John Hendy is back in roofing after leaving the spotlight and rebuilding his life following years of change. The former East 17 singer, now 55, was recently seen working on a property in London and has been posting clips from the job on his TikTok page. His return to the trade comes more than three decades after the group’s Christmas number one in 1994 and years after he stepped away from the music industry.
A familiar face in a very different job
For many fans, john hendy remains tied to East 17’s biggest era, but his daily life now looks very different. He turned to roofing after walking away from fame, returning to work in the same trade he did before success arrived. The shift has prompted surprise online, where viewers have reacted to the sight of the former pop star on a rooftop rather than on a stage.
The latest clips show him at work in London, and the reaction has been immediate. Some fans have praised his attitude, while others have expressed disbelief that someone from such a successful group is still working. John Hendy has not framed the move as a comeback to music or a temporary detour; instead, the work appears to be part of the life he has chosen since leaving the group for good in 2018.
What he has said about money and work
John Hendy has previously spoken about the contrast between his public image and his working life. He described arriving at social events in a roofing van while wealthy friends turned up in expensive cars, saying it made him reflect on what money really means. His comments suggest a man who has long been conscious of the gap between fame and financial security.
The context around East 17 also helps explain why his return to roofing has resonated so strongly. The group’s members were said to have earned only modest weekly payments at the height of their fame, a detail that continues to shape public reaction to John Hendy’s present-day work. Fans commenting on his clips have called him humble, praised his attitude, and said he deserves respect for getting on with the job.
From chart success to a working roof
East 17 became one of the defining boybands of the 1990s, with Stay Another Day helping secure their place in pop history. But the group’s later years were marked by break-ups and controversy, and the members followed very different paths after their peak. John Hendy’s route back into roofing is one of the most striking of those paths, because it brings him full circle to the trade he knew before fame.
He left the group in 2018, saying it was time to move on and focus on family life with his wife Nina and their two children. That decision now sits at the center of a story that is less about nostalgia and more about reinvention, resilience, and ordinary work after extraordinary success. For john hendy, the message from the latest attention is plain: he is still working, still visible, and still drawing attention as he carries on in roofing.
