3 Doors Down

3 Doors Down biography

3 Doors Down is an American rock band from Escatawpa, Mississippi formed in 1996. The band consists of Brad Arnold (vocals), Matt Roberts (guitar/vocals), Todd Harrell (bass), Chris Henderson (guitar), and Greg Upchurch (drums/percussion).

The band rose to national fame with their first single, "Kryptonite", which charted in the top three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band then signed onto Republic Records and released their debut album, The Better Life, in 2000. The album was the 11th-best-selling album of the year and was certified 6x platinum in the United States. Their second album, Away from the Sun, (2002) continued the band's success; it debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200 chart and went multi-platinum in the United States like its predecessor. The band followed it up by extensive touring for two years before releasing their third album, Seventeen Days, in 2005. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified platinum within its first month of release. Their fourth, self-titled album, 3 Doors Down, also debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band's fifth studio album, Time of My Life, was released on July 19, 2011.

The band often performs more than 300 concerts a year and has performed with artists such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Megadeth, Staind, Nickelback, Alter Bridge, Breaking Benjamin, Seether, Shinedown, Hinder, Mentors and Daughtry. Since the start of their career, 3 Doors Down has sold over 11 million albums worldwide.

History

Formative years (1996-1998)

3 Doors Down was formed by drummer/vocalist Brad Arnold, guitarist Matt Roberts and bassist Todd Harrell. The three grew up together in Hurley, Mississippi and shared an interest in rock music. The band played locally around Escatawpa, playing a mix of cover songs and original songs that would eventually be recorded on their first album release. Arnold eventually ended up acting as the group's singer because, as he puts it, "nobody else would do it, but I did and enjoyed it a lot." Arnold is also their lyricist, and wrote some of their early hits when he was 15, often working on songs during math class at East Central High School.

The band began to tour outside Escatawpa, and it was during a trip to Foley, Alabama that they came up with their official name. When the three men were walking through the town, they saw a building where some letters had fallen off its sign, and it read "Doors Down." Since at the time they consisted of three people, they added the "3" to create "3 Doors Down."

A couple of years after performing together, Todd Harrell asked guitarist Chris Henderson to join the band. They recorded a demo CD of their original songs at Lincoln Recording in Pascagoula, Mississippi. When the band gave the CD to local radio station WCPR-FM they started playing the EP version of "Kryptonite", and it became the #1 requested song on the station for over 15 weeks. 3 Doors Down's success on the radio also led to Republic Records signing the band.

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