Matchbox Twenty

Matchbox Twenty Artistfacts

  • 1995-
    Rob ThomasLead vocals, guitar, piano
    Brian YaleBass, piano, backing vocals
    Paul DoucetteGuitar, piano, percussion, backing vocals
    Kyle CookGuitar, vocals
    Adam GaynorGuitar1995–2005
  • Matchbox Twenty is an alternative/post-grunge band formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995. Three of the members were originally in a band "Tabitha's Secret," also from Orlando, which broke up.
  • Their 1996 debut album was Yourself or Someone Like You, from which both the songs "Push" and "3 AM" were top-ten charters. The album went on to be diamond-certified at 12 million copies sold.
  • "Bent" was their first Hot 100 #1 in 2000. It also had a popular video, in which lead singer Rob Thomas walks through an urban setting singing while surrounded by crowds, and gets generally beaten up by the other members of the band, including former rhythm guitarist Adam Gaynor hitting him with a car and Paul Doucette, in a big ten-gallon cowboy hat, starting a scuffle with him on a street corner. Thomas says that this song is about a relationship between two people who are both messed up, but they can deal with each other.
  • Rob Thomas has evolved some in his singing style since the band's inception. In the beginning, his style was very unpolished and had more of a vulnerable quality to it. In later albums, his style is much more professional and his range has become more versatile.
  • Thomas has released four solo albums on his own steam: ...Something To Be (2005), Cradlesong (2009), The Great Unknown (2015), and Chip Tooth Smile (2019).
  • At a 2006 Cleveland concert, Thomas confided onstage that when he looks back now on the songs he wrote when he was younger, the only one that he thinks has stood the test of time is "3 AM," written about his anxieties over his sick mother. Rob was 12 when his mother was diagnosed with cancer and originally given six months to live; she beat the cancer and made a full recovery.

Comments: 1

  • Kat Pero from Rochester N.y.Rob Thomas has one of the voices that bring real emotion to every song he sings
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