Matchbox Twenty
matchbox twenty (originally
Matchbox 20) is a
rock band from
Orlando,
Florida, who have sold in excess of 37 million albums worldwide. The current members of the band are
Rob Thomas, vocals;
Brian Yale, bass;
Paul Doucette, drums; and
Kyle Cook, lead guitar. Thomas, Yale and Doucette played in the Orlando, Florida, band
Tabitha's Secret before splitting apart to form Matchbox 20 with Cook and rhythm guitarist
Adam Gaynor.
Matchbox 20 released their first album,
yourself or someone like you in
1996. While their first single, "Long Day", was a rock radio-only smash, the album soon spun off several Top 40 hit singles throughout
1997 and
1998, including "Push", "3 A.M.", "Real World" and "Back 2 Good". The album eventually went on to sell over 12 million copies in the U.S. alone, earning
diamond status.
Before recording their next album, Itaal Shur,
Carlos Santana and Thomas wrote a song for Santana's comeback album,
Supernatural, on which Thomas sang lead vocals. The song, "
Smooth", became the album's lead single and a gigantic hit in
1999; Shur, Thomas and Santana earned several
Grammys for writing "Smooth".
In
2000, Matchbox 20 renamed themselves
matchbox twenty and released their second album,
mad season. The
video for their first hit single, "
Bent", made fun of singer Thomas' heightened profile by showing the other band members mug and beat him mercilessly. The evocatively arranged ballad "If You're Gone" became a big hit, especially on
adult contemporary formats; "Mad Season" was also a hit.
For their third album, the other band members demanded equal songwriting credit. Sharing the songwriting duties proved to be a good idea, as the band once again had a greatly successful album,
more than you think you are, that was omnipresent on radio for more than a year and a half with several hit singles including "Disease", "Bright Lights" and "Unwell", which topped the charts for 20 weeks in
2003.
In
May 2004, the band released a concert
DVD,
Show: A Night in the Life of Matchbox Twenty, featuring 20 songs, including all of their hit singles.
In
February 2005, rhythm guitarist Gaynor officially left the group, which had been on hiatus to allow other members to pursue side projects. Rob Thomas has released some solo work, including the
US Billboard 200 #1 album,
...Something To Be, and the top ten hit, "
Lonely No More".
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yourself or someone like you (
1996) US: #5 (12x Platinum) (WW: 20 million)
*
mad season (
2000) US: #3 (4x Platinum); UK: #31 (WW: 10 million)
*
more than you think you are (
2002) US: #6 (2x Platinum); UK: #31, AUS: #3 (5x Platinum) (WW: 7 million)
*
EP (
2003) US: #43 (200,000)
*
Official site*
Fan site
