Hanson (band)

Hanson is an American pop rock band formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma by brothers Isaac, Taylor, and Zac Hanson. They are best known for the 1997 hit song "MMMBop" from their major label debut album Middle Of Nowhere, which earned three Grammy nominations. Despite the enormous commercial success of Middle Of Nowhere, the band suffered from the merger that eliminated Mercury Records and were moved to Island Def Jam Music Group, which they eventually left after conflict with the label about creative input. The band now records under its own label, 3CG Records.

Biographical Information

Clarke Isaac Hanson (born November 17, 1980), Jordan Taylor Hanson (March 14, 1983) and Zachary Walker Hanson (October 22, 1985) are the first three children of parents Clarke Walker Hanson and Diana Hanson (née Lawyer). The Hanson family also includes younger siblings - Jessica Grace (July 31, 1988), Avery Laurel (November 5, 1990), Joshua Mackenzie (January 7, 1994), and Zoë Genevieve (January 14, 1998). Most of the males in the Hanson family are commonly called by their middle names - Isaac, Taylor, and Mackenzie ("Mac") - as is their father, Walker. Zachary ("Zac") is the only exception to this.

1992–1996: Early years

The three young boys sang a cappella and recorded songs like "Rockin' Robin", "Splish Splash" and "Johnny B. Goode", as well as their own material. Their first performance as a professional group took place in 1992 at the Mayfest Arts Festival in Tulsa.^[2]

Hanson also appeared on Carman's Yo! Kidz: The Vidz, which included Taylor cast as a young Biblical David facing Goliath, Isaac cast as an event announcer, and other members of the family including Zac in the stands cheering on this "sporting event".^{[citation needed]}

All three boys started their musical careers as pianists. Isaac later picked up a second-hand guitar, Zac borrowed an old set of drums, and Taylor became the keyboard player of what turned into a garage band. The band recorded two independent albums in their hometown of Tulsa, Boomerang (recorded in autumn 1994, released in 1995) and MMMBop (released in 1996). The latter featured the original version of the song "MMMBop", which would later become the runaway single on their debut commercial record Middle Of Nowhere. The boys then found themselves at the South By Southwest (aka SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas. There, they were promptly signed by manager Christopher Sabec.^[2] He shopped them to several record companies, most of which dismissed the band as either a novelty or fraud before Steve Greenberg, an A&R representative for Mercury Records, heard them play a set at the Kansas State Fair. After this performance, they were signed almost immediately by Mercury. They soon became a worldwide sensation with the release of their first major-label album, Middle of Nowhere, which was produced by the famous Dust Brothers.

1997–2000: Commercial success

Middle Of Nowhere was released in the U.S. on May 6, 1997, selling 10 million copies worldwide. May 6 was declared 'Hanson Day' in Tulsa by Oklahoma's then-governor Frank Keating.^[3] Although 'Hanson Day' was originally intended to be a one-time occurrence, many Hanson fans all over the world still recognize May 6 as Hanson Day every year. Hanson's popularity exploded during the summer of 1997, and Mercury Records released Hanson's first documentary Tulsa, Tokyo, and the Middle of Nowhere and their Christmas album Snowed In in the wake of their success. Hanson also launched MOE (which stood for Middle of Everywhere), a fan club magazine that ran for 12 issues.^[4] After numerous unauthorized biographies of each of the brothers were published, Hanson turned to their close friend, Jarrod Gollihare of Admiral Twin, to write their authorized biography. Hanson: The Official Book reached number 9 on the New York Times Best Sellers List (nonfiction) on February 1, 1998.^[5] The band was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 1998: Record of the Year, Best New Artist, and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.^[6] During the summer of 1998, Hanson began a highly successful concert tour, the Albertane Tour. They performed a string of shows throughout stadiums and arenas in the U.S., targeting young audiences with a playful and energetic style. A live album, titled Live From Albertane, was released the following fall, as well as their second documentary The Road to Albertane.^[7]

In response to the demand for their earlier work, Hanson re-released MMMBop as 3 Car Garage, minus 4 tracks, in May 1998. To date, the tracks from Boomerang have not been re-released. Three tracks from Boomerang ("Boomerang", "More Than Anything", and Rain (Falling Down)") and two of the remaining tracks from MMMBop ("Incredible" and "Baby (You're So Fine)") were released on the first MOE CD sent to fan club members.

During the Albertane Tour, Hanson wrote and demoed what would later become the songs for their fifth major studio album (Seventh overall), This Time Around. During this time period, Mercury Records, the band's label, had been merged with Island Def Jam. Almost immediately following the changeover Hanson released their seventh album, This Time Around, in May 2000 but due to lack of promotional funding sales were low and the label eventually pulled funding for their tour. The band toured through the summer and fall of 2000 on their own funds.^{[citation needed]}

2001–2005: Independent career

After a 3 year struggle, depicted in the documentary film Strong Enough to Break by Ashley Greyson, the brothers left Island Def Jam Records. As appears in the documentary, the main struggle with the label was what the band felt was lack of creative freedom. This, after label executives refused over 80 songs from the band, believing new material lacked marketability, and insisting on restricting the recording process.^{[citation needed]}

Hanson now records for their own independent label, 3CG Records.^[8] The label has distribution deals through Alternative Distribution Alliance in the United States, Cooking Vinyl in Europe, Sony Music in Asia and with various other distributors throughout the world.^[9] During the dispute with their former label, Hanson signed with the management company, 10th Street Entertainment, which also manages artists such as Meat Loaf and Blondie.^[10]

The band's "Underneath Acoustic" tour occurred during the Summer and Fall of 2003. Music included acoustic versions of songs from the then-forthcoming release, Underneath. The tour ended November 5, 2003 with a performance at Carnegie Hall.^[11]

Released on April 20, 2004, Underneath debuted at #1 on Billboard Top Independent Albums chart^[12] and #25 on the Billboard 200 album chart^[13], making Underneath one of the most successful self-released albums of all time.^[14]

In autumn 2005, Hanson toured in the U.S. and Canada to support The Best of Hanson: Live & Electric. They also visited colleges to showcase Strong Enough to Break, the documentary chronicling difficulties with and departure from Island Def Jam. During college visits, the band held question-and-answer sessions about independent artists' role in the music industry.^[15]

2006–2008: The Walk and tenth anniversary

On January 15, 2007, Hanson released on iTunes the first episode of their documentary podcast "Taking the Walk", detailing production of the studio album. The first episode of the band's documentary Strong Enough to Break was also released on iTunes. The program is edited into 13 episodes for release by podcast.^[16]

In March, 2007, Hanson began a "preview tour" to promote The Walk and give fans a taste of recent work. Over 6-days, Hanson performed at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey, Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut, The Crocodile Rock in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and The Supper Club in New York City. On March 30, Taylor and Zac appeared in Dallas, TX to screen their documentary at the AFI Film Festival. Afterward, the brothers held a Q&A session along with director Ashley Greyson. Hanson performed in the UK during April 2007, playing songs from The Walk. They also promoted the release of the single "Go" and UK release of the album.

The Walk, Hanson's second studio album with 3CG Records (13th overall), was released in the U.S., Mexico and Canada on July 24. It was released in Japan on February 21 and in the UK on April 30.^[17]

On May 6, 2007, the 10th anniversary of Hanson Day, the band re-recorded their first major label album (third overall), Middle Of Nowhere, at The Blank Slate bar in their hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The band invited fan club members, causing hundreds to fly to Oklahoma for the acoustic event. Hanson played concerts in the summer of 2007, supporting release of The Walk. The band appeared in Providence, Boston, New York City, Toronto, and Los Angeles.

The record Middle of Nowhere Acoustic was released at the end of that year, exclusively on Hanson.net. The record included all but three songs of those originally in Middle Of Nowhere (Speechless, Thinking of You and With You in Your Dreams) and featured the song Yearbook, never performed live before.

2009–present

It was confirmed in June 2009 that the upcoming Hanson album was completed (titled "Shout It Out"), and planned for release on June 8, 2010. The band also announced that they would be co-headlining a tour with Hellogoodbye. The tour started in Hanson's hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on September 30, 2009 and finished November 11, 2009 in Anaheim, California.

Hanson also released a five-song EP titled "Stand Up, Stand Up" that was available at shows and on the band's official website. The tracks are acoustic versions of four new Hanson songs, plus the album version of "World's on Fire" from the upcoming album.[4] It was released worldwide on iTunes on December 8, 2009.

Meanwhile, in early 2009 Taylor Hanson launched a separate project including members of Smashing Pumpkins, Fountains of Wayne, and Cheap Trick, Tinted Windows, a power pop quartet whose debut album quickly earned critical praise and repeat airplay on leading syndicated FM radio programs.

In December 2009, Hanson announced they would play five consecutive concerts at New York's Gramercy Theater. Each concert featured one of the band's four previous albums in their entirety, and the premiere of their upcoming Spring 2010 release. Dubbed 'Five of Five,' the engagement began with a performance of Hanson's debut, 'Middle Of Nowhere,' on April 26, 2010 and then moves onto 2000's 'This Time Around' on April 27. 2004's 'Underneath' follows on April 28 with 2007's 'The Walk' on April 29. On April 30, the band unveiled their new album, "Shout It Out". The concert series was also streamed live on band's official website, Hanson.net, and included an exclusive "Backstage Pass" stream for fan club members.

On February 18, 2010, Hanson officially announced their latest studio album will be named, "Shout It Out" and will be released on June 8, 2010.^[18] The first single was released on April 5, 2010, and is set to be available for download on April 22, 2010.

On March 6, 2010, Hanson shot dance and other sequences for their upcoming music video of their new single, "Thinking Bout Somethin", at Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa. Hanson recruited professional dancers for the shoot and also invited fans and local residents to take part. The video was directed by Todd Edwards, co-founder of Blue Yonder Films.^[19][20] It was released for public viewing on their Myspace channel on April 15, 2010. "Weird Al" Yankovic has a cameo appearance as the tambourine player.

Hanson was the musical guest at the Tulsa stop of The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour starring Conan O'Brien on May 15, 2010. Conan accompanied the band in playing a cover of the song Never Been to Spain by American rock legends Three Dog Night. In June 2010, Hanson performed with former American Idol contestant Siobhan Magnus.

Hanson toured South America, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina-where a lot of Chilean fans traveled to Buenos Aires; and Europe and performed their first full electric shows in Australia during the 2005 "Live and Electric" tour. In July 2006, the band recorded with a school choir in Soweto, South Africa to create "Great Divide", which was released in the UK and U.S through iTunes in December 2006. All proceeds from the song were directed towards research and prevention of AIDS in Africa.^[21]

On September 10, 2007, Hanson began "The Walk Tour" in Nashville. During the tour, Hanson continued their work against poverty and AIDS in Africa, partnering with American company, TOMS Shoes. As part of TOMS' "Shoe Drop", for every pair of shoes sold, the company donated another pair for a child in Africa.^[22] Hanson brought awareness to this campaign by asking fans to join them in a 1-mile barefoot walk before each concert, to represent what a typical African child goes through on a daily basis.

The Walk tour was suspended after Isaac underwent lifesaving surgery for a pulmonary embolism.^[23] Doctors treated his condition by relieving blood flow restrictions caused by excess chest muscle and scar tissue from the repetitive motions of guitar playing^[24] The tour resumed with Midwest and East Coast dates March through May, 2008.[5]. The brothers wrapped up the second leg of "The Walk Tour" after playing 20 concerts in four weeks.

Hanson embarked on the "Walk Around the World Tour" starting on September 7, 2008 in Portland, Oregon and ending November 16, 2008 in San Diego, California. Once again Hanson continued to help fight poverty in Africa by continuing their 1-mile walks before the shows. A coffee table book titled "Take the Walk" was released in late 2008 to coincide with their "Walk Around the World Tour". This book presents the band's story behind their inspiration for their fight on poverty in Africa. The book also features a special EP with new tracks recorded especially for the project. Both the music and the book will raise further funds for aid groups in Africa.

Hanson also joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.^{[25] [26] [27]}

• Boomerang (1995)
• MMMBop (1996)
• Middle Of Nowhere (1997)
• Snowed In (1997)
• 3 Car Garage (1998)
• This Time Around (2000)
• Underneath (2004)
• The Walk (2007)
• Shout It Out (2010)

• Albertane Tour (1998)
• This Time Around Tour (2000)
• Underneath Acoustic Tour (2003)
• Underneath Tour (2004)
• Live and Electric Tour (2005)
• The Walk Tour (2007)
• The Walk Around The World Tour (2008)
• Use Your Sole Tour (2009)
• Shout It Out Tour (2010)

• Yo! Kidz: The Vidz (1994)
• Tulsa, Tokyo and the Middle of Nowhere (November 18, 1997)
• The Road to Albertane (November 3, 1998)
• At The Fillmore (April 24, 2001)
• Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002)
• Underneath Acoustic Live (July 27, 2004)
• Strong Enough to Break (2006)
• Taking The Walk (2008)

• Official website
• Template:Myspace