Long before he waltzed through the ballrooms of Netflix’s Bridgerton, Luke Newton showcased some entirely dance different moves as an aspiring pop star with his boy band South4.
Twelve years ago, Newton was an 18-year-old graduate of the BRIT School, a performing and creative arts school in London, where he formed the pop quartet with mates Oli Evans, Joel Baylis and Henry Tredinnick. According to one local Sussex, England, newspaper — which compared the group to One Direction — in 2012, South4 even signed a £1 million record deal with music label Eagle Music and were preparing to release their first single, “Cougar Town.”
It seems the band never made much of a mark, but their YouTube channel lives on, featuring a handful of behind-the-scenes clips including one of Newton and co. rehearsing choreography for a performance of “Cougar Town.”
Newton’s boy band may not have taken off, but South4 still has at least one big fan amongst the Bridgerton cast.
“I had found out a few years previous that Luke used to be in a boy band, and I just thought it was the best thing ever,” costar Nicola Coughlan told PEOPLE last month.
She also described pulling a prank on Newton while filming the hit Netflix period drama’s third season, replacing the music in one of Bridgerton’s ballroom scenes with a South4 track.
south 4/Youtube
“It was so strange because I could feel it like a weird energy. I could feel that there was like, people were looking at me over their shoulder and I was like, are people nervous about me doing this dance? Because I’m absolutely fine, we’ll get through it,” Newton told PEOPLE. “And then [the song] was blasting on the speakers and all the dancers …”
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“All the dancers started going, everyone’s there cheering,” Coughlan interjected.
“That scene will always remind me of that [prank],” Newton added.
Part 2 of Bridgerton’s third season dropped June 13. Seasons 1 and 2 of the show — as well as its spinoff, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story — are now streaming on Netflix.
