Alex Band

They quickly found a similar sound amongst such ready-for-radio rock acts of the early 21st century as Matchbox Twenty, Third Eye Blind, Train, and Fastball.

Alex Band (born June 8, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.

He is best known as the vocalist for the Los Angeles-based rock band the Calling.

He performed their hit song "Wherever You Will Go," which topped the Adult Top 40 for 23 weeks, making it the second-longest-running number one single in the chart's history.

They both began writing songs and jamming as far back as 1996 and soon formed the band Generation Gap that consisted of him and Kamin, and a few much older musicians.

At this stage, the band also had saxophonist, Benny Golbin, giving the songs a more jazzy sound reminiscent of Dave Matthews Band.

Eventually, Band and Kamin ditched the "Gap" lineup, and briefly switched their name to "Next Door", which itself was a nod to Ron Fair, a veteran music business executive and Band's neighbor.

Kamin and Band began focusing on songwriting more, and as Band's signature baritone voice began to mature, the duo began leaving demo tapes of new songs and ideas for Fair in his mailbox.

By 1999, Fair was impressed enough by the demos to sign them to a record deal with RCA.

They changed their name to The Calling, which reflected the band's renewed sense of purpose.

Furthermore, it was later named the number one song of the 2000s decade on the Adult Pop Charts by Billboard.

Along with the band's lead guitarist and fellow songwriter Aaron Kamin, they achieved success with the release of their first two studio albums; Camino Palmero (2001), which sold over 5 million copies worldwide and was certified Gold by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as their second album Two (2004), which sold over 1.5 million copies.

The former spawned a successful follow-up single, "Adrienne" while the latter spawned the singles "Our Lives" and "Things Will Go My Way."

As a solo artist, Band is known for his guest performance on Santana's 2003 hit single "Why Don't You & I."

In 2008, he formed his own record label AMB Records and released a five-song eponymous extended play (EP).

Band later released his debut full-length album, We've All Been There, in June 2010 with "Tonight" as its lead single—which was used as the theme song for the 2010 World Cup.

He released his second EP, After the Storm in 2012.

Alex Band was born in Los Angeles, California, into an entertainment family.

His mother is Meda Band (née Robertson), and his father, Charles Band, is a horror film director.

His grandfather Albert Band was also another well-known director.

Band's father is Jewish and his mother is Christian.

Both his parents were raised in Italy and they owned a castle in Giove, Umbria.

Band explores spiritual themes in several of his songs, though he claims to be of no particular faith himself.

Of the song "Please", Band said; "'...I grew up with a Jewish father who didn't practice and a Christian mother whose only tie to Jesus was celebrating Christmas. Needless to say I had to find my own religion. And in this song I'm asking God what that should be...what should I believe? In a world so full of different religions and so many people fighting over whose belief is the correct one, it frustrates me to think that they all really boil down to the same thing.'"

At a young age, Band's parents divorced and his father remarried.

He grew up with two of his half-brothers, Harlan and Zalman, and his sister, Taryn.

In 2020, his younger half-brother Harlan died after battling with addiction for over a decade.

After his parents' divorce, his mother moved to Germany where she remarried and still resides.

Band was about 8 at the time.

She had three sons after her move, who Band eventually met when he toured Germany.

The single "Could It Be Any Harder" explains some of his feelings towards his mother's move.

Growing up, Band made small appearances in his father's films.

He grew up on Camino Palmero street, which would later inspire his first album of the same name.

He began playing guitar and songwriting at the age of 8.

Musically, Band was influenced by Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, Live, Train and U2.

At the age of 14, he had a kokopelli tattooed on his wrist.

This would later become a symbol for The Calling.

He soon formed his first band with friend and filmmaker, Jethro Rothe-Kushel, called "Maybe Solitude".

Rothe-Kushel also directed his first music video for a song called "Dormant Prayer".

After the band disbanded, Band met Aaron Kamin when Kamin was dating Band's sister.