November 27, 2009

By By Richard Smirke, London

JLS, the British boy band who recently beat Robbie Williams to the top of the U.K. album charts, is to work with dance producer and fellow U.K. chart topper Calvin Harris.

Speaking to Billboard.biz, JLS band member Jonathan Benjamin 'JB' Gill said that the group would be entering the studio in the coming weeks to collaborate with the Scottish dance artist who scored a U.K. number 1 album earlier this year with his sophomore studio set "Ready For The Weekend" (Columbia/Sony Music).

"We're just going to go have a writing session with him and see what we can come up with for the next album," Gill says. "Fingers crossed that we can come up with something that's really good."

JLS' self-titled debut was released in the U.K. Nov. 9 via Epic Records/Sony Music Entertainment and sold 239,000 units in its first week of release, beating Robbie Williams' long-awaited comeback album "Reality Killed The Video Star" (Virgin/EMI) - also released Nov. 9 - to the U.K. top spot. "JLS' also hit number 1 in Ireland. A European rollout is provisionally scheduled for early 2010.

According to Gill, the band will begin writing its second album shortly and is currently mooting the possibility of collaborating with further artists on the album.

"It's definitely something that we'd love to explore," he tells Billboard.biz, declining to reveal potential artists they may work with. "With this album we just wanted to cement JLS and put that on the map. After that we're more than happy to do collaborations and fingers crossed we'll be able to work with some great people."

JLS first found fame on Simon Cowell's U.K. TV talent show "The X Factor" where they were losing finalists to 2008 series winner Alexandra Burke. Prior to the release of its eponymous debut album the band scored consecutive U.K. number 1 singles in 2009 with "Beat Again" and 'Everybody In Love".

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