• 1985-1996, 2007-

  Gary CheroneVocals

  Nuno BettencourtGuitar

  Pat BadgerBass

  Paul GearyDrums1985-1994

  Mike ManginiDrums1994-1996

  Kevin FigueiredoDrums2007-
• Extreme are best known for their acoustic love songs "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted," but they're rockers at heart, with many songs powered by Nuno Bettencourt's assertive guitar licks.
• The band formed in Boston; Nuno Bettencourt was born in Portugal but moved there when he was four. They first got attention in 1985 when they made a video for a song called "Mutha (Don't Wanna Go To School Today)," that aired on a UHF station in Boston called V66 - they had the good fortune of living in a city with local TV station dedicated to music videos. They submitted the video to MTV's Basement Tapes, a contest/showcase for unsigned artists, and won, garnering the most votes from viewers.
  
  Bettencourt and Pat Badger weren't with the band at this point, which had recently changed their name from The Dream to Extreme (as in ex-Dream). They joined in 1986 and the band built a following by playing the many clubs in the area, which got the attention of A&M Records. They signed with the label in 1987 at the height of hair metal and released their first (self-titled) album in 1989, with "Mutha" on the tracklist. That song and "Kid Ego" got some attention, but their next album, Pornograffitti, was their breakthrough, selling over 2 million copies in America thanks to "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted."
• Extreme split in 1996, at which point Cherone became lead singer of Van Halen. Sammy Hagar held that position since taking over for David Lee Roth in 1985, but he split over personal and creative differences. Van Halen first tried to reunite with Roth. That didn't work out, so Cherone got the call. He made one album with the band - Van Halen III in 1997 - before they took a hiatus. When Van Halen returned to action in 2003, it was with Hagar.
• Gary Cherone is a committed Christian and sometimes imbues his lyrics with his religious beliefs. The song "Hole Hearted" is a message to God - the "hole in his heart" can only be filled by God's love."
  
  Cherone is anti-abortion, which put him at odds with his bandmate Eddie Van Halen, a supporter of the organization Rock For Choice. In 1999, Cherone published an open letter to Eddie and went on the The O'Reilly Factor to make his case. He was working on a second Van Halen album at the time, but left the band soon after.
• Bettencourt became Rihanna's touring guitarist in 2009. It's a tough gig because musically, Rihanna's songs are all over the map, with rock, reggae and R&B. The pairing worked out very well; Bettencourt did three tours with Rihanna and joined her for many other televised performances, including the Super Bowl halftime show in 2023.
• They were a big part of the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in London, where they played a medley of Queen's hits and Cherone joined the remaining members of Queen on "Hammer To Fall." In a Songfacts interview with Cherone, he called it "the pinnacle for Extreme."

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