Live

Live biography

Live (, often typeset as LĪVE) is an American rock band from York, Pennsylvania, composed of Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass), Chad Gracey (drums) and Chris Shinn (vocals). Live's original lead singer and principal songwriter Ed Kowalczyk left the band in November 2009.

Live achieved worldwide success with their 1994 album, Throwing Copper, which has sold eight million copies in the US. The band had a string of hit singles in the mid 1990s including "Lightning Crashes", which stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 10 consecutive weeks and the Modern Rock Tracks (now Alternative Songs) chart for nine weeks from February 25 to April 22, 1995. The band has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. Their last three studio albums fared only moderately well in the US, but they continued to enjoy success in The Netherlands, South Africa and Australasia.

When touring, Live have used additional musicians, most notably Ed's younger brother Adam Kowalczyk on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. British keyboard player Michael "Railo" Railton and guitarist Christopher Thorn of the band Blind Melon have also toured with Live.

On November 30, 2009 Chad Taylor revealed that what had initially been termed a "two-year hiatus" was more likely the end of the band, due to what he felt were inappropriate and possibly illegal actions by Ed Kowalczyk, which have resulted in a lawsuit being filed against him by the other three band members. In June 2011, Taylor revealed that he, Gracey and Dahlheimer were to reform Live without Kowalczyk, who confirmed that he would not work with the other three again. In March 2012, Chris Shinn, formerly of the band Unified Theory, replaced Kowalczyk as lead singer.

History

Early history and Mental Jewelry: 1988-1992

Kowalczyk, Taylor, Dahlheimer and Gracey first played together at a middle-school talent show in York, Pennsylvania. They remained together throughout high school, playing new wave covers under band names such as First Aid, Club Fungus, Paisley Blues, Action Front, and Body Odor Boys. Eventually they settled on the name Public Affection and recorded a self-released cassette of original songs, The Death of a Dictionary, in 1989. In 1990 they released an EP of demos produced by Jay Healy, titled Divided Mind, Divided Planet, via their Black Coffee mailing list. The band played regular concerts at CBGB in New York City, which helped earn them a contract with Radioactive Records in 1991.

Under the new name Live, the band entered the studio with producer Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads) and recorded the EP Four Songs. The single "Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)" went to number nine on the Modern Rock chart and was followed by their debut album, 1991's Mental Jewelry, which Harrison again produced. Pat Dalheimer explained that, given the band's inexperience, Jerry Harrison's input was very valuable, he said, "So important to have somebody else in the room to help us, especially with arrangements. I mean, we were still learning how to write songs...Jerry just seemed to know everything...this guy's a wizard!" Some of the album's lyrics, written by Kowalczyk, were inspired by Indian philosopher and writer Jiddu Krishnamurti.

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