The Abs

Born to Turkish and Irish parents, Richard Abidin Breen, who performs as ABS, once sang and danced through Michael Jackson numbers long before turning to DJ work. A strong interest in dance-pop drew him into the British boy band 5ive, which split up in September 2001. Executive producer Simon Cowell quickly offered him a solo deal, and the first result appeared in August 2002 as the UK Top Ten single “What You Got,” built around samples from Andrea & Donna’s 1970s reggae song “Uptown Top Ranking.”