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Matchbox Twenty music biography continued...

Matchbox Twenty was formed in 1996 with Rob Thomas (lead vocals/piano), BrianYale (bass), and Paul Doucette (drums/percussion), who had met in a band called Tabitha's Secret. They later recruited lead guitarist Kyle Cook and rhythm guitarist Adam Gaynor. Doucette came up with the name Matchbox 20 after seeing it on someone's jersey in a restaurant where he was working as a waiter. Matchbox 20 released their debut 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. The band toured relentlessly for several years, performing from the album, along with some cover songs such as Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" and The Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down". Matchbox 20 subsequently changed their name to Matchbox Twenty and released a series of albums that made them rock chart mainstays, selling in excess of 44 million albums worldwide. Besides releases like Yourself or Someone Like You, Mad Season, and More Than You Think You Are, Thomas also co-wrote and sung on the Santana smash "Smooth," giving Matchbox Twenty an even more media attention.



Although Gaynor left the band in 2005, Matchbox Twenty regrouped and returned to the music scene in 2007, with the release of their 'retrospective' album Exile on Mainstream. "How Far We've Come" was the first single off the new album, which also included five other new songs and a complete collection of all eleven of their previously released singles. In support of the album Matchbox Twenty toured in early 2008 with special guest Alanis Morissette and opener Mute Math. As Thomas works on a solo effort, a new Matchbox Twenty album is purportedly in the works. Critics have said that in the late 90s Matchbox Twenty's sound came to epitomize mainstream American rock and that despite the fact that they never dominated the charts, their influence was pervasive. In the new millennium it remains so.