Career
Despite his failure in the boot-camp stage of ‘The X Factor’, Reece Bibby was able to draw the attention of the judges, who put him in a group alongside seven other boot-camp stage rejects: James Graham, Jake Sims, Chris Leonard, Charlie Jones, Casey Johnson, Barclay Beales, and Tom Mann. They first performed at the boot camp within hours of getting together and sang a cover of ‘Run’ by Snow Patrol. It was received favourably by all four judges, who gave them a standing ovation. Simon Cowell even said that they were one of the best bands to have ever participated in the show.
Their performance earned them a spot in the judges' houses stage, where they performed Justin Timberlake's ‘Mirrors’ and subsequently made it to the live shows. The name for the band was chosen through audience voting as the group was steadily garnering a loyal group of followers and was even compared to One Direction by many. Their rendition of ‘Run’ by Leona Lewis received over a million views on ‘The X Factor’s YouTube channel within a couple of weeks after uploading.
In the first week of the live shows, Stereo Kicks sang Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’. However, they ended up in a sing-off in the second week against Chloe Jasmine. Fortunately for the boy group, the judges chose to send Jasmine home. They were again in a sing-off in the fourth week, this time against Lola Saunders and survived once more. They were ultimately eliminated in the quarter-final, finishing in the fifth place in the overall competition.
Stereo Kicks released their first single, ‘Love Me So’, on June 21, 2015. It peaked at the 31st spot on the UK Singles Chart and became the top physical single the same week. However, in the subsequent months, they failed to land a major record deal which understandably frustrated Reece and the others. They eventually decided to disband and posted the news on their Facebook page on July 18, 2015. They last performed together at the Thorpe Park's Island Beats event in the following week.
The band New Hope Club was originally formed in September 2015 by George Smith and Blake Richardson. Reece joined the band in October. He and Smith serve as the group’s singers, guitarists, and pianists while Richardson sings and plays the bass, drums, and guitar.
All the members of the group hail from Northern England. They started off by doing covers of various bands, including The Vamps. In December 2015, he was signed by Steady Records, which is a record label owned by The Vamps. New Hope Club was the second group, after The Tide, to sign with the label.
On May 5, 2017, they put out their debut EP, ‘Welcome to the Club’, on Hollywood Records through Steady Records. The music video for the song ‘Perfume’ was released in January 2017. The music video for the song ‘Fix’ was put out along with the EP. They maintained their presence for ten weeks on the Billboard Next Big Sound chart, even reaching the fifth spot once.
New Hope Club has served as the supporting act on the tours of The Vamps, The Tide, Tini Stoessel, and Sabrina Carpenter. The group got their first opportunity to headline a show at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, in London, on 1st and 2nd June 2018.
In 2018, they contributed two songs to the film ‘Early Man’s soundtrack: ‘Good Day’ and their rendition of ‘Tiger Feet’ by Mud. They have also put out music videos for two non-album singles: ‘Start Over Again’ and ‘Medicine.’
Personal Life
Reece was born on August 13, 1998, in Lancashire, England, to Lyndsey and Jamie Bibby. He has a younger sister named Lexi. He grew up deeply influenced by his father’s love for music and later learned how to play the guitar by watching YouTube videos. He had also started to sing and play the piano when he auditioned for the eleventh season of ‘The X Factor’.
Between 2015 and 2016, Reece dated Anais Gallagher, Noel Gallagher's daughter.
