The Jonas Brothers are an American pop punk/pop-rock band from Wyckoff, New Jersey made up of three brothers, Joseph, Nicholas and Kevin Jonas. All three brothers attended Eastern Christian High School in North Haledon, New Jersey. They have released two albums - It's About Time in 2006, and Jonas Brothers in 2007.
Band biography
Nicholas Jonas: discovery and solo album (1999-2005)
The band started as a solo project of Nicholas Jonas. When Nick was 6 years old, he was discovered while singing at a barber shop and was referred to a professional show business manager. At the age of 7, Nicholas began performing on Broadway. He had acted in several plays, including A Christmas Carol (in 2000 as Tiny Tim and Scrooge at eight), Annie Get Your Gun (in 2001 as Little Jake), Beauty and the Beast (in 2002 as Chip), and Les Misérables (in 2003 as Gavroche). After Les Misérables closed, he performed in The Sound of Music (as Kurt) at the Paper Mill Playhouse.In 2002 while performing in Beauty and the Beast, Nicholas had written a song with his father called "Joy To The World (A Christmas Prayer)." With background vocals from the Beauty and the Beast cast, Nick performed the song on the 2002 annual Broadway "Equity Fights AIDS" album, Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure, Vol. 4. In November 2003, INO Records received a demo copy of "Joy To The World (A Christmas Prayer)." The label released the song to Christian radio, where it quickly became popular on Record & Radio's Christian Adult Contemporary Chart. While Nicholas was working on his solo project, Joseph followed in his footsteps to Broadway, appearing in Baz Lurhmann's production of La Boheme.
By September 2004, an executive at Columbia Records found out about Nick's song. Nick was soon jointly signed to INO Records and Columbia Records and released the single "Dear God." A second single, "Joy To The World (A Christmas Prayer)" (a new solo recording), was released on November 16. It was supposed to be followed by a December release of a self-titled solo album, but the album had been pushed back; it did, however, get a limited release. Nick, along with Kevin and Joe, had written several other songs for the album.
In early 2005, Columbia Records' new president, Steve Greenberg, listened to Nick's record. While Greenberg did not like the album, he did like Nick's voice.Jonas Brothers deliver squeaky clean 'punk' music After meeting with Nick and hearing the song, "Please Be Mine," written and performed by the brothers, Daylight/Columbia Records had decided to sign the three as a group act. However, on May 17, 2005, one song from the original album, "Crazy Kind of Crush on You," was released on the Darcy's Wild Life soundtrack.
Track Listing of Nicholas Jonas's solo album:
# "Dear God" - 3:12 # "Time for Me to Fly" (Nick Jonas Version) - 3:31 # "Appreciate" - 3:08 # "When You Look Me In the Eyes" (First Version) - 4:01 # "Higher Love" - 3:54 # "Please Be Mine" (Nick Jonas Version) - 4:04 # "I Will Be the Light" - 4:16 # "Don't Walk Away" - 3:35 # "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)" - 3:58 # "Crazy Kind of Crush On You" - 2:54 # "Wrong Again" - 3:55
It's About Time (2005-2006)
After being signed to Columbia, the brothers considered naming their group "Sons of Jonas" before settling on the name "Jonas Brothers".Throughout 2005, the Jonas Brothers went on several tours, including Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, and The Click Five. They spent the latter portion of the year on an anti-drug tour with Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Girls. Additionally, they opened for The Veronicas in early 2006.
For the album, titled It's About Time, the band collaborated with several writers, including Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Michael Mangini (Joss Stone), Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), Billy Mann (Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson) and Steve Greenberg (Joss Stone, Hanson). The album was initially supposed to be released in February 2006, but was pushed back several times. The delay was due to executive changes at Sony (the parent company of Columbia) and the executives' desire to have "another lead single" on the album. For the album, the Jonas Brothers covered two hit songs by UK band Busted - "Year 3000" and "What I Go to School For".
The Jonas Brothers' first single, "Mandy," was released on December 27, 2005. Its music video was shown on MTV's Total Request Live on February 22, 2006 and reached number four. Another song, "Time for Me to Fly," was released on the Aquamarine soundtrack, also in February. In March, "Mandy" was featured in the Nickelodeon television film Zoey 101: Spring Break-Up and the Zoey 101: Music Mix soundtrack album, with Nicholas Jonas listed as the artist name. The group's music was also featured on Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. The band covered "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" from Pirates of the Caribbean for the DisneyMania 4 album, released on April 4, 2006. Over the summer of 2006, the Jonas Brothers went on tour with Aly & AJ.Aly & AJ pump up the volume The Jonas Brothers also created the theme song for the second season of American Dragon Jake Long, airing from June 2006 to September 2007 on the Disney Channel.
It's About Time was finally released on August 8 2006. According to the band's manager, it was only a "limited release" of 50,000 copies. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers then considered switching labels.
On October 3, 2006, Nick's 2004 solo single, "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)", was re-released on Joy to the World: The Ultimate Christmas Collection. Also in October, the Jonas Brothers covered "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from The Little Mermaid. Along with a music video, the song was released on a two-disk special-edition release of The Little Mermaid soundtrack. The second single from It's About Time was "Year 3000". The song became popular on Radio Disney, and the music video debuted on the Disney Channel in January 2007.
The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.
Jonas Brothers (2007-present)
After shortly being without a label, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007.Topps' Baby Bottle Pop Sweetens Its Effort Around the same time, brothers began appearing in commercials for Baby Bottle Pops, singing the jingle. On March 24, two additional songs on two different albums were released: "Kids of the Future" from the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack (Based on Kim Wilde's "Kids in America") and "I Wanna Be like You" from DisneyMania 5. On June 16, 2007, the Jonas Brothers began their prom-themed summer tour at South Street Seaport in New York City.Their self-titled second album, Jonas Brothers, was released on August 7, 2007. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week. Two singles with music videos were also released around this time - "Hold On" two weeks before and "SOS" just after the release of the album.
In August, the Jonas Brothers made several appearances on television. On August 17, they guest-starred in an episode of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana titled "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas". They also performed "We Got the Party" with Miley Cyrus in the episode, which premiered after High School Musical 2 and was viewed by 10.7 million people that night. On August 24, the Jonas Brothers performed two songs at the Miss Teen USA contest. The following day, the closing ceremonies of the Disney Channel Games was aired, featuring a performance from the Jonas Brothers. The games were taped on April 27, 2007 in Orlando, Florida. On August 26, the Jonas Brothers co-presented an award with Miley Cyrus at the Teen Choice Awards.They also performed at the American Music Awards on November 18, 2007, performing the song "SOS".
On November 22, 2007, the brothers appeared in the 81st annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. For their final performance of 2007 the three brothers performed their singles "Hold On" and "SOS" at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.
Best of Both Worlds Tour
From October 18, 2007 to January 9, 2008, the Jonas Brothers opened for Miley Cyrus on her 54-date Best of Both Worlds Tour.They started in St. Louis, Missouri, and ended in Albany, New York.The Jonas Brothers are also set to appear in Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert film set for 3-D release on February 1, 2008. In the 3-D Movie the brothers perform their newest single When You Look Me In The Eyes, their cover hit Year 3000, and lastly their duet with Miley Cyrus, We Got the Party.
Look Me in the Eyes Tour
They kicked off their Look Me In The Eyes Tour on January 31, 2008 in Tucson, Arizona.Future Projects
Because of their major success with Disney and Hollywood Records, Disney is now set to create another one of their signature breakout stars. Disney has signed the brothers to a concert special, movie (Camp Rock, premieres June 2008), and TV Series. The fictional television series entitled J.O.N.A.S! (Junior Operatives Networking As Spies) starring the trio as a group of government hired spies was filmed, and is expected to debut on the Disney Channel in 2008.In an article with JustJared.com Hollywood Records stated that the Jonas Brothers' new album comes out on July 8th.
Band in a Bus
The Jonas Brothers will also be contracting John Taylor, Greg Garbowsky and Jack Lawless to begin working on their 3rd Album on a state of the art Gibson Tour Bus.Members
Current members
- Joseph Adam Jonas (also known as Joe or Lightning)(born August 15, 1989) - lead vocals, tambourine, guitar in the song "A Little Bit Longer". Joe is the "middle Jonas". He originally had no intention of becomming a singer. He wanted to be a comedian, and work on the show All That.
- Paul Kevin Jonas Jr. (born November 5, 1987) - guitar (usually a Gibson Les Paul) and background vocals. Kevin is the eldest of the band. He goes by Kevin instead of Paul. Kevin helped produce the bands' self-titled CD Jonas Brothers
- Nicholas Jerry Jonas (born September 16, 1992) - lead vocals, guitar (usually a Gibson SG in the original red stain color), piano in the songs "When You Look Me in the Eyes" and "A Little Bit Longer", (drums in the song "Australia". Nick is the youngest brother in the band. In 2005 he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
- John Taylor - guitar
- Greg Garbowsky - bass guitar
- Jack Lawless - drums
- Ryan Liestman - keyboards
Kevin, Joe, and Nick also have a younger brother, Frankie Nathaniel Jonas, also known as the "Bonus Jonas" and "Frank the Tank", He doesn't feel that joining the Jonas Brothers is something that he wants to do.