Known
for their wildly popular rock albums, thoughtful lyrics and social
activism, Coldplay is a four-member UK band consisting of lead
singer Chris
Martin, lead guitarist Jon Buckland, bass guitarist Guy Berryman,
and drummer Will Champion.
Lead
singer Chris Martin, husband to actress Gwyneth
Paltrow, was born in Devon, England, on March 2, 1977, the
eldest of five children. Raised in Devon, Martin attended University
College London where he met future Coldplay guitarist Jon Buckland.
With
the two other band members, the group came together in the mid-90's
as a local college band known as "Starfish." By the
end of the decade, they were headlining under their present name,
(which they adopted from another local group who had abandoned
it as "too depressing.")
Soon, recording
sessions with indy labels and local gigs were followed by a contract
with Parlophone records.
Featured
on an iTunes television ad, Viva La Vida
became an instant U.S. chartbuster in 2008.
Coldplay's
debut album, Parachutes, produced one of their first Top
40 hits, Shivers, which gained air time and additional
exposure when MTV added it to their video lineup in 2000. Their
breakthrough hit, Yellow made it to No. 4 on the charts
the same year.
A second album,
A Rush Of Blood To The Head was released in 2001 and spun
off additional hits such as The Scientist, In My Place,
Clocks and Politik, the last written shortly after
the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
The following
year, Coldplay took the world stage with a five-continent tour,
increasing their fan base exponentially. By 2003, the band was
honored with two Grammy
Awards and the next year awarded Record of the Year for Clocks.
Next came
the highly anticipated X&Y album released in June 2005
which immediately debuted at No.1 on charts around the world.
More
buzz was created when avid fans searched the Internet to discover
the cryptic meaning behind X&Y cover art in Baudot
color code (reportedly spelling X&YSpeed of
Sound).
Their latest
album Viva La Vida released in June 2008 saw its title track zoom
on the charts thanks to an exclusive promotion on iTunes followed
by a Viva
La Vida world tour.
COLDPLAY
: OFFICIAL SITE - Maybe too cool (and slow-to-load), but
including all the latest news, tour dates and info, Web site member
registration details, picture galleries and a very active message
board.
COLDPLAYING.COM
- Impressive fan site paying homage to the group with complete
tour dates, news, band member profiles, reviews, pictures, downloads,
links to streaming video interviews and performances, X&Y
lyrics, band history, messageboards, related links.
the
state of coldplay
- Frequently updated with one-stop browsing for every known link
to Coldplay news, tour dates, interviews, reviews, pictures, audio
and video files, lots more.
Coldplay
- Wikipedia - The online encyclopedia with a detailed
history of the band narrating their early struggles with behind-the-scenes
gossip and rumors, along with pictures, discography, related links.
Hot
& Coldplay - No longer updated at last visit, but
still a good source of information, photos, downloads, lyrics,
band history and individual profiles, related links.