2008-Dan ReynoldsVocals2008-
Wayne SermonGuitar2009-
Ben McKeeBass2009-
Daniel PlatzmanDrums2011-2023
Andrew TolmanDrums2008-2011
Imagine Dragons' name is an anagram made from the letters of different words. They've made a point of keeping those original words a band secret and none of the members are willing to reveal its unscrambled origin. "We haven't even told our families," Dan Reynolds told Radio.com. "I don't know if they'd forgive us if we broke it right now. We'd have to have a big meeting with all of the guys to see if they wanted to do it."
"At this point, it's been built up so much that anything we say is going to be a letdown," added Wayne Sermon "We might just leave it up to everyone's imaginations. They probably have better guesses than the real answer."
The band formed in 2008 Provo, Utah, where Dan Reynolds and Andrew Tolman were students at BYU. Their core lineup came together when Wayne Sermon and Ben McKee, both graduates of Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music, joined in 2009. Later that year, they moved to Reynolds' hometown of Las Vegas and started releasing music independently. They signed with Interscope Records in 2011 and put out their first album, Night Visions, in 2012.
Reynolds recalled the band's origins to Q magazine: "We started by playing our own songs and covers of the Stones and The Cure in Vegas casinos. We had years to wrap our heads around how to meld together the raw sounds of a rock band with beats, hip-hop and rhythmic music."
Reynolds had to go through a repentance process before attending BYU because he admitted to having sex with his girlfriend, breaking the Law of Chastity. He ended up leaving the school to pursue music.
Reynolds says he felt shamed by BYU when they wouldn't let him in, and it sent him into a deep depression. He abided by the Law of Chastity though, and didn't have sex again until his wedding night. We have
Howard Stern to thank for asking him about this.
Dan Reynolds married Aja Volkman, lead singer of the band Nico Vega, on March 5, 2011. They had four children together, but on April 26, 2018, Reynolds announced that he and Volkman would be getting a divorce. However, on November 7, 2018, the Imagine Dragons frontman said that he and Volkman never actually divorced, and he re-proposed to his wife at the end of 2019. On September 16, 2022, Reynolds again announced that he and Volkman were separating - for real this time - and soon after he started dating the actress Minka Kelly.
Reynolds has struggled most of his life with depression plus ADD and anxiety issues. He wrote Imagine Dragons' first single "
It's Time" in his kitchen as he dealt with a bout of depression. "I was dropping out of college, making some changes, and it wasn't the peak of my life," Reynolds told
Billboard magazine. "I was just trying to write a song for myself. I've struggled with depression and anxiety, and the song spurred from that. Whoever connects to it, I'm happy."
Imagine Dragons' second single, "
Radioactive," had a slow climb on the Hot 100 but stuck around for 87 weeks, overtaking Jason Mraz's "
I'm Yours" longevity record of 76 weeks on the chart.
Their debut album, Night Visions, was the most-streamed album in 2013 in the United States on Spotify.
Dan Reynolds and Wayne Sermon were both Mormons, and Reynolds worked full-time as a missionary in Nebraska between the ages of 19 and 21. Both ended up leaving the church, with Reynolds citing their treatment of the LGBTQ community as a reason why.
Neon Tress bassist Branden Campbell grew up near the Reynolds family. "He was just a kid making videotapes with his brothers," he recalled to Billboard magazine of Dan and his siblings. "It was a very creative family. They would deflate a soccer ball, cut it in half and put it on their heads."
Dan Reynolds' daughter Arrow is named after Harry Nilsson's "
Me And My Arrow." The song is from
The Point!, a concept album about a boy named Oblio, the only round-headed person in the Pointed Village, and his dog Arrow.
Guitarist Daniel Wayne Sermon suffers from chronic insomnia.
Rather than partying after shows, Dan Reynolds works out with a sweaty exercise program. He told Q magazine: "My body's a racehorse. If I'm not moving I get emotional."
When "
Believer" tallied its 52nd week on the Hot 100 fated February 10, 2018, Imagine Dragons became the first act to log three songs that each spent at least a year on the chart. The other two were:
"Radioactive" (87 weeks in 2012-14)
"
Demons" (62 weeks 2013-14)
Imagine Dragons are serious gamers - so serious, in fact, that they've been known to delay gigs because they were too deep into League of Legends to stop.
"Look, I'm really tall, 6 foot 4, never played sports, always did music and drama, so people probably think I'm not a gamer,"
Dan Reynolds told The Washington Post, "but it's my bread and butter. It's our world."
The band's love for gaming isn't just a hobby; it's spilled over into their music. They've contributed tracks to major gaming franchises, including Starfield, League of Legends, and
Netflix's Arcane TV show.
