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Newsboys music biography continued...

The Australian group formed in 1985 with an original lineup of lead vocalist John James, guitarists Roscoe Meeks and Phillip Urry, and drummer Peter Furler. The band's original name was The News, but once they moved to the United States in 1987, they changed it to The Newsboys to avoid conflict with another U.S.-based band. The Newsboys did not receive great attention until the release of the 1992 album, Not Ashamed, with the title track of the album becoming a huge hit on Christian radio. In 1994, amidst lineup changes, the band released Going Public, their fifth album and first smash success. The record proved to be a breakthrough for the group, winning a Dove Award for "Rock album of the Year" in 1995. It also produced #1 hits such as "Spirit Thing", "Let It Rain", and, most notably, "Shine".



Over the next several years, the Newsboys gained six number one singles on the Christian charts, and began getting play in the secular market as well. Step Up to the Microphone, their first album for major label Virgin, was released in 1998. The album sold well and produced, among other hits, the ubiquitous hit "Entertaining Angels", whose video won the 1999 Dove for "Short Form Music Video of the Year". The Newsboys celebrated their own career with the greatest-hits package Shine...The Hits, issued in fall 2000. Their most elaborate work to date, Thrive, was released in spring 2002 and led to one of their biggest Christian contemporary hits ever, "It Is You." Over ten years into their own career, that fall Newsboys Remixed was released, offering new takes on several of their biggest hits. After this release there were more lineup changes, but the band remained as popular as ever. Go, released in 2006, was the band's first album off their own Inpop Records. Although the band is currently based in Nashville, its lineup remains predominantly Australian. Of the current lineup of Furler, Frankenstein, Phillips, and Colman, only Frankenstein (Michigan) hails from outside Australia. It's one group of Aussies with which America certainly has had a long love affair.