Free was an English rock band, formed in London in 1968, best known for their 1970 signature song "All Right Now". They disbanded in 1973 and lead singer Paul Rodgers went on to become a frontman of the band Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums; lead guitarist Paul Kossoff died from a drug-induced heart failure at the age of 25 in 1976, bassist Andy Fraser formed Sharks.

The band was famed for its sensational live shows and nonstop touring. However, early studio albums did not sell very well – until the release of Fire and Water which featured the massive hit "All Right Now". The song helped secure them a place at the huge Isle of Wight Festival 1970 where they played to 600,000 people.

By the early 1970s, Free was one of the biggest-selling British blues-rock groups; by the time the band dissolved in 1973, they had sold more than 20 million albums around the world and had played more than 700 arena and festival concerts. "All Right Now," remains a rock staple, and had been entered into ASCAP's "One Million" airplay singles club.^[1][2]

Rolling Stone has referred to the band as "British hard rock pioneers".^[3] The magazine ranked Rodgers #55 in its list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time",^[4] while Kossoff was ranked #51 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".^[3]

Free were signed to Island Records in the UK and A&M Records in North America. Both labels became part of the PolyGram group in 1989, then Universal Music Group in 1998; UMG now controls the band's catalogue worldwide.

History[link]

Most remarkable about the birth of Free was the young age of the band members who first came together to rehearse and play their first gig, that same evening, at the Nag's Head pub in Battersea, London, on 19 April 1968. Bass player Andy Fraser was 15 years old, lead guitarist Paul Kossoff was 17, and both lead singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke were 18. By November of that year, having been given the name Free by Alexis Korner, they had recorded their first album Tons Of Sobs for Island Records and, although it was not released until the following year, the album documents their first six months together and contains studio renditions of much of their early live set.

Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke first became friends in the R&B band Black Cat Bones but they wanted to move on. Paul Kossoff saw vocalist Paul Rodgers singing with Brown Sugar while visiting the Fickle Pickle, an R&B club in London's Finsbury Park. He was immediately impressed, and asked if he could jam with Rodgers onstage. Along with Kirke, they would go on to form Free with the addition of Andy Fraser, who at the age of 15 had already been playing with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.

Unlike their previous albums Tons of Sobs and Free, Fire and Water - released in 1970 - was a huge success, largely due to the album containing the hit single "All Right Now", which reached #1 on the UK rock music charts, #2 on the UK singles chart and #4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[5] The album reached #2 in the UK charts and #17 on the U.S charts making it the most successful Free album. Highway was their fourth studio album, recorded extremely quickly in September 1970. Though widely considered^{[by whom?]} to be an excellent follow-up to Fire and Water, Highway performed poorly in the charts, reaching #41 in the UK and #190 in the US.

In April 1971, due to differences between singer Paul Rodgers and bassist Andy Fraser, the drug problems of guitarist Paul Kossoff, and inconsistent record sales, the band broke up. This led to the release of the live album in 1971 called Free Live!. Early in 1972 the band set aside their differences and reformed in an effort to save Kossoff from his growing drug addiction, and in June of the same year released Free at Last.

But all was not well with the band. Bassist Andy Fraser left the band in mid-1972 due to Paul Kossoff's unreliability in being able to perform at shows or even showing up. The remaining members recruited Japanese bass player Tetsu Yamauchi and keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick, who had worked with Kossoff and Kirke during Free's initial split, recording Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit and what would be Free's final album, Heartbreaker. Free disbanded in early 1973 with Rodgers and Kirke going on to form Bad Company that same year. Fraser went on to form the band Sharks and later The Andy Fraser Band, and Kossoff would form the band Back Street Crawler.

With Kossoff in better health again in late 1975, he was delighted that ex-colleagues Rodgers and Kirke asked him to join them on stage for two nights. A British tour was set to begin on 25 April 1976 with Back Street Crawler headlining with Bad Company in support of Back Street Crawler's second album, but again Kossoff's drug addictions contributed to a drastic decline in the guitarist's health. On a flight from Los Angeles to New York City on 19 March 1976, Paul Kossoff died from drug-related heart problems at the age of 25. Some speculate that he was forced to take drugs due to his illness.

Alexis Korner played a part in the Free story, recommending Andy Fraser to the band, providing the name "Free" and encouraging their early efforts. The sound that would be a trademark of Free is heard in songs like "All Right Now", "Trouble On Double Time", "Fire And Water" and "Wishing Well", with Paul Rodgers being known in the rock media as "The Voice". Rodgers would go on to explore the heavy blues stylings of Free again in his solo career during the 1980s and 1990s, and in the bands The Firm and The Law.

"All Right Now" was a #1 hit in over 20 territories and recognized by ASCAP(American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in 1990 for garnering 1,000,000 plus radio plays in the US by late 1989, and in 2000 an award was given to Paul Rodgers by the British Music Industry when "All Right Now" passed 2,000,000 radio plays in the UK.^{[citation needed]}

Most recently Paul Rodgers has joined the remaining members of Queen (Brian May and Roger Taylor), as vocalist. In September 2008, Queen + Paul Rodgers released their first studio album The Cosmos Rocks. Rodgers also performs Free and Bad Company songs whilst on tour with Queen, in addition to the traditional Queen songs and new cuts from their most recently released album.

Personnel[link]

• Paul Rodgers - lead vocals, piano (1968–1971, 1972–1973)
• Paul Kossoff - guitar (1968–1971, 1972–1973)
• Andy Fraser - bass, piano (1968–1971, 1972)
• Simon Kirke - drums (1968–1971, 1972–1973)
• John "Rabbit" Bundrick - keyboards (1972–1973)
• Tetsu Yamauchi - bass (1973)
• Wendell Richardson - guitar (1973)
• Leigh Webster - keyboards (1972)

Timeline

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Colors =

 id:Vocals             value:red     legend:Vocals
 id:Guitar             value:green   legend:Guitar
 id:Bass               value:blue    legend:Bass
 id:Drums             value:orange    legend:Drums
 id:Keyboards         value:purple    legend:Keyboards

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom

ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1968

BarData =

 bar:Rodgers text:"Paul Rodgers"
 bar:Kossoff text:"Paul Kossoff"
 bar:Richardson text:"Wendell Richardson"
 bar:Fraser text:"Andy Fraser"
 bar:Yamauchi text:"Tetsu Yamauchi"
 bar:Webster text:"Leigh Webster"
 bar:Bundrick text:"John Bundrick"
 Bar:Kirke text:"Simon Kirke"

PlotData=

 width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:Rodgers from:01/01/1968 till:01/01/1971 color: Vocals
 bar:Rodgers from:01/01/1972 till:13/12/1973 color: Vocals
 bar:Kossoff from:01/01/1968 till:01/01/1971 color: Guitar
 bar:Kossoff from:01/01/1972 till:01/01/1973 color: Guitar 
 bar:Richardson from:01/01/1973 till:31/12/1973 color: Guitar 
 bar:Fraser from:01/01/1968 till: 01/01/1971 color: Bass
 bar:Fraser from:01/01/1972 till:31/12/1972 color: Bass
 bar:Yamauchi from: 01/01/1973 till: 31/12/1973 color: Bass
 bar:Webster from: 01/01/1972 till: 31/12/1972 color: Keyboards 
 bar:Bundrick from:01/01/1972 till: 31/12/1973 color: Keyboards
 bar:Kirke from:01/01/1968 till:01/01/1971 color: Drums
 bar:Kirke from:01/01/1972 till:31/12/1973 color: Drums

</timeline>

Discography[link]

1969 - Tons of Sobs
1969 - Free
1970 - Fire and Water
1970 - Highway
1971 - Free Live!
1972 - Free at Last
1973 - Heartbreaker

References[link]

External links[link]

• Paul Rodgers official website
• Andy Fraser official website
• Simon Kirke official website
• ARN Official Free Website
• Planet Mellotron album reviews

Look up free in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Free may refer to:

• Free will
• Political freedom
• Economic freedom
• Something given or supplied without payment (gratis)
• Gratis versus Libre, the distinction between the two meanings above

Free may also refer to:

Arts and philosophy[link]

• Freedom (disambiguation)
• Free: The Future of a Radical Price, 2009 book by Chris Anderson
• "Free" (film), written by Peter Hansen Gibson
• "Free" (Desperate Housewives), a television episode
• Free, to emancipate, to obtain political rights (usually for a disenfranchised group)
• Free, a pseudonym for the activist and writer Abbie Hoffman
• Free content, content without significant legal usability restrictions
• Free will, control exercised by rational agents over their actions and decisions

Computing[link]

• free (programming), a function that releases dynamically allocated memory for reuse
• Freefont, an open font project
• Free format, a file format which can be used without restrictions
• Free software, software usable and distributable with few restrictions and no payment
• Freeware, a broader class of software available at no cost
• Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment, a video game genre as implemented in the game Shenmue

Mathematics[link]

• Free object
  • Free abelian group
  • Free algebra
  • Free group
  • Free module
  • Free semigroup
• Free variable
• Group action

it means that you get money

Music[link]

Performers[link]

• Free (band), an English rock band
• Free (rapper), an American rapper
• The Free, a German euro house

Albums[link]

• Free (Rick Astley album)
• Free (Bonfire album)
• Free (Concrete Blonde album)
• Free (Dana International album)
• Free (Gavin DeGraw album)
• Free (For Real album)
• Free (Free album), self-titled album
• Free (David Garrett album)
• Free (Brad Johner album)
• Free (Libera album)
• Free (Mao Abe album)
• Free (Marcus Miller album), or its title song
• Free (Negativland album)
• Free (OSI album), or its title song
• Free (The Party album)
• Free (Twin Atlantic album)
• Free (Planetshakers album)
• Free (Kate Ryan album)
• Free (Stone album), live recording
• Free
• Free (Virtue album)
• Free..., an EP by Acid King, or its title song
• free*, an album by Jim's Big Ego
• Free, an album by Rivermaya

Songs[link]

• "Free" (Chicago song)
• "Free" (Deniece Williams song)
• "Free" (Erika song)
• "Free" (Estelle song)
• "Free" (Mao Abe song)
• "Free" (Mýa song)
• "Free" (Natalia Kills song)
• "Free" (Sarah Brightman song)
• "Free" (Stryper song)
• "Free" (Train song)
• "Free" (Ultra Naté song)
• "Free" (Zac Brown Band song)
• "Free" (Haley Rinehart song)
• "Free", by Alesha Dixon from Fired Up
• "Free", by Blue October UK from One Day Silver, One Day Gold
• "Free", by The Cars from Move Like This
• "Free", by Cat Power from You Are Free
• "Free", by Dani Harmer
• "Free", by Depeche Mode, B-side to the single "Precious"
• "Free", by Jon Secada from his album Same Dream
• "Free", by Phish from Billy Breathes
• "Free", by Plumb from Beautiful Lumps of Coal
• "Free", by Powerman 5000 from Transform
• "Free", by Prince from 1999
• "Free", by Quiet Riot from Rehab
• "Free", by VAST from Music for People
• "Free", by Yu Yamada, written as the ending theme for Basquash!

Organizations[link]

• Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, a New York agency providing services for individuals with developmental disabilities
• Fight Repression of Erotic Expression, a University of Minnesota student group, now the Queer Student Cultural Center
• Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, a Lake Jackson, Texas, libertarian think-tank founded by Ron Paul
• Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, a think-tank that promotes free-market environmentalism
• Free (ISP), a French internet service provider
• Free Airlines, a Kinshasa Congolese air operator

Public services[link]

• Free education, education provided at no cost to all students
• Free public transport, zero-fare services, funded without collecting fares from passengers

People[link]

• Ann Cottrell Free, American journalist
• Arthur M. Free, American politician
• Doug Free, American football offensive tackle
• Duncan Free, Australian rower and Olympic medalist
• F. William Free, American advertising executive
• James S. Free, American journalist
• Kalyn Free, American attorney
• Marcella Free, American copywriter
• Micki Free, American guitarist
• Peter Free, Australian cricketer
• Ross Free, Australian politician
• Tony Free, Australian rules football player
• World B. Free (born Lloyd B. Free), American basketball player

See also[link]

• Freestyle (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Look up band in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Band may refer to:

Clothing, jewelry, and accessories[link]

• Bands (neckwear), two pieces of cloth fitted around the neck as part of formal clothing for clergy, academics, and lawyers
• Bandolier or bandoleer, an ammunition belt
• Belt (clothing)
• Wedding ring or wedding band
• Strap, an elongated flap or ribbon, usually of fabric or leather

Science and technology[link]

• Band (radio), a range of frequencies or wavelengths used in radio transmission and radar
• Rubber band, a short length of rubber and latex formed in the shape of a loop
• Möbius strip or Möbius band, an artifact with interesting topological features
• Band (mathematics), an idempotent semigroup
• Spectral bands, part of the optical spectra of polyatomic systems
• Metals and semiconductors
  • Valence band
  • Conduction band
  • Band gap

Medicine and biology[link]

• Bird ringing, or bird banding, placing a numbered bands of metal on birds' legs for identification
• A group of animals, such as gorillas or coyotes
  • Herd
  • Flocking (behavior)
• Band cell, a type of white blood cell
• Protein band, see Coomassie
• Gastric band, a weight-control measure

Organizations[link]

• Bands (Italian Army irregulars), military units once in the service of the Italian Regio Esercito
• Brazilian broadcast television network Rede Bandeirantes, nicknamed Band or Band Network
• The Band (wrestling), the Total Nonstop Wrestling name for the professional wrestling stable New World Order

Society and government[link]

• Band society, a small group of humans in a simple form of society
• The primary unit of Native Americans in the United States
• Band (First Nations Canada), the primary unit of First Nations Government in Canada

People[link]

• Band (surname)

Places[link]

• Band, Mureş in Romania
• Bánd, a village in Hungary

Music[link]

• Band, a company of musicians—see Musical ensemble
  • Rock band
  • Concert band
  • School band, a group of student musicians who rehearse and perform instrumental music together
  • Marching band, a group of performers that consist of instrumental musicians who generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching (and possibly other movements) with their musical performance
• The Band, a Canadian-American rock and roll group
  • The Band (album), its eponymous album released in 1969

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Band"
• All pages with titles containing "Band"
• Banding (disambiguation)
• Drum and bugle corps (disambiguation)
• Stripe (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2010)

Paul Francis Kossoff (14 September 1950 – 19 March 1976) was an English rock guitarist best known as a member of the band Free.

Kossoff was ranked 51st in Rolling Stone magazine list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".^{[1][dead link]}

Early days[link]

Kossoff was the son of Margaret (Jenkins) and the British actor David Kossoff.^[2][3][4] His father was of Russian-Jewish descent. Kossoff started playing guitar in the mid 1960s, taught by session guitarist Colin Falconer. He became a professional at age 15 when he was a founding member of Black Cat Bones. The band played with touring blues piano player Champion Jack Dupree, did many supporting shows for Fleetwood Mac and other gigs with Fleetwood Mac cofounder Peter Green. Kossoff would jam and spend hours discussing blues playing and players. Kossoff's bandmate in Black Cat Bones was drummer Simon Kirke, and the two would go on to play on Champion Jack Dupree's April 1968 album When You Feel the Feeling you was Feeling.^[5]

Free[link]

In April 1968 Kossoff and Kirke teamed up with Paul Rodgers (vocals) and Andy Fraser (bass) to form Free. They did the "Transit" circuit for two years and recorded two albums: Tons of Sobs (1968) and Free (1969). Both albums showcased the band's blues- and soul-influenced sound, a style which was in contrast to some of their progressive and heavier counterparts at the time.

Success came in 1970 when their third album, Fire and Water (1970), spawned the massive hit "All Right Now". The band played the Isle of Wight festival to both audience and critical acclaim. Sellout tours in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Japan followed, but after the release of the next album, Highway (1970), band pressures led to a split. The live album Free Live, recorded in 1970, was released in 1971 as a farewell record. While Rodgers and Fraser pursued unsuccessful solo projects, Kossoff and Kirke teamed up with Texan keyboard player John "Rabbit" Bundrick and Japanese bass player Tetsu Yamauchi to release the 1971 album Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit.

Free reformed and released the album Free at Last (1972). Following its release Fraser decided he had had enough and quit to form Sharks. Free drafted Tetsu and Rabbit for Free's 1973 album Heartbreaker (1973) after which the group disbanded.

Rodgers and Kirke went on to form the successful Bad Company while Kossoff released a solo album, Back Street Crawler (1973). He then accompanied John Martyn on a 1975 tour before assembling a group called Back Street Crawler.

Back Street Crawler released two albums: The Band Plays On in 1975 and 2nd Street in 1976. Recordings from one of their UK concerts in 1975 were also released under the title Live at Croydon Fairfield Halls 15/6/75.

When Free supported Blind Faith in the United States(1969), Eric Clapton was impressed enough to ask Kossoff to demonstrate his vibrato technique to him.^{[citation needed]} Kossoff's guitar playing was also much in demand for session work and he contributed solos on several albums including: Jim Capaldi's Oh How We Danced (1972), Martha Veléz's Fiends and Angels (1969); Blondel's Mulgrave Street (1974); Uncle Dog's Old Hat (1972), Michael Gately's Gately's Cafe (1971) and Mike Vernon's 1971 album Bring It Back Home.

He also played on four demos by Ken Hensley (eventually released on the 1994 album titled From Time to Time) and three tracks which appear on the CD-only issue of John Martyn's Live At Leeds album from 1975.

An unreleased guitar solo also surfaced in 2006 on the title track to the album All One by David Elliot who recorded with Paul Kossoff in the 70s.

The song "Seagull", from Jim Capaldi's 1975 solo album Short Cut Draw Blood, was reputedly written about Kossoff.^{[citation needed]}

A 16-track career retrospective, Koss, was issued in 1977.

The late 1990s saw a renewed interest in Kossoff, and another career retrospective was released, 1997's 14-track Blue Soul (actually a reissue of a double vinyl release from the mid 1980s of the same name), as well as the five-disc Free box set Songs of Yesterday, and a Free biography entitled Heavy Load: The Story of Free.

Death[link]

Kossoff's unhappiness with the end of Free and his drug addictions contributed to a drastic decline in the guitarist's health. On a flight from Los Angeles to New York on 19 March 1976, Kossoff died from drug-related heart problems. He was cremated and interred at the Golders Green Crematorium. His epitaph reads "All Right Now".

Legacy[link]

Following Kossoff's death his father, actor David Kossoff, established the Paul Kossoff Foundation which aimed to present the realities of drug addiction to children. Kossoff's father spent the remainder of his life campaigning against drugs, touring a one-man stage performance about the death of Paul and its effect on the family.

Selective discography[link]

Free[link]

• Tons of Sobs (1969)
• Free (1969)
• Fire and Water (1970)
• Highway (1970)
• Free Live!(1971) (live)
• Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit (1971)
• Free at Last (1972)
• Heartbreaker (1973)

The following albums were issued after the band ceased recording:

• The Free Story (1974)
• The Best of Free (1975)
• Free and Easy, Rough and Ready (1976)
• Completely Free (1982)
• All Right Now: The Best of Free (1991)
• Molten Gold: The Anthology (1994) (2 disc set)
• Free: All Right Now (1999)
• Songs of Yesterday (2000) (5 disc box set)
• Chronicles (2005) (2 disc set)

Solo[link]

• Back Street Crawler (1973)
• Koss (1977)

Back Street Crawler[link]

• The Band Plays On (1975)
• 2nd Street (1976)
• Live at Croydon Fairfield Halls 15/6/75

(After Kossoff's death the band made further albums)

References[link]

• Clayton, David, and Todd K. Smith. Heavy Load: The Story of Free. London: Moonshine Publishing, 2002. ISBN 978-0-9542169-0-0.
• Tom Guerra. Paul Kossoff - Biography. Paul Kossoff - The Back Street Crawler Vintage Guitar Magazine, 2000.

External links[link]

• Paul Kossoff Website

Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown performing at Detroit Hoedown 2010
Background information
Origin	Dahlonega, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Country Folk rock[1] Jam band[2] Southern rock[3]
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Bigger Picture Southern Ground Atlantic
Associated acts	Blackberry Smoke, Keith Stegall, The Lost Trailers, Jimmy Buffett, Alan Jackson
Website	zacbrownband.com
Members
Coy Bowles Zac Brown Clay Cook Daniel de los Reyes Jimmy De Martini Chris Fryar John Driskell Hopkins

Zac Brown Band is an American country, Southern rock, bluegrass, reggae and folk band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, vocals), Coy Bowles (guitar, keyboards), Chris Fryar (drums), Clay Cook (guitar, keyboards, mandolin, steel guitar, vocals), and Daniel de los Reyes (percussion). The band has toured throughout the United States, including a slot on the 2009 and 2010 Bonnaroo Music Festival. They have also recorded four studio albums, and charted eight Number One singles on the Billboard country charts: "Chicken Fried", "Toes", "Highway 20 Ride", "Free", "As She's Walking Away", "Colder Weather", "Knee Deep" and "Keep Me In Mind", in addition to the single "Whatever It Is," which peaked at number 2 on the same chart.

Early life[link]

Zac Brown was born July 31, 1978 in Cumming, Georgia. He was raised by his mom and step-dad, a dentist on Lake Lanier. The 11th of 12 children, Brown attended Mashburn Elementary School in Cumming, Georgia, Lakeview Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, and South Forsyth High School in Cumming. He later moved to Dahlonega, Georgia, where he graduated from Lumpkin County High School. He learned to play classical guitar at the age of 6. As a teenager, he played solo gigs in local venues, performing country and pop cover songs. “Most of my brothers and sisters are older—the oldest is 21 years older than me—so a lot of them were in college or had families of their own by the time I was growing up," said Zac Brown in a interview, but that left him time to bond with his family. Because of this, he was able to learn many things as a child growing up, such as shotgun shooting and playing instruments.

College[link]

Brown attended the University of West Georgia, where he was a member of the Zeta Kappa chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He was also a camp counselor at Camp Mikell in Toccoa, Ga. & Camp Glisson, a United Methodist summer camp located in Dahlonega, GA.^[4] While in college, he started a band and played dates in local restaurants with the band, and solo as well, to earn money to pay for school.

During this time, the band recorded an album to sell at their gigs, but disbanded during recording sessions. On September 11, 2001, after the terrorist attacks occurred, Brown decided that life was too short doing something that he did not enjoy, so he withdrew from school that day and decided to pursue music full-time.^[5]

Formation[link]

In 2002, the Zac Brown Band was formed and they began traveling with a heavy tour schedule of approximately 200 dates a year. The initial Zac Brown Band lineup consisted of Brown, on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, backed by a drummer and a bass guitarist. In 2003, Brown started his own label, called Home Grown (today, it is called Southern Ground for legal reasons).

In 2004, Brown opened a music club and restaurant with his father in the Lake Oconee area of Georgia called "Zac's Place" where the fare was southern-style cooking. A developer bought the restaurant and, in turn, the Zac Brown Band bought a tour bus and began touring full-time, playing rock and country clubs as well as folk and jam band festivals. 2004 also saw the release of the Zac Brown Band's first independent album, Far from Einstyne.

It was also in 2004 when Brown added violinist/fiddler and tenor vocalist Jimmy De Martini to the Zac Brown Band, thus beginning Brown's five-year quest to develop the band's current lineup. According to an interview with De Martini, he explained that Wyatt Durette, Brown's frequent songwriting collaborator, was working as a bartender at Sidelines Sports Bar in Kennesaw, Georgia at the time, where the Zac Brown Band frequently performed. Durette suggested De Martini to Brown, who was wanting a "lead instrument" in his band, as well as a harmony singer. After doing several performances with the band at the club, Brown asked De Martini to become a full-time member, to which he gladly obliged.^[6]

In 2005, the Zac Brown Band released its second independent album, Home Grown. That same year, John Driskell Hopkins joined the band as its bass guitarist and baritone vocalist. Hopkins, who was well known in the Atlanta area as the leader of the band Brighter Shade, first met Brown in 1998 at an open mic event hosted by Hopkins and they remained friends since. Additionally, Hopkins also co-produced the Zac Brown Band's Home Grown album.^[7]

In 2006, the Zac Brown Band recorded The Foundation with producer Keith Stegall. It was also in 2006 when Coy Bowles joined the band alternating on guitar and keyboards. Bowles and Brown first met in the late 1990s when they were both students at the University of West Georgia, where Bowles was studying biology. Bowles also vividly remembers seeing Brown perform for the first time. He explains, "I walked into a restaurant and Zac was singing and playing guitar. I heard a couple tunes and turned to my buddy and said, 'That dude might have the richest and loudest voice I ever heard!' I don’t even think Zac had a microphone and you could hear him all across the bar.”

Bowles then transferred to Atlanta's Georgia State University to study music. He subsequently became involved in Atlanta's various music scenes, and eventually formed Coy Bowles and the Fellowship in 2004. Two years later, Bowles decided to reconnect with Brown. Through mutual friends, he learned that the Zac Brown Band was scheduled to perform in Atlanta one evening. Bowles and Brown spent the afternoon prior to the performance reacquainting with each other, which ended with Brown inviting Bowles to sit in with the Zac Brown Band at that night's performance, which Bowles gladly accepted. To return the favor, Bowles invited the band to attend his own gig with the Fellowship a couple of months later, which in turn resulted in Brown and his band sitting in at that gig.

This turn of events continued for eight months until Bowles concluded that it was too overwhelming to balance his time with Brown's band and his own band and other activities, thus making a difficult decision to put the Fellowship on an indefinite hiatus and become a full-time member of the Zac Brown Band, as that was what he enjoyed the most.^[8][9]

In 2008, the Zac Brown Band signed to Live Nation Artists Records (in association with Brown's own Home Grown label), but not before Chris Fryar became yet another addition to the band. An Alabama native, Fryar attended North Texas State University and the Mississippi University for Women and made a name for himself in the Birmingham music scene.^[10] According to Fryar, a mutual friend recommended him to Brown, who was in need of a new drummer for the band. Fryar, who in turn had just finished a stint with a previous band, subsequently auditioned and shortly afterward became the Zac Brown Band's newest member.^[11]

Commercial success[link]

The Zac Brown Band's debut single, "Chicken Fried", was originally recorded in 2003 and included on the Home Grown album, but later re-recorded and released to country radio in 2008. This song was also recorded by The Lost Trailers, whose 2006 recording was released as a single but withdrawn after Brown decided that he wanted to release it himself.^[12] Brown also co-wrote "Simple Life", a song recorded by The Lost Trailers on their 2006 self-titled album.

In October 2008, Atlantic Records took over distribution of "Chicken Fried" after Live Nation Artists closed. The band's album The Foundation was released under Atlantic Records' newly re-established country division in association with the Home Grown/Big Picture label on November 18 of that year.^[13] "Chicken Fried" reached #1 on the country charts that same month, making them the first country band to reach #1 with a debut single since Heartland did so in 2006 with "I Loved Her First."^[14]

Inclusion of Clay Cook[link]

In January 2009, two months after "Chicken Fried" went to #1, Atlanta native Clay Cook joined the Zac Brown Band as its multi-instrumentalist and high tenor vocalist, thus completing the band's lineup. Cook had previously collaborated with John Mayer and Shawn Mullins, and was also a member of the Marshall Tucker Band for two years prior to joining the Zac Brown Band. According to Cook, he and Brown actually both attended and graduated from high school together, but were never acquainted with each other during that period. He explains how he first met Brown:

Brown himself admits his strong desire to add Cook to the lineup, for he believed Cook's musicianship would enhance the Zac Brown Band's overall musical style:

Cook also explained his intention to leave the Marshall Tucker Band in order to join the Zac Brown Band:

With the final Zac Brown Band lineup completed, the band released its second single, "Whatever It Is," which went to #2. In October 2009, a third single, "Toes," became the band's second Number One. The album's fourth single, and third #1, was "Highway 20 Ride". "Free" was the album's fifth single and on the week of August 21, 2010, it also peaked at Number One.

Inclusion of Daniel de los Reyes[link]

On April 25, 2012, it was announced via the Zac Brown Band's website that percussionist Daniel de los Reyes had joined the band on a permanent basis. De los Reyes had previously performed with the band as a touring musician and participated in the recording of their upcoming album Uncaged. De los Reyes has also performed with artists and groups such as Earth, Wind and Fire, Jennifer Lopez and Sting.^[18]

Awards[link]

Zac Brown Band has earned more than 50 GRAMMY, ACM, AMA, CMA, and CMT award nominations since 2009.^[19]

They have received four nominations for the 2009 CMA Awards: New Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Single of the Year, and Music Video of the Year for their #1 single, "Chicken Fried". That same year, they received three Grammy nominations for Best Country Album, Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocals and Best New Artist. On January 31, 2010, the band won the Grammy award for Best New Artist.

The group was also nominated in 2009 for three ACM awards, "Album of the Year", "Top Vocal Group", and was one of eight contenders for "Entertainer of the Year".^{[citation needed]}

The Zac Brown Band led the nominees for the 46th annual Academy of Country Music Awards 2011, with a total of nine nominations including: Top Vocal Group of the Year, Album of the Year, Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year.^[20]

Collaborations and appearances[link]

The band is known to cover songs by their major musical influences in concert, with notable songs including Come Pick Me Up by Ryan Adams, The Devil Went Down To Georgia by Charlie Daniels, I Shall Be Released by Bob Dylan, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band, Blackbird by The Beatles, Into The Mystic by Van Morrison, One Love by Bob Marley, Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine and Can't You See by The Marshall Tucker Band. On their 2010 Live benefit album Pass the Jar, these songs were included in their setlist.

Along with recent commercial success, the band has made appearances at The Hangout Music Festival, Hullabalou Music Festival and the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2006, 2009, and 2010 along with an opening slot for the Dave Matthews Band during their 2010 Summer Tour. Also, after several years as perennial favorites on the annual The Rock Boat theme-cruise, the Zac Brown Band has been elevated to hosting their own theme-cruise, Sailing Southern Ground, in September 2010.

In 2011, the Zac Brown Band and Blackberry Smoke did a tour of sold out concerts at venues and amphitheaters including Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA.^[21]

Zac Brown Band was also a headliner at the 2010 Detroit Hoedown.

Jimmy Buffett, Duane Cahill, Aaron Carman and guitar virtuoso Tony Rice join Alan Jackson as special guests on the new Zac Brown Band album, "You Get What You Give," which was released on September 21, 2010.^[22]

Zac Brown Band appeared at the Country Music Association Awards on November 10, 2010, performing As She's Walking Away.^[23]

Zac Brown Band appeared as special guests for Kings of Leon at London’s Hyde Park on June 22, 23 and at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on June 26.

Zac Brown Band appeared at Ft. Stewart, Georgia and played a free concert for soldiers and family members on July 4, 2011 to a crowd of over 24,000.

Discography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]