JLS have announced that they will split after a farewell tour.

The 'Everybody in Love' hitmakers - consisting of J.B. Gill, Marvin Humes, Aston Merrygold and Oritse Williams - have come to the painstaking decision to split after coming to the end of their five-year record deal with Epic Records and will finish their time together in December with a farewell tour and greatest hits album.

Aston Merrygold, 25, told The Sun newspaper: "It's just that time. We are still best of friends and always will be, but this is the end."

Marvin Humes, 28, added: "It's an emotional time. There's no getting away from that. We have been through so much together. But we have to be mature and look at this decision as a celebration of what we managed to achieve. We never wanted to overstay our welcome. We never wanted to be that band where people said, 'Oh, bloody hell. It's JLS again.' We wanted to finish on a high. We're finishing with an arena tour -- our third arena tour -- and that is a massive achievement."

The chart-topping boy band shot to fame as runners-up on 'The X Factor' in 2008 and went on to become one of the show's biggest success stories, scoring a string of hits - including five number one singles - and sold out arena tours.

However, the 'She Makes Me Wanna' singers felt it was time to bow out of the music industry as they move on with their personal lives; Marvin is set to become a father for the first time with wife Rochelle Humes and also recently became a radio presenter for Capital FM, while Aston joined the judging panel of Sky 1 dancing competition 'Got to Dance' earlier this year.

Marvin explained: "We are the first 'X Factor' act to finish a five-year recording contract. If we wanted to carry on and sign to another label, it was going to be another three, four or five albums. So we all thought about it for a few months and it sort of made sense to say we were moving on with our lives."

Aston added: "The question was asked, 'Can you do this together for another five or so years? Can you see that happening?' Between the four of us, there was no definite 'Yes' in the room. We had to dig deep and find the right solution. We haven't fallen out. We leave with some amazing successes under our belt and we can say goodbye in style."

Fellow band members Oritse and J.B., 26, are also planning for life after JLS with Oritse planning to become a music manager and J.B. recently purchasing a deer farm in Scotland.