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Daughtry (pron.: /ˈdɔːtri/) is an American rock band from North Carolina, formed and fronted by American Idol - season five finalist Chris Daughtry. Their self-titled debut album was released in November 2006. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, went on to sell more than four million copies in the United States, and has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA. Daughtry was also named the best selling album of 2007 by Billboard, becoming the fastest-selling debut rock album in Soundscan history. The album produced four top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including top five hits "It's Not Over" and "Home". The band's second album, Leave This Town, was released in July 2009. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming Daughtry's second number one album in the United States. To date, Leave This Town has sold over 1.3 million copies in the United States and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The albums lead single, "No Surprise," became the band's fifth top 20 hit on the Hot 100. Their third studio album, Break the Spell was released in November 2011. It debuted inside the top ten on the Billboard 200 chart and has been certified Gold by the RIAA. To date, Daughtry has sold over 6.7 million albums and over 12.4 million digital tracks in the United States. History edit: 2006-2008: Daughtry and breakthrough success edit: American Idol - season five fourth-place finisher Chris Daughtry stated that he would form a new band after turning down Fuel's offer to make him their lead singer. On July 10, 2006 it was announced that Chris Daughtry had signed with 19 Entertainment and RCA Records, which holds contracts with fellow American Idol finalists Kelly Clarkson and Kellie Pickler, among others. Chris Daughtry is a singer-songwriter himself and has collaborated with several other songwriters, such as Live's Ed Kowalczyk, Fuel's Carl Bell, 3 Doors Down's Brad Arnold, Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas, SR-71's Mitch Allan,Shinedown's Brent Smith, Three Days Grace's Adam Gontier, former The Click Five singer Eric Dill, Theory of a Deadman's Tyler Connolly, Lifehouse's Jason Wade and Nickelback's Chad Kroeger. Chris Daughtry and members of his label held auditions for the band Daughtry and chose 4 members for the band: Jeremy Brady, 21, guitarist (no longer in the band); Josh Steely, 36, lead guitarist; Josh Paul, 29, bassist who also played for Suicidal Tendencies; Joey Barnes, 30, drummer, who was the lead singer of Suicide Darlings. Two of the band members hail from North Carolina -- Barnes, whom Chris Daughtry had known for some time, and Brady, who was introduced to him a month before the audition. Steely and Paul are both from California. The decision was made to name the band "Daughtry" in order to keep name recognition. In an interview, Chris Daughtry said, "We could have come out with a really obscure name, but coming from a TV show and having name recognition, it was easier just to go with my last name." The band's self-titled debut album was produced by Howard Benson and was released by 19 Entertainment and RCA Records on November 21, 2006. Chris Daughtry himself played a part in the production of the album, particularly in songwriting where he wrote and co-wrote all but two songs on the album -- "Feels Like Tonight" and "What About Now". Additionally, he solely wrote "Home," "Breakdown" and "Gone". Other notable songwriters Dr. Luke and Max Martin contributed to the album, and session drummer Josh Freese played on all tracks. However, at the time the album was recorded, Chris Daughtry was the only official member of the band, leading some to mistakenly believe that the band Daughtry is his solo career. Daughtry was an instant success and spawned several hits for the group, starting with its first single "It's Not Over", which debuted on the radio on December 6, 2006, after being delayed from a planned September release and reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and hitting the top 3 in several other charts. Shortly thereafter, Jeremy Brady announced his departure from Daughtry and was replaced with Brian Craddock, 31, from Virginia. In interviews, Chris Daughtry and Craddock have discussed having known each other when Chris Daughtry was still a member of Absent Element. After the success of "It's Not Over," the second single from the album, "Home" was released and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, after debuting at number 83, weeks ahead of its official release to radio. The song was also the official "kick-off" song on sixth season of American Idol, played after a contestant was voted off the show, also the case during season five of Australian Idol. The Brazilian version of Idol, called Ídolos Brazil, used this song as well in its second season. The album's third single, "What I Want", was released to rock radio on April 23, 2007, featuring musician Slash on lead guitars. The single has peaked at number 6 on the rock charts and is featured as a playable song on Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS. The band's fourth single "Over You" was released July 24, 2007. The band performed this single live on Good Morning America on June 1, 2007. "Crashed", the album's fifth single, was released to rock stations on September 10, 2007, where it was also used in a commercial for LEGO Bionicle. The song was also performed on the Pre-Race show on ABC for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Chevy Rock and Roll 400. The album's sixth single, "Feels Like Tonight", was released on January 8, 2008, just over a year after the album's release. The video debuted in January and the song was used for the 2007 WWE Tribute to the Troops. Their song "There and Back Again" was also the official theme song for WWE Backlash in 2007. Due to the success of the singles, Daughtry was certified 4x Platinum on April 24, 2008. The group is on page 8 on Myspace.com of the most played artists, with over 29 million plays. In addition, the group has appeared on the famous compilation album series Now That's What I Call Music! five times, with their songs "It's Not Over", "Home", "Over You", "Feels Like Tonight" and "What About Now". The band was also nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2008, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. According to billboard.com, Daughtry has had twenty number one hits around the world. A deluxe edition of Daughtry's self-titled album was released on September 9. Along with the original CD, this expanded CD/DVD package features four bonus tracks, including acoustic versions of "What About Now," "It's Not Over", and "Home", plus a cover of Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time". The DVD contains all five of Daughtry's music videos, two rarely seen live clips, and exclusive behind-the-scenes tour footage. A shortened version of their massive hit single "Home" was used at the end of the English League Cup Final in February 2008 when the compilation of Tottenham Hotspur victory over Chelsea was shown at the end of the Sky coverage. 2009-2010: Leave This Town edit: On March 9, 2009, Chris Daughtry announced on his website that he and the band had finished the album's recording. The sophomore record was released on July 14, 2009 with 14 songs making the cut from the 19 recorded songs. Chris Daughtry said that the record is a very big rock album. He has also stated that the band had written and recorded over 30 new songs. He worked with Chad Kroeger from Nickelback, Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic,Trevor McNevan from Thousand Foot Krutch, Jason Wade from Lifehouse, Richard Marx, Scott Stevens from The Exies, Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace and Eric Dill, former vocalist for The Click Five. The album's first single, "No Surprise", was released on May 5, 2009 through their website. It officially went for radio play on May 26. Daughtry appeared on American Idol on May 6, 2009 (which is the Result Show of season 8's 'Rock Week') performing "No Surprise". The new album was released on July 14, 2009, and its title is Leave This Town. "Life After You" was the follow-up single to "No Surprise" . Leave This Town debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 selling 269,000 copies in its first week. The record was also number one on the Digital Albums Chart and the Rock Chart. After Leave This Town was released, Daughtry became the first American Idol artist to have two consecutive number one albums. Carrie Underwood later achieved this victory when her albums Carnival Ride (2007) and Play On (2009) went number one. Daughtry performed on stage at the American Music Awards on November 22, 2009, and sang their hit single "Life After You", along with other Idol stars Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and Adam Lambert. On November 10, 2009, USA Today revealed that Daughtry band members Chris Daughtry and Brian Craddock co-wrote "Don't Wanna Be Wrong", an iTunes Deluxe bonus track on Allison Iraheta's debut album, Just Like You. On March 16, 2010, the band released a B-side of the single from the album, Leave This Town with 5 songs that were with the pre-order only, or never came out with the album. On April 16, 2010, the band announced on its website that drummer Joey Barnes and the band had parted ways. Robin Diaz was tapped to replace him for the band's ongoing tour. "September" was the third single from Leave This Town and it peaked at number two on HAC radio charts, number eighteen on Pop radio charts and number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band has also released an extended play titled Leave This Town: The B-Sides, which contains the bonus tracks from Leave This Town. 2011-2012: Break the Spell edit: The band's third album, Break the Spell was released on November 21, 2011. They have a song "Drown in You" in the new album Batman: Arkham City-The Album for the game. Break the Spell debuted at number eight on the Billboard Top 200 on November 28, 2011 with 129,000 copies sold. As of January 2012 the album has sold 407,000 copies in the United States. On January 26, "Crawling Back to You" debuted number twenty-four on the Japan Hot 100, becoming Daughtry's first single to debut in Japan.. "Renegade", "Crawling Back to You" and "Outta My Head" are the three singles released from the album. The fourth single "Start of Something Good" was released on September 4, 2012. Daughtry commemorated Memorial Day with a performance of "Home" on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. at PBS' National Memorial Day Concert on May 27, 2012. On May 28, Chris Daughtry announced on his Twitter that the band was back in the studio, and on May 29, he said that they were back in the studio, and cannot reveal what they are doing but it is exciting. They were recording an acoustic version of "Rescue Me" for DC Comics efforts in Africa. The proceeds of the acoustic version will go to the efforts in Africa. On September 24, 2012, the band released a statement on its website that Josh Paul had decided to leave the band. Paul said, "The time has come for me to bow out and let the band continue on without me. This has been a very difficult decision, as these are not only my band mates, but my brothers." 2013-present: Fourth Album edit: Daughtry announced through Twitvid that the band is working on a fourth album. During Daughtry's two days of writing for the album, they worked with Matt Thiessen, wrote with Blair Daly. and Espionage On March 27th, Daughtry tweeted that he had been working with Martin Johnson of Boys Like Girls. and Rock Mafia On May 6th, Daughtry worked with Scott Stevens once again.; On May 7th, Daughtry tweeted that he was working with Ali Tamposi. and on May 8th, Daughtry tweeted that he was working with Ali Tamposi and The Monsters and the Strangerz Band name edit: Daughtry is often mistakenly believed to be a Chris Daughtry solo project; however - in a manner similar to Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Dokken, and Dio - Daughtry is a band, taking Chris Daughtry's surname as their moniker. In an interview, he explained, "We could've come out with a really obscure name, but coming from the TV show and having name recognition, it was easier just to go with my last name." He also joked, "Steel Dragon would have been great. Rainbow Butt Monkeys would have also been great, but that was taken." Tours edit: The band has been touring non-stop since January 2007. They have performed across the U.S. and Canada, along with shows in the UK, Germany, and Singapore. They opened for Nickelback for a brief stint, Puddle of Mudd, and Finger Eleven and have featured 12 Stones, Cinder Road, Small Town Sleeper, Day Of Fire and Eve To Adam as opening acts. On May 27, 2007, the band performed during the Indianapolis 500 Pre-Race show on ABC, and headlined the 2007 Summerfest at the Marcus amphitheater in Milwaukee, WI with a crowd of more than 15,000 on July 6. Daughtry has played shows in Australia, as well as the United Kingdom and across Europe for the first time and opened for Bon Jovi for several shows in November. They were featured as the opening act during Bon Jovi's Lost Highway Tour. The band began a sold out tour with Bon Jovi on February 18, 2008 all the way through the end of April. Chris Daughtry joined Bon Jovi onstage every night to perform their song, "Blaze of Glory". Daughtry joined forces with the ONE Campaign at 2008's Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention to raise awareness about world poverty. The band refused to back a presidential candidate during their interviews. On Thanksgiving 2009, Daughtry performed the halftime show for the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Oakland Raiders football game to kick off the Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign. Daughtry joined Nickelback on the 2nd leg of their European tour from 1st Jan 2010 to 5th Feb 2010. Daughtry's second leg of the Leave This Town Tour started on March 18 in Baltimore, MD and continued through mid-June. Daughtry played two dates in October 2010 in South Africa, one at the Grand Arena in Cape Town and one at the Coca Cola Dome in Johannesburg. Daughtry played for the Singapore Formula One concert at the Padang in September 2010. It is the third visit to Singapore for Daughtry. In October 2010, Daughtry toured Europe with shows in Germany and the United Kingdom. From March 20 to August 18, 2012, Daughtry went on their second headlining tour, the "Break the Spell Tour" across North America with openers Safetysuit and Mike Sanchez. The tour supported their third studio album 'Break the Spell'. The band played at small theaters and one arena. Daughtry is currently supporting Nickelback in Europe for their Here And Now Tour. This is third time touring with them. On October 12, 2012, Daughtry toured Europe with shows in Russia. On October 8, 2012, Daughtry and 3 Doors Down announced that they will be co-headlining a nineteen date tour in the United States from November 17 to December 15, 2012. On December 10, 2012 more dates were added, extending the tour to February 26, 2013. 2009-10: Leave This Town Tour, 2012: Break the Spell Tour, 2012-13: Co-headlining tour with 3 Doors Down, Members edit: Band members Chris Daughtry - lead vocals, guitar, Josh Steely - lead guitar, backing vocals, Brian Craddock - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2007-present), Robin Diaz - drums, percussion (2010-present), Touring members Elvio Fernandes - Keyboard, backing vocals, rhythm guitar (2011-present), Andy Waldeck - bass, backing vocals (2012-present), Former members Jeremy Brady - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2006-2007), Joey Barnes - drums, percussion, keyboard, backing vocals (2006-2010), Josh Paul - bass, backing vocals (2006-2012)