Coldplay
Oct 24, 2011
The members of Coldplay met and became friends while living in the same dormitory at the University College of London in the mid-1990s. They formed a band, originally naming themselves Starfish. When friends of theirs who were playing in a band called Coldplay no longer wanted to use the name, Starfish officially became Coldplay. The name was taken from a book of poetry called Child's Reflections, Cold Play. The group comprises bassist Guy Berryman, guitarist Buckland, drummer Will Champion, and lead singer, guitarist, and pianist Martin.
In March of 2000 Coldplay released "Shiver," the first single from Parachutes. "Shiver" made a splash, reaching number thirty-five on England's music charts, but it was the second single from Parachutes that catapulted Coldplay to stardom. "Yellow," released in June 2000, became a genuine hit in both England and the US, where it came to the attention of the public as a video on MTV and then went into heavy rotation at radio stations all across the country. Parachutes was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2000, and in 2001 the album earned two BRIT Awards for best British group and best British album. The following year Parachutes won the Grammy Award for best alternative music album.
A Rush of Blood to the Head was released in the summer of 2002 to a chorus of positive reviews. Coldplay earned a slew of awards for their sophomore album, including three MTV Video Music Awards in 2003, a Grammy Award for best alternative music album in 2003 and, for the song "Clocks," a Grammy for record of the year in 2004. Their third album, X&Y was released in June 2005 in UK and Europe. It became the best-selling album of 2005 with worldwide sales of 8.3 million. The lead single, "Speed of Sound", made its radio and online music store debut on April 18 and was released as a CD on May 2005. The album jettisoned onto its original chart entry at the number one position in 20 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. From June 2005 to July 2006, Coldplay went on their Twisted Logic Tour and in February 2006, Coldplay earned Best Album and Best Single honors at the BRIT Awards. Two more singles were released during 2006, "The Hardest Part" and "What If".
In October 2006, Coldplay began work on their fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, with producer Brian Eno. "Violet Hill" was the first single, with a radio release date of April 2008. After the first play, it was freely obtainable from Coldplay's website from 12:15 pm for one week (achieving two million downloads), until it became commercially available to download on May 6th. "Violet Hill" entered the UK Top 10, US Top 40 (entering the Top 10 in the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart) and charted well in the rest of the world. The title track, "Viva la Vida", became the band's first number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and their first UK number one, based on download sales alone.
On May 31st 2011, Coldplay announced that "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" was to be the new single from their upcoming album, Mylo Xyloto, and was released on June 3rd. The song debuted at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, selling 85,000 copies in its first week. The second single off the album "Paradise" was released on September 12th and hit #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and is impacting radio now.
