Jonas Brothers
The Jonas Brothers are an American pop rock band. Formed in 2005, they gained popularity from their appearances on the Disney Channel television network. They consist of three brothers: Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas. Raised in Wyckoff, New Jersey, the Jonas Brothers moved to Little Falls, New Jersey, in 2005, where they wrote their first record that made its Hollywood Records release. In the summer of 2008, they starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock and its sequel, . They also starred as Kevin, Joe, and Nick Lucas from the band, JONAS, in their own Disney Channel series Jonas, which was rebranded as Jonas L.A. after the first season and cancelled after the second. The band have released five albums: It's About Time, Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, and Happiness Begins.
In 2008, the group was nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards and won the award for Breakthrough Artist at the American Music Awards. As of May 2009, before the release of Lines, Vines and Trying Times, they had sold over eight million albums worldwide. After a hiatus during 2010 and 2011 to pursue solo-projects, the group reconciled in 2012 to record a new album, which was cancelled following their break-up on October 29, 2013.
They have sold over 17 million albums worldwide as of 2013. Six years following their split, the group reunited with the release of "Sucker" on March 1, 2019. The song became the 34th song in history to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and became the Jonas Brothers' first number one single on the chart. Their fifth studio album, Happiness Begins, was released on June 7, 2019, topping the US Billboard 200.
History
2005–2007: ''It's About Time''
In 2005, Joe, Kevin and Nick recorded "Please Be Mine", their first song recorded. Upon hearing the song, the Columbia Records president Steve Greenberg decided to sign the brothers as a group. They considered naming their group "Sons of Jonas" before settling on the name Jonas Brothers. While working on their debut studio album, the band toured throughout 2005 with artists such as Jump5, Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, and The Click Five among others. They spent the latter portion of the year on a tour with Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Girls. Additionally, they opened for The Veronicas in early 2006. For their first album, titled It's About Time, the band collaborated with several writers, including Adam Schlesinger, Michael Mangini, Desmond Child, Billy Mann and Steve Greenberg. The album was initially supposed to be released in February 2006, but was pushed back several times, due to executive changes at Sony 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 ' and the ' soundtrack album, with Nicholas Jonas listed as the artist name. The group's music was also featured on Cartoon Network's Friday night programming block Fridays.The band covered "Yo Ho " 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. The Jonas Brothers also created the theme song for the second season of , 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, so the album's price can rise as high as $200–$300 USD on auction sites like eBay. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers considered switching labels. On October 3, 2006, Nick's 2004 solo single, "Joy to the World ", was re-released on Joy to the World: The Ultimate Christmas Collection. The same month, the Jonas Brothers covered "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from The Little Mermaid. Along with a music video, the song was released on a two-disc special-edition release of The Little Mermaid soundtrack. The second single from It's About Time was "Year 3000", the music video of which premiered on the Disney Channel in January 2007. The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.
2007–2008: ''Jonas Brothers''
After being without a label for a short time, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007. Around the same time, the 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, and "I Wanna Be Like You", from Disneymania 5. The Jonas Brothers made their first appearance at the White House on Monday, April 9, 2007, during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, where they sang the National Anthem. They returned on Wednesday June 27, 2007, during a Celebrating Women in Sports Tee Ball game on the South Lawn. They sang the National Anthem again, and, after the game, the Jonas Brothers entertained at the picnic-reception with a selection of their hits. Their self-titled second album 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 "S.O.S.", four days before the release of the album. In August 2007, 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. On August 26, the Jonas Brothers co-presented an award with Miley Cyrus at the Teen Choice Awards. On November 18, 2007, they performed at the American Music Awards, performing the song "S.O.S." On November 22, 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 "S.O.S." at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. The Jonas Brothers kicked off their Look Me In The Eyes Tour on January 31, 2008, in Tucson, Arizona. They performed several new songs on the tour that were slated to be on their third studio album, A Little Bit Longer. The Jonas Brothers made their acting debut in of the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana, where they guest starred and performed "We Got The Party With Us" on the episode "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas". In 2008, they collaborated with Miley Cyrus on her 3D concert film ', filmed during Cyrus' Best of Both Worlds Tour, where they sang "We Got The Party With Us" with Cyrus as Hannah Montana. While on the Look Me in the Eyes Tour, the Jonas Brothers filmed a Disney Channel reality short series entitled, ', that premiered on Disney Channel.
2008–2009: ''A Little Bit Longer'' and acting
The Jonas Brothers' third studio album, A Little Bit Longer, was released in the United States on August 12, 2008. On June 24, 2008, iTunes announced that it would release four songs from A Little Bit Longer, one roughly every two weeks. The purchase of each of the songs applies to the cost of the entire album, which could be purchased via iTunes' Complete the Album feature after release. Each song released also featured a podcast. Each song occupied the number one spot on iTunes for at least three days. After the Look Me In The Eyes Tour ended on March 22, 2008, the Jonas Brothers announced that they would be opening up for Avril Lavigne's Best Damn Tour along with Boys Like Girls, for the second leg of the tour in Europe, which lasted from late May to late June 2008. While filming Camp Rock, the Jonas Brothers co-wrote and co-produced six songs for fellow Disney Channel star and close friend Demi Lovato, for her upcoming album, Don't Forget. The album, co-produced by the Jonas Brothers, was released on September 23, 2008. A soundtrack was released for the film Camp Rock on June 17, 2008, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 188,000 copies sold in its first week. The Jonas Brothers also did a half-hour variety special on Disney Channel special entitled, ', that featured The Muppets and other Disney Channel stars. During this time, the Jonas Brothers also appeared on the Olympics-based special miniseries the Disney Channel Games, for the third annual show.During the summer of 2008, the Jonas Brothers started the Burnin' Up Tour in North America, promoting A Little Bit Longer. The tour began on July 4, 2008, at Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto, Ontario. The band made their film debut in the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock, in which they played a band called Connect Three. Joe Jonas plays the lead male role and lead singer Shane Gray, Nick Jonas plays the role of Nate, a guitarist, and Kevin Jonas plays the role of Jason, another guitarist. The film premiered on June 20, 2008, in the United States on Disney Channel, and Canada on Family, receiving mixed reviews. A Disney Digital 3-D production crew filmed the two shows of their Burnin' Up Tour in Anaheim on July 13 and 14, 2008. Both shows and additional footage recorded while on tour were used for the theatrical release of their 3D concert biopic ' on February 22, 2009. A Disney Digital 3-D production crew filmed the two shows of theirs Burnin' Up Tour in Anaheim on July 13 and 14, 2008, including a performance by Lovato with the Jonas Brothers on "This Is Me" and Taylor Swift with the brothers on "Should've Said No". Both shows and additional footage recorded while on tour were used for the theatrical release of their 3D concert biopic, ', on February 22, 2009.
On July 14, they announced on stage that the band had already written five songs for their fourth studio album. The band was featured in the July 2008 issue of Rolling Stone magazine and became the youngest band to be on the cover of the magazine. The Jonas Brothers visited downtown Cleveland, Ohio's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before their sold-out concert on the evening of August 22, 2008, at Blossom Music Center. They presented the suits and pants they wore on the cover artwork of A Little Bit Longer to Jim Henke, vice president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The suits are part of the Right Here, Right Now! exhibit. In December 2008, the Jonas Brothers were nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards. It was confirmed that the brothers were collaborating with R&B producer Timbaland on a song called "Dumb" for his new album Shock Value 2. In an interview, Chris Brown told JustJared.com that he was collaborating with the Jonas Brothers, saying, "I'm possibly doing something with them. If they want me on the record, I'll stay on the record, but I just wanted to write a record for those guys." The Jonas Brothers appeared as musical guest on Saturday Night Lives 34th season on February 14, 2009, making their SNL debut. The band also announced on March 11, 2009, that they will be embarking on a world tour in mid-2009. They were joined by the popular Korean girl band Wonder Girls, who debuted in America, as their opening act. In April 2009, the Jonas Brothers finished filming the first season of their Disney Channel Original Series, Jonas and was premiered on May 2, 2009. The Jonas Brothers also voiced three stone cherubs in the film '', which was released on May 22, 2009.
2009–2010: ''Jonas'' and ''Lines, Vines and Trying Times''
The brothers finished recording their fourth studio album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, and began to talk about the album in the beginning of 2009. They said on several occasions that they had been working on writing and recording songs since their Burnin' Up tour in mid-2008. On March 11, 2009, the Jonas Brothers announced that their fourth studio album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, would be released on June 15, 2009. They said about the title in the interview with Rolling Stone that, "Lines are something that someone feeds you, vines are the things that get in the way, and trying times, well, that's obvious." They also told Billboard, "We're trying to learn as much as we can, continuing to grow." Kevin added that, "The overall message is it's the same old Jonas Brothers, in a sense, but we're adding more and more music, including different musical instruments that are going to add and build to the sound we already have." Nick also said the songs on the album are "our journal in songs, about all things we've gone through, personal experiences we get inspiration from. We've also been working on trying to use metaphors.. to kind of mask a literal thing that happens to us.". Before the release of Lines, Vines and Trying Times, they released two singles, "Paranoid" and "Fly with Me". Lines, Vines and Trying Times became their second No. 1 album. It debuted at number one.On July 7, 2009, the Jonas Brothers announced that they had signed Honor Society to the record label they started with Hollywood Records. A month later, "Send It On" was released on Radio Disney. The radio single was performed with Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and Demi Lovato for Disney's Friends for Change. On August 9, 2009, the Jonas Brothers hosted and performed on the 2009 Teen Choice Awards. Hollywood Records announced via YouTube Demi Lovato and Jonas Brothers'. Joe was a guest judge on American Idol during the Dallas auditions, which aired January 27, 2010. After the success of Camp Rock, a sequel was in immediate development. Production on the film began on September 3, 2009 and wrapped on October 16, 2009. The film, entitled , was aired on Disney Channel on September 3, 2010. The movie was filmed in Ontario, Canada. In late 2010, the Brothers took part in a concert at the White House honoring Paul McCartney's reception of a Gershwin Prize for Popular Music by U.S. President Barack Obama. As a personal request from McCartney, they covered "Drive My Car" from The Beatles' Rubber Soul.
2011–2013: Hiatus, ''LiVe'' and split
In 2011, the brothers took a hiatus to focus on their solo careers – Joe released his debut album Fastlife, Nick embarked on 2011 Tour with his band Nick Jonas & the Administration and Kevin studied music production. In addition, they parted ways with Hollywood Records, who had been their label since February 2007. In December 2011, a new song leaked on the internet, "Dance Until Tomorrow", but they never released it. Despite rumors that they had split, Kevin said the band would release new material in the future: "I think the tides are perfectly lining up for the future of the Jonas Brothers again". In August 2012, Kevin starred the E! reality series Married to Jonas alongside his wife Danielle and brothers Nick and Joe, documenting the young couple's domestic.On August 17, 2012, after two years of their last work together, they announced a new concert tour, the World Tour 2012/2013. On October 3, 2012, a preview of the song "Meet You In Paris" was released on Cambio. The new tour started on October 11, 2012 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where they performed several songs from their previous albums along with a new song entitled "Let's Go". During the reunion concert, they also performed other new songs: "Wedding Bells", "First Time" and "Neon". They performed at Jingle Ball at L.A. Live on December 1, 2012, and announced several tour dates to take place in South America. They performed at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival on February 28, 2013, in Chile. Their fifth studio album, which would have been their first not to be released through Hollywood Records since 2006 and their first record since 2009's Lines, Vines and Trying Times, was scheduled to be released in 2013. The album would be titled V, the Roman numeral for five. The lead single, "Pom Poms" was released on April 2, 2013. The music video for the song was filmed in February 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana and premiered on E! on April 2, 2013. "First Time", the second single from their fifth album, was released on June 25, 2013. In June they embarked at Live Tour to promote the new songs.
On October 9, 2013, the group cancelled 23 tour dates between October and December, citing a "deep rift within the band" over "creative differences". On October 29, 2013, the Jonas Brothers officially confirmed their split. During an interview, Nick Jonas stated that the album wouldn't be released but decided to release songs in a live album: "We want to do something special for our fans because they've been so supportive of us for so many years. What we've decided to do is package an album with 10 live tracks from the summer tour and four of the songs that would have been on 'V', and if you count 'Pom Poms' and 'First Time', it's actually 6 songs that would have been on 'V'. We’ll be sending that out soon for the fans." The album was released with the title Live, noting the letter "V" in caps as a reference to their would-be fifth studio album of the same name.
2019–present: Return and ''Happiness Begins''
On February 28, 2019, the Jonas Brothers announced their comeback via social media.On March 1, they released a new single, "Sucker" under Republic Records. They appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden each night from March 4 to 7 to promote the track. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the US Hot Digital Songs chart, with 88,000 copies sold in its first week, becoming the Jonas Brothers' first number-one song and the first number one by a boy band on the chart since 2003's "Bump, Bump, Bump" by B2K. It became the band's first entry on the chart since 2013's "Pom Poms" and their first top 10 since 2008's "Tonight". The Jonas Brothers also became the second group in a lead role in history to have a song debut at number one after Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and the first group in this century to achieve this. In its April 13, 2019 issue, "Sucker" became the Jonas' first top 10 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay, surging 20–6 in its third week of charting. On April 5, the group released the single "Cool". On April 22, the band announced their upcoming album Happiness Begins, which was released on June 7, 2019 and preceded by a documentary titled Chasing Happiness, which premiered on June 4 on Amazon Prime Video. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, marked the biggest debut of 2019 and maintained the record until Taylor Swift's Lover was released on August 23.
On June 8, the band performed at Capital's Summertime Ball 2019 in the United Kingdom; the setlist included performing "Year 3000" with the original band behind the song, Busted. On June 18, the band released the promotional single "Greenlight" from their episode of Songland. On June 21, they were featured on Latino singers Sebastián Yatra, Daddy Yankee, and Natti Natasha's single called "Runaway". On July 2, the band released "Only Human", the third single off Happiness Begins, followed by the music video on August 13. On September 27, Diplo released a single titled "Lonely", which featured the Jonas Brothers. On November 8, the group released a Christmas song titled "Like It's Christmas".
On January 17, 2020, the band released the single "What a Man Gotta Do". On January 24, they announced a residency show in Las Vegas named Jonas Brothers in Vegas at the Park Theater at Park MGM beginning on April 1, with eight other dates during the month keeping them in place until the 18th. The residency was ultimately cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The band performed at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 26, revealing a new song titled "Five More Minutes". On May 15, they released a two track EP titled XV, which contained "X", featuring Colombian singer Karol G, and "Five More Minutes".
Philanthropy
The Jonas Brothers earned an estimated $12 million in 2007, and have donated 10% of their earnings to their charity, Change for the Children Foundation. Change for the Children Foundation, started by the Jonas Brothers, has contributors donate to charities such as Nothing But Nets, American Diabetes Foundation, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and Summer Stars Camp for the Performing Arts. Since August 6, 2008, Bayer Diabetes Care has partnered with Nick Jonas as a diabetes ambassador to promote the idea that young people should manage their diabetes, as Nick was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 13. Jonas testified in the U.S. Senate to promote more research funding for the disease.The Jonas Brothers have been strong supporters of Do Something. In 2007, the brothers filmed a public service announcement raising awareness about teenage homelessness and encouraging teens to begin "jeans drives" in their communities to donate to the homeless. In 2010, Nick further volunteered his efforts for Do Something by offering his time as a prize to teens who donated jeans to Do Something and Aeropostale's "Teens for Jeans" campaign. Further, Nick filmed another public service announcement, this one in support of Do Something's "Battle of the Bands" campaign for the advancement of music education in schools.
The Jonas Brothers have made several appearances at WE Day, an event that encourages young people to do local and global acts of charity. In a post on Twitter, the band also announced that a portion of every ticket purchased for their Toronto show would be donated to WE to help provide secondary school scholarships to young girls in Kenya.
Musical style
The Jonas Brothers' musical style has generally been described as rock, pop rock, pop punk, and power pop.Members
Current members- Nick Jonas – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
- Joe Jonas – lead vocals
- Kevin Jonas – lead guitar, backing vocals
- Jack Lawless – drums, percussion
- Demian Arriaga – percussion
- Tom "Liminal" Crouch – lead and rhythm guitars
- Michael Wooten – keyboards
- KellyeAnn – backing vocals
- Mark Joseph – backing vocals
- Tyler Carroll – bass guitar
- Alexander Noyes – drums
- John Lloyd Taylor – lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, musical director
- Greg Garbowsky – bass guitar, percussion, backing vocals
- Ryan Liestman – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals, banjo
- Paris Carney-Garbowsky – backing vocals, percussion, guitar
- Megan Mullins – violin, backing vocals
- Marcus Kincy – keyboards
- Matt Hines – bass guitar
- Tarron Clayton – bass guitar
Timeline
Achievements
Discography
- It's About Time
- Jonas Brothers
- A Little Bit Longer
- Lines, Vines and Trying Times
- Happiness Begins
Filmography
Films
Television
Web
Concert tours
;Headlining- American Club Tour
- Marvelous Party Tour
- When You Look Me in the Eyes Tour
- Burnin' Up Tour
- World Tour 2009
- World Tour 2010
- World Tour 2012/2013
- Live Tour
- Happiness Begins Tour
- X Marks the Unlock Digital Tour
- Fall 2005 Tour
- Road Dogs tour
- Jonas Brothers in Vegas
- Cheetah-licious Christmas Tour
- Never Gone Tour
- 2006 US Tour
- Right Where You Want Me Tour
- Best of Both Worlds Tour
- The Best Damn World Tour
Footnotes