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Biography

Coldplay

By Lauren Walker

They’ve been called everything from a guitar band, to Brit-pop. But one thing is for sure, four years after the release of their debut album they are still the darlings of the English music scene.

But they insist, they never intended taking reign of the ever-changing UK rock scene when their signature tunes graced the airwaves on radio stations in 2000.

Coldplay are: Chris Martin (Vocals, guitar and occasional piano) Guy Berryman (Bass guitar) Will Champion ( Drums) and Jon Buckland (Guitar)

All members of the rock quartet came from working class families, and all started playing music at a young age. Martin, born 2nd March 1977 in Devon, England, is the eldest of five children. He started playing guitar at age 15 and was influenced in his early days by the likes of Tom Waits. Today his musical influences include The Flaming Lips, Neil Young and Bob Dylan.

Martin says of rock n roll music and the band he proudly fronts -

“Rock n Roll is about doing what you want, it doesn’t have to be about doing huge amounts of drugs or being hedonistic. It’s about not caring what anyone else thinks of you. Rock n Roll is about seeking the ultimate pleasure. For us that means hanging around together and playing music that we all love and are not afraid to say that’s why we’re doing it.”

While Martin found solace in the mellow tunes of Tom Waits, Jon Buckland was into heavy guitar like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, as early as age 11, when he picked up a guitar for the first time.

Multi-instrumentalist and Scotland native Will Champion only caught onto percussion when “Coldplay became official.” Champion took on the role of drummer even though his preferences lay with the bass guitar and tin whistle.

Fellow Scotsman, Guy Berryman is actually into funk music as opposed to indie rock. At the age of 12 Berryman moved to Kent, England and began playing the guitar a year later.

It was in the halls of the University College of London that one of Britain’s top bands was formed. All four members were attending the school at the same time

“We all lived in the same building and we took the name “Coldplay” from Tim, one of our other flat mates who also had a band. He decided he didn’t like the name any more because it was too depressing.” Says lead singer, Martin.

“Heart-rending like Travis, fresh like Oasis and passionate like Jeff Buckley,” were common quotes thrown around when Coldplay came onto the scene, displaying their talents in the late 1990’s, at a festival for unsigned bands in Manchester. Shortly after this, their first EP Safety, was released with three tracks - Bigger stronger, No more keeping my feet on the ground and Such a rush- and paid for by the bands own money, (they raised 200 pounds to pay for the EP) 500 copies were distributed around London and only 50 copies were left after the remainder had been given to family and friends.

The Safety EP, recorded at Sync studios, was originally a demo. But the band liked it so much they released it commercially in May 1998. The EP served it’s purpose as a demo when Debs Wild of Universal Records saw Coldplay perform that same year. Wild was so impressed with them she promptly signed the guys up with music lawyer, Gavin Maude.

Shortly after the success of the Safety EP, Simon Williams, co - founder of the record label Fierce Panda saw the band play in Camden in December 1998. It was through this label that the Brothers and Sisters EP was released the following year.

In the summer of 1999, Coldplay signed deals with two different companies giving the Brothers and Sisters EP air play on the UK’s top radio station - Radio One with Steve Lamacq. It reached #92 in the UK music charts. Coldplay now had a big fan base.

The media had endless praise for the group, likening them again to Travis mostly because of their simple and meaningful music and charming personas.

It was these melodies that saw them land a UK record deal with Parlophone. Coldplay hit the studio to record their debut release, but by mid-1999 recording wasn’t going as well as hoped and Parlophone pushed them to release another EP. So on October 3rd 1999 the limited edition The Blue Room EP was released.

The five track release had Such a Rush and Bigger Stronger from Safety reappearing as well as three new songs: Don’t panic, High speed and See you soon.

With the two previous EP’s as well as The Blue Room being received well by the public and Coldplay appearing at several music festivals, a debut, full length CD became a reality.

Coldplay released the first possible single from the upcoming album in March 2000.

“Shiver” reached #35 in the UK charts. While the track listing for the album was uncertain at this time, Shiver was being received well by fans and critics and the single continued to receive air play across England on top radio stations. The Shiver video that was being shown on European MTV helped bring Coldplay into the spotlight and anticipation grew over a follow-up single.

With the new album almost complete, success would depend on the release of the second track Yellow.

The single did extremely well, and prompted a US release of their debut album Parachutes with Nettwerk. One month after this release, Yellow was chosen as the theme song for all promotional spots on ABC.

As Parachutes made it’s debut all over the world, it entered the UK charts at #1 a few weeks after release and it earned Coldplay many new fans and much coveted music prize nominations.

In 2000 the year of the Parachutes release, Coldplay were nominated for a Mercury Music Prize. Success and hype followed them into 2001 when they were nominated for a number of Brit awards. They performed at the event, but they also took home Best British Group and Best British Album awards. As well as that, they received 3 NME awards - Best Single (for Yellow), Best New Artist and Session of the Year (For their air play on Radio One).

Coldplays success in Britain in 2000-2001 also prompted them to take on a ten-date tour of America.

Rumors about a split dominated most of the US tour as Martin battled nasty colds and continuous voice problems causing Coldplay to cancel a series of American dates and miss a scheduled European tour altogether. But by the summer of that year, all was well: they resumed playing and found success with the second single off Parachutes, Trouble.

Toward the end of 2001 they headed to the studio to record a second album. Again there were rumors. Some were saying it may be Coldplays last album as they were fearful they could not capture the brilliance that was Parachutes. It’s a concern artists and record companies alike have with follow-ups, but Coldplay proved they could do it and the long awaited A Rush of Blood to the Head was released in August 2002.

The success of this album was proven by more awards and 3 Grammy nominations being announced. Coldplay won 2 of the 3 nominated Grammy categories, beating off the likes of U2.

In 2003 Coldplay released a DVD documenting the Rush of Blood To The Head tour. It contained a tour diary, behind the scenes footage from various locations and a Live CD with new track Moses, and See You Soon (0ff The Blue Room EP)

2004 meant hard work again for Coldplay, with studio time starting for the even more anticipated follow-up to A Rush of Blood…..

Throughout 2004 Chris Martin leant his writing talents to other artists, he wrote songs for Jamelia (See it in a Boys Eyes) and Embrace (Gravity), Martin also donated vocals to The Street’s single, Dry Your Eyes.

Both the singles he penned enjoyed success in Britain and in other parts of the world, See it in a Boys Eyes won a Q award and was in the top 40 charts in Australia for almost 3 months. Gravity has received a-list radio play with Radio One and earned a place in the charts.

Although Coldplay made it clear 2004 is the year for them to be focused on the 3rd album, as well as the above credits, Chris Martin is said to be part of the new line-up for the Christmas release of a Band-Aid single.

Bio written by: lauren-jaye