The music business is a fickle one and history is littered with examples of former millionaires frittering away their riches.

Yesterday we told you about Chesney Hawke, singer of the famed ‘The One and Only’, and how he wasn’t very shrewd with his earnings. Then again, when you’re the epitome of a one hit wonder it pays to show some discretion.

When you have amassed over 15 million record sales and 40 number one singles around the world, however,  you may well think that you can afford to splash the cash. Apparently not, as yesterday saw Lee Ryan become the final Blue member to officially file for bankruptcy. Here’s the Guardian:

Blue member Duncan James filed for bankruptcy in September 2013, owing to the property crash, before Simon Webbe filed just weeks after James. Antony Costa, meanwhile, struggled financially in the wake of the band’s initial split in 2004, and the band’s company Blueworld Ltd went into administration in May 2013 when it was unable to pay creditors.

Lee was forced to file bankruptcy by a debt collection company and has had all of his assets frozen.

Aside from overspending the problem lies with the raw deals that these bands get from the massive labels that profit most off of them.

According to Webbe, Blue made £82m over the initial three years of the band’s lifetime … “but we hardly saw a penny of it”.

That’s unfortunate lads, but when you have a champagne taste with lemonade money the well is bound to run dry sooner or later.

[source:guardian]