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Live (IPA pronunciation: , rhymes with "five") is an American alternative rock band from York, Pennsylvania, USA, comprised of Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals & guitar), Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums). Since approximately 1999, Live has toured with Ed's younger brother, Adam Kowalczyk as a rhythm guitarist and, previously, British keyboardist Michael "Railo" Railton. Characterized by an earnest approach to anthemic rock and a spiritual zen reminiscent of Joshua Tree-era U2, Live climbed from modest modern rock success to the mainstream spotlight worldwide on the strength of their 1994 breakthrough album, the 8 million-selling Throwing Copper.
History Kowalczyk, Taylor, Dahlheimer, and Gracey first came together for a middle-school talent show in the Pennsylvania blue-collar town of York. The group remained together throughout high school, going through a handful of band names and new-wave covers before settling on the moniker Public Affection and recording a self-released cassette of originals, The Death of a Dictionary, in 1989. Frequent trips into New York to play at CBGB helped net the band a deal with Radioactive Records in 1991. With the new name Live, the band entered the studio with former Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison that year and began recording the EP Four Songs. The single "Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)" went to Fueled by light touring (including billing at Woodstock '94 and Peter Gabriel's WOMAD tour) and a string of hit singles ("I Alone", "All Over You" and the The momentum continued long enough to help 1997's Secret Samadhi (co-produced by the band and Jay Healey) debut at Harrison came back on board as co-producer for 1999's The Distance to Here, which debuted at On September 18, 2001, the more experimental V (originally scheduled to be titled "Ecstatic Fanatic") was issued to mixed reviews, preceded by "Simple Creed" as the first single. However, with the events of 9/11—which occurred a week before V's release—the melancholic "Overcome" began receiving significant airplay, superseding "Simple Creed" and becoming Vs selling point. Unfortunately, Live's commercial stock—compounded by their petering radio airplay—had fallen further since The Distance to Here, with V merely reaching Birds of Pray appeared in May 2003, bolstered by the unexpected success of "Heaven", Live's first U.S. Hot 100-placing since "The Dolphin's Cry." Reaching In November 2004, Live released , a career-spanning compilation that included "We Deal in Dreams", a previously unreleased song from the Throwing Copper sessions, and a cover of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line", as well as Birds of Prays "Run Away", re-imagined with Shelby Lynne on co-lead vocals. In 2005, Live signed with Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Epic label, and released a new album entitled Songs from Black Mountain in June 2006, preceded by "The River" as lead single. Thus far, while the album has achieved international success, it has proven Live's lowest-seller yet domestically, only reaching While Live remains only moderately popular in terms of record sales in the United States, much of their current sales come from places in Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Ed Kowalczyk has said that "Holland is the center of the Live universe." The group made news in January 2006 as three band members (Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and touring rhythm guitar Adam Kowalczyk) and two members of the band's road crew were on a United Airlines flight when smoke filled the cabin, requiring the pilot to make an emergency landing. On Season 5 of American Idol, finalist Chris Daughtry was accused of performing Live's rendition of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line" and calling it his own. This angered some Live fans, but one week later Daughtry acknowledged it was not his own rendition, even saying Live was one of his favorite bands. In May 2006, Live appeared on The Howard Stern Show and addressed this issue. On May 24, 2006, the band and Chris Daughtry performed "Mystery" on the season finale of American Idol, and on June 7, a new version of "Mystery" was released on the Friends of Live website featuring Chris Daughtry on guest vocals. Albums Image:Live-Mental_Jewelry_(album_cover).jpg| US 1 million units US 8 million units US 2 million units US 1.2 million units US 250,000 units US 300,000 units US 200,000 units US 46,000 units EPs Singles Videography | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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