The multi-member Chumbawamba, whose line-up includes Harry Hamer, Alice Nutter, Boff Whalley, Mavis Dillon, Louise Mary Watts, Danbert Nobacon, Paul Greco and Dunstan Bruce, was originally an anarchist outfit formed in Leeds, England, out of a househ…

This four-piece band came together in 1989 when Christopher Barron (b. 5 February 1968, Hawaii; vocals) and Eric Schenkman (b. 12 December 1963, Massachusetts, USA; guitar) met Aaron Comess (b. 24 April 1968, Arizona, USA; drums) at the New School of…

Along with such peers as Tonic and Matchbox Twenty, San Francisco's Third Eye Blind broke through at a crucial juncture in the '90s music scene. In between the twilight of grunge (from which they took some influence) and the ascendancy of nu-metal, T…

b. 7 May 1969, Stockholm, Sweden. Cherry is the son of legendary jazz trumpeter Don Cherry and the brother of Neneh Cherry. Born in Sweden, Eagle-Eye was so named because when he was born he looked at his father with one eye. Cherry moved to New York…

What do you get when you have a singer with movie-star good looks (Mark McGrath) fronting a hard-edged pop band? In Sugar Ray's case, that formula spelled massive commercial success during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After starting off as a power…

The core of Deep Blue Something is the Pipes brothers, Todd (bass/vocals) and Toby (guitar/vocals), from Denton, Texas, who were both attending the University of North Texas in 1992 when they formed Leper Messiah (a quotation from David Bowie's "Zigg…

Originally formed as a loose collective of musicians, the driving force behind New Radicals was multi-instrumentalist Gregg Alexander (b. 1972, Gross Point, Michigan, USA). His earliest exposure to music included being taught the chords to the Who's …

The angst-ridden alt-rock that bands like Nirvana popularized in the early-1990s eventually branched off into a softer, more mature sound with such groups as the Goo Goo Dolls. Although they began as raw and rowdy Replacements-style rockers in the la…

Formed in Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA, Semisonic comprise Jacob Slichter (drums), John Munson (bass) and Dan Wilson (guitar/vocals, ex-Trip Shakespeare). It was Wilson's harrowing lyrics, reinforced by innovative guitar samples and superb production,…

The creation of singer John Wozniak (b. 19 January 1971), this US alternative rock outfit was signed by EMI Records in the mid-90s on the strength of Wozniak's demo album From The Marcy Playground, recorded under the name Zog Bogbean. Shortly after t…

b. Talmage Bachman, 13 August 1969, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The son of Randy Bachman, of Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive fame, was always going to have an advantage when it comes to the rudiments of power pop. Bachman grew up surr…

This Glaswegian semi-acoustic rock band emerged in the wake of the Postcard Records scene, when they were formed by 16-year-old singer, pianist and bass player Justin Currie (b. 11 December 1964, Scotland) and his guitarist friend Iain Harvie (b. 19 …

b. 1969, Montclair, New Jersey, USA. Sheik grew up in South Carolina and New Jersey, learning to play the piano and guitar. He played with Lisa Loeb while studying at Brown University, and later appeared with His Boy Elroy on a 1993 album for Epic Re…

The alternative popdance group LEN was formed in Toronto in 1991 by Marc The Burger Pimp Costanzo and his sister Sharon initially to perform punk-pop-style music However an outside interest in hip-hop gradually crept into the groups style over the co…

This young US alternative rock band was formed and subsequently signed by RCA Records while guitarist Jon Siebels (b. 28 August 1979, La Crescenta, California, USA) and bass player Max Collins (b. 27 August 1978, La Crescenta, California, USA) were s…

A US alternative rock band comprising Glen Graham (b. Columbus, Mississippi, USA; drums), Shannon Hoon (b. Lafeyette, Indiana, USA, d. 21 October 1995, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; vocals), Rogers Stevens (b. West Point, Mississippi, USA; guitar), Ch…

Growing up in the shadow of Bob Dylan would be too much for many, let alone trying to make it in the same field as the legendary troubadour. But Bob's son Jakob Dylan succeeded on his own terms when his band the Wallflowers hit it big with their own …

In the midst of the early 1990s grunge boom, Counting Crows emerged as an alternative to the heavy, alienated sounds of the Kurt Cobain crowd. The California band harked back to the classic '60s folk-rock sounds of the Band, Bob Dylan, and Van Morris…

Anyone who couldn't relate to the agitated sounds of late-'90s/early-'00s alt-rock but still wanted to hear something new found solace in such "mature" alternative acts as Matchbox 20. Taking the anthemic rock and balladry of Pearl Jam and smoothing …

"A big slice of American cheese" was how the singer of this American country rock band once described their sound. Favoured sons of MTV, they had earlier attracted a fierce local following after formation in Tempe, Arizona, USA, in 1987. Their origin…