Live (band)

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Template:Infobox band

LIVE is an American post-grunge/rock band from York, Pennsylvania, USA. LIVE gained international prominence in the 1990s as one of the most successful rock bands of its time.

The band is comprised of Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals & guitar) Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass), and Chad Gracey (drums). Since approximately 1999, LIVE has toured with Ed's younger brother, Adam Kowalczyk, and, previously, British keyboardist Michael "Railo" Railton.

The original name of the band was First Aid, formed in the early 1980s. Several name changes followed, including to Public Affection, under which they released The Death of a Dictionary (1989).

After a series of unsuccessful attempts at cracking the music business, the group signed with Radioactive Records and recruited Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads to produce Mental Jewelry , an album based on the writings of J. Krishnamurti, an Indian teacher, which was released on the last day of 1991.

LIVE established a following and returned in April 1994 with the hugely popular album Throwing Copper, again produced by Harrison and recorded at Pachyderm Recording Studio, which was pushed by the success of singles "Selling the Drama", "I Alone" and "Lightning Crashes". Although it was a slow starter, Throwing Copper eventually reached #1 in the US, and was certified eight times platinum, making LIVE a massive success.

Following that, the band released Secret Samadhi in February 1997, a darker and heavier album which, despite its virtues, shrunk LIVE's fanbase considerably, although it too reached #1 and went double platinum. "Lakini's Juice", "Freaks", "Turn My Head" and "Rattlesnake" were all single success from the album.

Retracing their steps, LIVE delivered The Distance to Here in October 1999, which recalled Throwing Copper's immediacy and commerciality. "The Dolphin's Cry", "Run To The Water" and "They Stood Up For Love" were all popular releases from The Distance to Here, which reached #4 in the US, going platinum.

In September 2001, the confident and eclectic V was issued, preceeded by "Simple Creed" as the first single. However, with the events of 9/11 - which occured a week before V 's release, the melancholic "Overcome" began receiving significant airplay, superseding "Simple Creed" and becoming V 's selling point. Unfortunately, LIVE's commercial stock - compounded by their petering radio airplay - had fallen further since The Distance to Here, with V merely reaching #22 at home, failing to even go gold, despite its reasonably positive reviews.

Birds of Pray appeared in May 2003, bolstered by the unexpected success of "Heaven", LIVE's first US Hot 100 placing since "The Dolphin's Cry". Reaching #28, Birds of Pray ultimately outsold V, although it too failed to reach gold status.

In November 2004, LIVE released Awake: The Best of Live, a career-spanning compilation that included "We Deal in Dreams", a previously unreleased song from the Throwing Copper sessions, and a cover of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line", as well as Birds of Pray's "Run Away", re-imagined with Shelby Lynne on co-lead vocals.

In 2005, LIVE signed with Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Epic label, and are set to release a new album entitled Songs from Black Mountain in May 2006, preceeded by "The River" as lead single.

While LIVE remains moderately popular in the United States, the band has gained significant popularity abroad, particularly in Europe (Ed Kowalczyk: "Holland is the center of the LIVE universe"), Australia and New Zealand.

The group made news in January 2006 as three band members (Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and touring rhythm guitar Adam Kowalczyk) and two members of the band's road crew were on a United Airlines flight when smoke filled the cabin, requiring the pilot to make an emergency landing.

On American Idol Season 5, finalist Chris Daughtry was accused of performing Live's rendition of "I Walk The Line", and calling it his own. This angered some Live fans, but a week later, he acknowledged it was not his own rendition, even saying they were one of his favorite bands.

1 Discography
2 Videography
3 External links

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Discography

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Albums (with U.S. sales)

Mental Jewelry <center> December 31, 1991 US #73 1,000,000 <center>	Throwing Copper <center> April 26, 1994 US #1; UK #37 6,000,000 <center>	Secret Samadhi <center> February 18, 1997 US #1; UK #31 2,000,000 <center>	The Distance to Here <center> October 5, 1999 US #4; UK #56 1,200,000 <center>
V <center>September 18, 2001 US #22 250,000 <center>	Birds of Pray <center>May 20, 2003 US #28 300,000 <center>	Awake: The Best of Live <center>November 2, 2004 US #65 200,000 <center>	Songs from Black Mountain <center>June 13, 2006

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EPs

Four Songs (1991)

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Singles

Year	Song	US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Main- stream Rock	UK singles	Album
1992	"Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)"	-	9	-	-	Mental Jewelry
1992	"Pain Lies on the Riverside"	-	24	-	-	Mental Jewelry
1994	"Selling the Drama"	43	1	4	30	Throwing Copper
1994	"I Alone"	-	6	6	-	Throwing Copper
1995	"Lightning Crashes"	-	1	1	33	Throwing Copper
1995	"All Over You"	-	2	4	-	Throwing Copper
1995	"White, Discussion"	-	15	12	-	Throwing Copper
1997	"Lakini's Juice"	-	1	2	29	Secret Samadhi
1997	"Freaks"	-	13	5	-	Secret Samadhi
1997	"Turn My Head"	-	3	3	-	Secret Samadhi
1997	"Rattlesnake"	-	18	15	-	Secret Samadhi
1999	"The Dolphin's Cry"	78	3	2	-	The Distance to Here
2000	"Run to the Water"	-	14	17	-	The Distance to Here
2000	"They Stood Up For Love"	-	31	24	-	The Distance to Here
2001	"Simple Creed"	-	18	11	-	V
2001	"Overcome"	-	30	-	-	V
2003	"Heaven"	59	33	33	-	Birds of Pray
2006	"The River"	-	-	-	-	Songs from Black Mountain