Five: We were upset over Abz Love's sudden exit

The 35-year-old singer, whose real name is Richard Breen, decided to inform fellow singers Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon that he wouldn’t be a part of the group any more on Twitter without any prior notice, after 17 years.

Ritchie criticised his decision, saying: “I think if you were leaving any job, any sort of friendship group or anything like that, you could probably put a call in – or even better, meet up in person, discuss it, say your piece and leave on nice terms. I’m not sure it’s the best way to take to Twitter with one tweet and never pick up the phone again.”

Scott added: “I don’t think it was his finest moment to send a tweet to lots of fans, not only for them but for us. We’re upset about that but he must be happy with his decision because he hasn’t knocked on the door.”

Sean said: “We’re a band that doesn’t judge people. So if that’s his decision, we’re not sure about the way he’s done it, but we wish him the best. We hope he’s happy, we’re happy and Five continues.”

The group split in September 2001 before deciding to reform to little success in 2006. They reunited without J for The Big Reunion in 2013, and will embark on their Loud And Intimate eight-date tour in April.

They revealed they are more content as a trio, with Ritchie saying: “Five’s an unstable number, three’s the magic number. For the first time, the dynamic of this band really works – we have harmony, we’re all happy and we all want to be here.”

Sean added: “Five is very much complete now. We’re all giving it 110 percent, we all want to be there, we’re all happy. We’ll always honour J (Jason Brown) and Abz as being part of the band. They’re not here any more but this is Five. We’re evolving and happy as Larry.”