Hanson Part l
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 that earned three Grammy nominations. Despite the enormous commercial success of Middle of Nowhere, the band suffered from the merge 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.
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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 (June 1, 1954) and Diana Frances Hanson (née Lawyer) (April 30, 1954). The Hanson family also includes younger siblings Jessica Grace (July 31, 1988), Avery Laurel (November 4, 1990), Joshua Mackenzie, (January 7, 1994), and Zoë Genevieve (January 14, 1998).
The band was originally called The Hanson Brothers, 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.[3]
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.[3] 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.
Middle of Nowhere was released in the U.S. on May 6, 1997, which was declared 'Hanson Day' in Tulsa by Oklahoma's then-governor Frank Keating. [4] 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. [5] 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. [6] 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. [7] 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. [8]
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.
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2001–present: 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.
Hanson now records for their own independent label, 3CG Records..[9] The label has distribution deals through Alternative Distribution Alliance in the United States, Cooking Vinyl in Europe, Sony BMG in Asia and with various other distributors throughout the world.[10] 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.
The Walk 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. [21]
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 fourth 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.
