ASTON Merrygold has bucked the trend of Noughties pop stars falling on hard times, by banking almost £1million in 12 months.
The savvy JLS singer has seen assets in his performing arts company shoot up from £200,000 to £1.1million in the past year.
It was the most lucrative year for AIM Entertainments Limited, which he set up for his showbiz earnings, since it was created in 2012.
The bulk of the cash is believed to have come from sales of the group’s comeback album 2.0 and their first reunion tour.
There will be plenty more big bucks on the horizon though, as they are heading out on a greatest hits tour of arenas in the UK and Ireland this October.
Despite the bumper earnings, the dad-of-two has insisted he would warn his kids against going on a TV talent show to get famous.
Aston, whose band JLS were on the X Factor in 2008, said: “The most difficult part is pleasing the public because it’s an opinionated business.
“That’s why if our boys ever turned to us and said they wanted to do a show like that, they’d need to understand not everybody is going to have good things to say or like what they do or look like or speak and as long as they’re OK with people having an opinion, then they will be strong enough and self-aware.”
The Sun revealed in February how the group were launching their comeback.
In an exclusive chat, Marvin Humes said of their upcoming tour: “There is going to be an element that audiences have never seen before from us.
“People know that I DJ and the fans have asked for me to do some sort of DJing in the show. But that would mean the other three getting a rest, which I’m not up for.
“Aston is DJing now, so there will be a part of the show where Aston and I will be playing tunes and JB [Gill] and Oritsé [Williams] will be hyping the crowd.
“We’re not just talking about JLS songs, we’ll be playing big records that represent the era that people know us the most from.”
