Online Encyclopedia
Hanson
Hanson, a pop/rock band beginning in the 1990s, was formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma by brothers Clarke Isaac Hanson (b. November 17, 1980), Jordan Taylor Hanson (b. March 14, 1983) and Zachary Walker Hanson (b. October 22, 1985).
Hanson is a melodic band that evokes memories of 1980s pop.
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Music Career
As young children, the Hansons lived in Trinidad and Tobago, Ecuador and Venezuela due to their father's job. There, they grew up listening to a Time/Life compilation of music from the 1950s and 1960s, along with the Latin American music that surrounded them, influencing their musical tastes.
The band, which was originally called "The Hanson Brothers", started out as three kids who sang a capella and recorded tapes with oldies like Rockin' Robin, Splish Splash and Johnny B. Goode, as well as a piece of their very own material. Their first performance as a professional group took place at the May Fest Arts Festival in Tulsa, in 1992.
Later on, Isaac picked up a second hand guitar, Zac borrowed an old set of drums and Taylor became the keyboard player of what turned into a garage band. Two independent albums later, they found themselves at the South By Southwest musical festival for unsigned music bands. There, they were promptly signed by manager Christopher Sabec , who took them to Mercury Records, where they became instant worldwide sensations with the release of their first album, Middle of Nowhere.
The album's title song, "MMMBop" debuted at number 16 in the United States, reaching #1 in both the US and the UK and staying over two months in the top spot in AUS. The group was heavily featured in teen magazines, such as Tiger Beat, and found a wide following among teen and pre-teen girls. The album's second single, "Where's the Love?" followed "MMMBop" to the top of the charts.
Their first album's worlwide success was registered in "Tulsa, Tokyo & the Middle of Nowhere", an 82min. tape with home-videos, interviews, videoclips and live perfomances. Since then, follow up albums have failed to match the success of Middle of Nowhere; they were caught up in the backlash against boy bands, and faced increased competition from market powerhouses like The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.
Hanson released a new album, This Time Around, in May 2000. They toured through the summer and fall of 2000. Taylor Hanson married Natalie Anne Bryant on June 8th 2002. The brothers left their record label, Island Def Jam, and now work under their own label, 3CG Records. The band toured during the summer and fall of 2003 in support of an acoustic CD entitled Underneath Acoustic, which was comprised of acoustic versions of songs from their forthcoming release, Underneath. The tour culminated in a November 2003 performance at the prestigious Carnegie Hall.
The first single from Underneath was Penny & Me, whose video featured The O.C.'s Samaire Armstrong. Penny & Me reached number 2 on Billboard's Top 200 Singles Chart.
Underneath was released on April 20th, 2004 and the following week debuted at number 1 on Billboard's Independent Album Chart and number 25 on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart, making Underneath one of the most successful independent albums of all time. Only a few artists such as Prince and Ani DiFranco have released a top 25 self-released album.
Hanson is touring the US throughout the summer of 2004, and continue their tour through Europe and Asia in the fall.
Rolling Stone Magazine and MTV, [1] http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/2000/rsmtv100.htm , listed their song MMMBop as the 28th greatest song of all time in 2000.
Discography
- Boomerang (1995)
- MMMBop (1996)
- Middle of Nowhere (1997)
- Snowed In (1997, Christmas album)
- 3 Car Garage (1998)
- Live From Albertane (1998, live album)
- This Time Around (2000)
- Underneath Acoustic (2003)
- Underneath (2004)
External links
- http://www.hanson.net/
- http://www.3cgrecords.com
Other Meanings
- Hanson plc is a multinational company.