I were. We don’t speak.
“I’ve not spoken to them for many years now.”
The ‘Stay Another Day’ singer recently appeared in the ‘Boybands Forever’ documentary series -which was produced by Louis Theroux – but claimed he was “missold” on what the programme was about.
Asked why he decided to take part, he said: “I didn’t. I was missold what it was.
“It starts with my band member [Brian], who’s having some troubles at the moment – he’s always had them – and Robbie Williams, so Louis Theroux knew what angle he was going for at the beginning.”
Tony felt “a lot of pressure” at the height of East 17’s success but still had some “good” times with the band.
He said: “It was good while it was good.
“It was a lot of pressure – we were only young lads.
“My favourite thing was seeing the world. I’d never been on a plane before, and all of a sudden, I was hardly off them.”
The ‘House of Love’ hitmaker recently reflected on how “intense” his relationship with his bandmates was amid their chat peak.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column, he said: “When you’re that close it’s intense.
“We were very young and people forget how young we were. It was a great time but it’s a huge change.”
After Brian got caught up in a drug controversy and was sacked in 1997, Tony quit the group due to creative differences.
The band reunited in 2006, but after a one-off concert, Tony quit again after an alleged altercation with Brian, with East 17 continuing as a trio. They then got back together in 2010 with Tony but without Brian, before the singer quit once more.
Today, Terry Coldwell performs as East 17 with Joe Livermore and former Artful Dodger collaborator Robbie Craig.
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