The band was formed by Rahsaan "Ras" Bromfield and Noel Simpson who were students at the Barbara Speake Stage School in the London neighbourhood of Acton. They rapped and danced at school assemblies. Jade Jones was brought into the band when Bromfield and Simpson heard him sing a high note. Andrez Harriott, a student at Sylvia Young Theatre School, was recruited after he and Jones performed together in the musical play Carmen Jones. Coreé Richards was asked to join the band after he was heard singing at a bus stop. The band sent a demo tape of a cover version of the Jackson 5 song "Anything" to Jazz Summers of Big Life Records in early 1995. Damage made inroads into the UK Singles Chart and the second single "Love II Love" reached number 12 while the follow-up, "Forever", charted at number 6 during the Christmas period. "Forever" was also notable for being both the first song that Steve Mac and Wayne Hector wrote together, and the song that caught the ear of Simon Cowell and effectively led to Mac becoming the chief songwriter-producer for Cowell's subsequent projects. Damage's debut album Forever followed in 1997, along with two further UK Top 10 singles – "Love Guaranteed" and a cover version of Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight", the latter reaching number 3. The quintet subsequently embarked on an extensive touring schedule while negotiating a new recording contract following the collapse of Big Life. Jones remained in the media spotlight through his long-term romance with Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton of the Spice Girls.
2000–2001: ''Since You've Been Gone'' and split
In 2000 they signed with Cooltempo Records and released the second album's first single, "Ghetto Romance". The song was produced by Grammy-winning producers Tim & Bob, and peaked at #7 on the UK Singles Chart. On 30 August, "Rumours" was released as second single. The song is a mixture of R&B and 2-step. The CD2 single contains UK garage remixes of "Rumours" and their previous single "Ghetto Romance", as remixed by Ed Case & Carl H and Groove Chronicles, respectively. The second album was initially due for release on 25 September 2000, following the release of "Rumours". However, the release date was subsequently pushed back to allow for new material to be recorded. This resulted in the album's track listing being revised. The initial track listing includes the tracks "Feelin' Me" and "Midnight Caller", as well as an outro called "Before We Leave". The second album, Since You've Been Gone, was released only on 2 April 2001. However, the final release omits the last tracks and instead replaces them with "I Don't Know", "After the Love Has Gone" and a Mushtaq mix of "So What If I". In August, after the third and fourth singles – "Still Be Lovin' You" and "So What If I" – Richards decided to leave the band. The four members released "After the Love Has Gone" as fifth and final single and decided to split in December 2001. Harriott and Jones formed CherryBlackStone in 2002, but the duo lasted only a few months. Damage performed a one-off gig at Party in the Park in Leeds, on 25 July 2010, but did not officially return at that time.
2014–present: Return
In early 2014, Damage reformed as a quartet without Richards for the second series of the ITV2 documentary The Big Reunion along with other bands such as Eternal and A1, although Richards did appear on the show to talk about the band and meet with his bandmates one last time.
