Clean Bandit violinist Neil Milan has announced his departure from the group.

The Cambridge band rose to fame in 2014 with their Jess Glynne hit single ‘Rather Be’, which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart and won the group a Grammy Award. Clean Bandit went on to release their debut album ‘New Eyes’ in May of that year.

Announcing the news on Twitter, Milan (aka Neil Amin-Smith) wrote that the decision”took me a very long time to reach but it is the right one”. He added: “I have learned so much and seen so many things and it will all stay with me forever.”


The musician thanked fans and described their support as “one of the most insane and amazing things I have ever experience”. Read in full beneath.

Elsewhere in his statement, Milan also thanked Years & Years singer Olly Alexander for being “a huge part of how I experienced being in Clean Bandit”. The pair are reported to have previously dated.

hello everyone, I've decided to leave clean bandit. Here is a little thing I wrote, thankyou for everything ❤️ pic.twitter.com/3HYbLTSvC9 — Neil Milan (@neil_milan) October 19, 2016

The band have also posted a statement of their own to Facebook, writing: “It is with great sadness that we must announce that our performances of Tears over the Summer were Neil’s last shows with Clean Bandit. He told us recently that he has decided to leave. We have had a wonderful ride together and we are extremely excited to see what he does next. We are also very much looking forward to our upcoming shows and to sharing our new music with you. Thank you all for your support during this time, and thank you Neil for being part of this amazing journey. We will miss you a lot on this next chapter and we wish you the best of luck for the future.”