Daughtry (pronounced /ˈdɔːtri/[5]) is an American rock band from North Carolina, formed and fronted by former American Idol season 5 finalist Chris Daughtry in 2006. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006. The disc reached number one for two non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard Top 200, outsold Idol winner Taylor Hicks's debut album, sold more than four million copies and was named the number one selling album of 2007 by Billboard. Their album is also the fastest-selling debut rock album in Soundscan history.[6] The first single from the album, "It's Not Over", was the eighth most played song across all formats on U.S. radio in 2007, and their second single from the album, "Home", was the tenth most played song in the U.S. of 2007.[7] The band's second album, Leave This Town, was released on July 14, 2009. The first single, "No Surprise," was released on May 5. "No Surprise" was written by Chris Daughtry with Chad Kroeger andEric Dill.[8]
2006–2008: Daughtry and breakthrough success
American Idol season 5 fourth-place finisher Chris Daughtry stated that he would form a new band after turning down Fuel's offer to make him their lead singer.[9] On July 10, 2006 it was announced that Chris Daughtry had signed with 19 Entertainment and RCA Records, which holds contracts with fellow American Idol finalists Kelly Clarkson and Kellie Pickler, among others. Chris Daughtry is a singer-songwriter himself and has collaborated with several other songwriters, such as Live's Ed Kowalczyk, Fuel's Carl Bell, 3 Doors Down's Brad Arnold, Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas, SR-71's Mitch Allan,[10] Shinedown's Brent Smith, Three Days Grace's Adam Gontier, former The Click Five singer Eric Dill, Lifehouse's Jason Wade andNickelback's Chad Kroeger.
Chris Daughtry and members of his label held auditions for the band Daughtry and chose 4 members for the band: Jeremy Brady, 21, guitarist (no longer in the band); Josh Steely, 36, lead guitarist; Josh Paul, 29, bassist who also played for Suicidal Tendencies; Joey Barnes, 30, drummer, who was the lead singer of Suicide Darlings. Two of the band members hail from North Carolina — Barnes, whom Chris Daughtry had known for some time, and Brady, who was introduced to him a month before the audition. Steely and Paul are both fromCalifornia.[11] The decision was made to name the band "Daughtry" in order to keep name recognition. In an interview, Chris Daughtry said, "We could have come out with a really obscure name, but coming from a TV show and having name recognition, it was easier just to go with my last name."
The band's self-titled debut album was produced by Howard Benson and was released by 19 Entertainment and RCA Records on November 21, 2006. Chris Daughtry himself played a part in the production of the album, particularly in songwriting where he wrote and co-wrote all but two songs on the album — "Feels Like Tonight" and "What About Now". Additionally, he solely wrote "Home," "Breakdown" and "Gone".[10] Other notable songwriters Dr. Luke and Max Martin also contribution to the album and session drummer Josh Freese also played drums on all the tracks for the album. However, at the time the album was recorded, Chris Daughtry was the only official member of the band, leading some to mistakenly believe that the band Daughtry is his solo career.
Daughtry was an instant success and spawned several hits for the group, starting with its first single "It's Not Over", which debuted on the radio on December 6, 2006, after being delayed from a planned September release[10] and reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hitting the top 3 in several other charts. Shortly thereafter, Jeremy Brady announced his departure from Daughtry and was replaced with Brian Craddock, 31, from Virginia. In interviews, Chris Daughtry and Craddock have discussed having known each other when Chris Daughtry was still a member of Absent Element.[12]
After the success of "It's Not Over," the second single from the album, "Home" was released and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, after debuting at #83, weeks ahead of its official release to radio. The song was also the official "kick off" song on sixth season of American Idol, played after a contestant was voted off the show, also the case during season 5 ofAustralian Idol. The Brazilian version of Idol, called Ídolos Brazil, used this song as well in its second season. The album's third single, "What I Want", was released to rock radio on April 23, 2007, featuring musician Slash on lead guitars. The single has peaked at number 6 on the rock charts and is featured as a playable song on Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS. The band's fourth single "Over You" was released July 24, 2007. The band performed this single live on Good Morning America on June 1, 2007.[13] "Crashed", the album's fifth single, was released to rock stations on September 10, 2007, where it was also used in a commercial for LEGO Bionicle. The song was also performed on the Pre-Race show on ABC for theNASCAR NEXTEL Cup Chevy Rock and Roll 400. The album's sixth single, "Feels Like Tonight", was released on January 8, 2008, just over a year after the album's release. The video debuted in January and the song was used for the 2007 WWE Tribute to the Troops. Their song "There and Back Again" was also the official theme song for WWE Backlash in 2007.
Due to the success of the singles, Daughtry was certified 4x Platinum on April 24, 2008. The group is on page 8 on Myspace.com of the most played artists, with over 29 million plays. In addition, the group has appeared on the famous compilation album series Now That's What I Call Music! five times, with their songs "It's Not Over", "Home", "Over You", "Feels Like Tonight" and "What About Now". The band was also nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2008, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. According to billboard.com, Daughtry has had twenty #1 hits around the world.
A Deluxe edition of Daughtry's self-titled album was released on September 9. Along with the original CD, this expanded CD/DVD package features four bonus tracks, including acoustic versions of "What About Now," "It's Not Over", and "Home", plus a cover of Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time". The DVD contains all five of Daughtry's music videos, two rarely seen live clips, and exclusive on the road footage.
A shortened version of their massive hit single "Home" was used at the end of the English League Cup Final in February 2008 when the compilation of Tottenham Hotspur victory over Chelsea was shown at the end of the Sky coverage.
2009–2010: Leave This Town
On March 9, 2009, Chris Daughtry announced on his website that he and the band had finished the album's recording. The sophomore record was released on July 14, 2009 with 14 songs making the cut from the 19 recorded songs.
Chris Daughtry said that the record is a very big rock album. He has also stated that the band had written and recorded over 30 new songs. He worked with Chad Kroeger fromNickelback, Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic,[14] Trevor McNevan from Thousand Foot Krutch, Jason Wade from Lifehouse, Richard Marx, Scott Stevens from The Exies, Adam Gontierfrom Three Days Grace and Eric Dill, former vocalist for The Click Five.
The album's first single, "No Surprise", was released on May 5, 2009 through their website.[15] It officially went for radio play on May 26. Daughtry appeared on American Idol on May 6, 2009 (which is the Result Show of Season 8's 'Rock Week') performing "No Surprise". The new album was released on July 14, 2009, and its title is Leave This Town.[16] "Life After You" was the follow-up single to "No Surprise" .
Leave This Town debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 selling 269,000 copies in its first week.[17] The record was also No. 1 on the Digital Albums Chart and the Rock Chart.[18]
Daughtry performed on stage at the American Music Awards on November 22, 2009, and sang their hit single "Life After You", along with other Idol stars Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and Adam Lambert.[19]
On November 10, 2009, USA Today revealed that Daughtry band members Chris Daughtry and Brian Craddock co-wrote "Don't Wanna Be Wrong", an iTunes Deluxe bonus track onAllison Iraheta's debut album, Just Like You.[20]
On March 16, 2010, the band released a B-side of the single from the album, Leave This Town with 5 songs that were with the pre-order only, or never came out with the album.
On April 16, 2010, the band announced on its website that drummer Joey Barnes and the band had parted ways. Robin Diaz was tapped to replace him for the band's ongoing tour.[21]
"September" was the third single off of Leave This Town and it peak at #2 on HAC radio charts, #18 on Pop radio charts and #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
2011–present: Third studio album and future plans
On December 31, 2010, Chris Daughtry tweeted that the band will be working on a new album soon.[22] On March 7, 2011, he also tweeted that the album sounds nothing like the previous two,[23] and will feature a song titled "Spaceship".[24] There will also be another song named "Breaking My Fall" which is written solely by Chris himself. The band has also released an extended play titled Leave This Town: The B-Sides, which contains the bonus tracks from Leave This Town.
Band Name
Daughtry is often mistakenly believed to be a Chris Daughtry's solo project; however – in a manner similar to Van Halen, Bon Jovi, and Dio – Daughtry is a band, taking Chris Daughtry's surname as their moniker. In an interview, he explained, "We could've come out with a really obscure name, but coming from the TV show and having name recognition, it was easier just to go with my last name." He also joked, "Steel Dragon would have been great. Rainbow Butt Monkeys would have also been great, but that was taken."Tour
The band has been touring non-stop since January 2007. They have performed across the U.S. and Canada, along with shows in the UK, Germany, and Singapore. They opened forNickelback for a brief stint, Puddle of Mudd, and Finger Eleven and have featured 12 Stones, Cinder Road, Small Town Sleeper, Day Of Fire and Eve To Adam as opening acts. On May 27, 2007, the band performed during the Indianapolis 500 Pre-Race show on ABC, and headlined the 2007 Summerfest at the Marcus amphitheater in Milwaukee, WI with a crowd of more than 15,000 on July 6. Daughtry has played shows in Australia, as well as the United Kingdom and across Europe for the first time and opened for Bon Jovi for several shows in November. They were featured as the opening act during Bon Jovi's Lost Highway Tour. The band began a sold out tour with Bon Jovi on February 18, 2008 all the way through the end of April. Chris Daughtry joined Bon Jovi onstage every night to perform their song, "Blaze of Glory".
Daughtry joined forces with the ONE Campaign at 2008's Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention to raise awareness about world poverty. The band refused to back a presidential candidate during their interviews.
On Thanksgiving of 2009, Daughtry performed the halftime show for the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Oakland Raiders football game to kick off the Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign.
Daughtry joined Nickelback on the 2nd leg of their European tour from 1st Jan 2010 to 5th Feb 2010.
Daughtry's second leg of the Leave This Town Tour started on March 18 in Baltimore, MD and continued through mid-June.[26]
Daughtry is set to play 2 dates in October 2010 in South Africa, one at the Grand Arena in Cape Town and one at the Coca Cola Dome in Johannesburg.
Daughtry has been announced to be playing for the Singapore Formula One concert at the Padang in September 2010. It is the third visit to Singapore for Daughtry.
Daughtry announced a small European tour for October 2010, taking in dates in Germany and the United Kingdom.
Band Members
Current members
- Chris Daughtry – lead vocals, guitar (2006–present)
- Josh Paul – bass guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)
- Josh Steely – lead guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)
- Brian Craddock – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2007–present)
- Robin Diaz – drums, percussion (2010–present)
Former members
- Jeremy Brady – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2006–2007)
- Joey Barnes – drums, percussion, keyboard, backing vocals (2006–2010)
Session musicians
- Phil X – lead & rhythm guitars on Daughtry
- Slash – lead & rhythm guitars on Daughtry ["What I Want"]
- Howard Benson – keyboards on Daughtry
- Paul Bushnell – bass on Daughtry
- Chris Chaney – bass on Daughtry
- Brett James – Guitar on Daughtry ["Feels Like Tonight"]
- Josh Freese – drums, percussion on Daughtry
- Vince Gill – lead & rhythm guitars and vocals on Leave This Town ["Tennessee Line"]
Awards
2007 Top In Rock Awards(winner)
- Breakout Artist of 2007
2007 American Music Awards(winner)
- Breakthrough Artist
- Best Adult Contemporary Artist*
- Best Pop/Rock Album
2008 American Music Awards(Winner/Nominated)
- Favorite Band, Duo or Group- Pop/Rock
- Favorite Artist- Adult Contemporary Music
People Choice Awards(winner)
- Best Rock Song for "Home"
2007 Billboard Music Awards(winner)
- Top Billboard 200 Album
- Top Artists – Duo/Group (Pop)
- Top New Artist
- Top Comprehensive Artist
- Hot 100 Artists – Duo/Group
- Hot Adult Top 40 Artist
2007 World Music Awards (winner)
- Worlds Best Selling Rock Group Of 2007
- Worlds Best Selling New Artist Of 2007
2008 Kids Choice Awards (nominated)
- Favorite Band
2010 Teen Choice Awards (nominated)
- Choice Music: Album - Rock, "Leave This Town"
- Choice American Idol Alum (Chris Daughtry - solo award)
2011 People Choice Awards (nominated)
- Choice Music: Rock Band
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