My Coldplay.com

Coldplay are an English rock band. Formed in 1997 in London, the group comprises vocalist/pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion. Coldplay achieved worldwide fame with their 2000 single “Yellow”, followed by the success of their debut album, Parachutes. Parachutes was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Coldplay would go on to be nominated for this prestigious award on two further occasions, once in 2003 and again in 2005. Coldplay have been one of the most commercially successful acts of the new millennium, selling over 30 million albums. The band are also known for hit singles, including “Speed of Sound” and the Grammy Award-winning “Clocks”.

Parachutes

In March 1999, Coldplay focused efforts on their debut album. They went into “Rockfield Studios” with producer Ken Nelson. The band spent the New Year by working with Samuel Hopkins, who helped them in completing album tracks “Yellow” and “Everything’s Not Lost”. They also played on the Carling Tour, which showcased up-and-coming acts. After releasing three EPs without a hit song, Coldplay scored their first Top 40 single, “Shiver”. Released in March 2000, the single placed at a modest #35 and earned the band their first airplay on MTV. June 2000 was a pivotal moment in Coldplay’s history. The band embarked on their first headlining tour, which included a triumphant return to Glastonbury. More notably, the band released the breakthrough single, “Yellow”. The song shot to #4 on the UK Singles Chart and placed the band in public consciousness.

Coldplay released their first full-length album, Parachutes, in July 2000, which debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart. Along with critical acclaim, Parachutes was sometimes criticised for bearing a strong resemblance to the music of alt-rock band Radiohead in their The Bends–OK Computer era. “Yellow” and “Trouble” earned regular radio airplay on both sides of the Atlantic. Parlophone originally predicted sales of 40,000 units of Parachutes; by Christmas, 1.6 million copies had been sold in the United Kingdom alone. Parachutes was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in September 2000.

Having found success in Europe, the band set their sights on North America. Parachutes was released in November 2000. The band embarked on a US club tour in early 2001, beginning with a show in Vancouver, Canada, which was coupled with appearances on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and The Late Show with David Letterman. Parachutes was a slow burning success in U.S., but eventually reached double-platinum status. The album was also critically well-received, earning Best Alternative Music Album honours at the 2002 Grammy Awards.

A Rush of Blood to the Head

Coldplay returned to the studio in October 2001 to begin work on their second album. Once again with Ken Nelson producing. With much anticipation, Coldplay released A Rush of Blood to the Head in August 2002. The opening track, “Politik”, was written days after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The album spawned several popular singles, notably “In My Place”, “The Scientist”, and “Clocks”. Coldplay toured for over a year, from June 2002 to September 2003, visiting five continents including co-headlining festival dates at Glastonbury Festival, V2003, and Rock Werchter. A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour showed the band’s progression into a bona fide stadium act. Many shows included elaborate lighting and individualised screens reminiscent of U2’s recent Elevation Tour. During the extended tour, Coldplay also recorded a live DVD and CD, Live 2003, at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion. The compilation featured a new song, “Moses”. In December 2003, they were named by readers of Rolling Stone magazine as the best artist and the best band of the year. At that time Coldplay covered The Pretenders’ 1983 hit “2000 Miles”, which was made available for download on their official site. It was the top selling UK download that year, with proceeds from the sales donated to Future Forests and Stop Handgun Violence campaigns. A Rush of Blood to the Head won two trophies at the 2003 Grammy Awards. At the 2004 Grammy Awards, Coldplay earned Record of the Year honours for Clocks. The album was also named to Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums at number 473.

X&Y

2004 was a quiet year for Coldplay, as they spent most of the year out of spotlight resting from touring and recording their third album. In terms of musical influences for this particular album, bassist Guy Berryman has said, “We were listening to lots of different stuff during the early stages [of X&Y], from Bowie, Eno and Pink Floyd to Depeche Mode, Kate Bush and Kraftwerk. And U2 as we usually do” In May, Coldplay teased fans with a new song and music video on their official site to celebrate the birth of Apple, Martin’s daughter with his wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Famed producer Sir George Martin introduced the promo as Coldplay and their producer, Ken Nelson, performed as The Nappies, a satirised rap/glam rock outfit. Martin joked that this music had been inspired by Jay-Z.Coldplay’s third album, X&Y, was released on 6 June 2005 in the UK. This new, delayed release date had put the album back into the next fiscal year, actually causing EMI’s stock to drop. It became the best-selling album of 2005 with worldwide sales of 7.3 million. The lead single, “Speed of Sound”, made its radio and online music store debut on 18 April and was released as a CD on 23 May 2005. The album debuted at #1 in 22 countries worldwide and was the third fastest selling album in UK chart history. Two other singles were released that year: “Fix You” in September and “Talk” in December. In May 2006 the band released “The Hardest Part” in several countries outside the UK. Despite the commercial success, the critical reaction to X&Y was less unanimous in its praise than the reviews for its predecessor, with New York Times critic Jon Pareles describing them as “the most insufferable band of the decade.”

From June 2005 to July 2006, Coldplay went on their Twisted Logic Tour tour, which included festival dates like Coachella, Glastonbury and the Austin City Limits Music Festival. For the 2006 tour, the band completed a third visit in the same tour to North America with dates from late January (Seattle) to early April (Philadelphia) In July 2005, the band appeared at Live 8 in Hyde Park, where they played a rendition of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” with Richard Ashcroft on vocals. In September, Coldplay recorded a new version of “How You See the World” with reworked lyrics to War Child’s Help: A Day in the Life charity album. In February 2006, Coldplay earned Best Album and Best Single honours at the BRIT Awards.

KS