Sugar Ray

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Biography

: This article is about the band Sugar Ray. For the boxers, see Sugar Ray Leonard or Sugar Ray Robinson or Sugar Ray Seales .

Sugar Ray is a musical ensemble|band from Orange County, California|Orange County , California . The band, starting off more as an alternative metal band, first gained fame in 1997 with their release of the song " Fly (Sugar Ray song)|Fly ". This song's success, coupled with its pop rock sound that was quite different from the rest of their material at the time, led the band into changing into a mainstream, pop music style. Subsequent albums shared this similar style, and the band landed a number of hits with " Every Morning (Sugar Ray song)|Every Morning ", " Someday (Sugar Ray song)|Someday ", and " When It's Over (Sugar Ray song)|When It's Over ".

History

Formation and Lemonade and Brownies (1988–1996)

Prior to Sugar Ray, in the late 1980s, Rodney Sheppard and Stan Frazier (musician)|Stan Frazier had been together in a band under the name The Tories. Later additions Murphy Karges and Mark McGrath changed the band's name to "Shrinky Dinx". After signing with Atlantic Records , the name was changed to Sugar Ray upon threat of lawsuit from the Milton Bradley Company , maker of the Shrinky Dinks toy.
The band's debut album , Lemonade and Brownies , was released in 1995 and though it failed to produce a major hit single it did earn them recognition in alternative circles. Their early work was strongly influenced by funk metal , Hip hop music|hip-hop , Punk rock|punk , and alternative rock . This first album leaned on experimenting with those many influences, combining genres.

After they gained fame with the 1997 album Floored in 1998, the single "Speed Home California" and "Mean Machine" off Lemonade and Brownies was featured in the PlayStation game Road Rash 3D , and its Nintendo 64 counterpart Road Rash 64 , respectively.

Floored (1997–1998)

Sugar Ray's first mainstream hit came in the summer of 1997 with their song " Fly (Sugar Ray song)|Fly ", which was released on the album Floored and featured reggae musician|artist Super Cat . "Fly" was notable for not sounding anything at all like the rest of the tracks on the album and received frequent radio play, resulting in a number one rank on the Billboard's Hot 100 List. As a result of the success of "Fly", Floored sold well and was RIAA certification|certified double platinum. However, by the end of 1997, critics were skeptical that Sugar Ray could put out another successful song and labeled them a one-hit wonder . The same year, Sugar Ray was featured in the movie '' Fathers' Day (film)|Father's Day , starring Billy Crystal and Robin Williams . Floored featured a strong nu metal influence and was their last "heavy" album before they moved into a more adult contemporary direction.

14:59 (1999–2000)

Their 1999 album 14:59 was the reply to these accusations, with the title implying that their 15 minutes of fame were not quite up & mdash; their "fame clock" reading 14:59. " Every Morning (Sugar Ray song)|Every Morning ", which received widespread comparisons to "Fly", rose to similar success during the spring of 1999, reaching No. 3 in the United States|U.S. Billboard Hot 100 record chart|chart . Their follow-up single (music)|single " Someday (Sugar Ray song)|Someday " received extensive airplay later that year as well and reached No. 7 in the U.S. 14:59 outsold its predecessor and was certified triple platinum. Another Billboard hit, "Falls Apart", gained popularity as well.

Sugar Ray (2001–2002)

In 2000, Sugar Ray did a cover version of John Cale and Brian Eno's "Spinning Away" for the soundtrack to "The Beach". Their 2001 self-titled album Sugar Ray (album)|Sugar Ray produced another hit with " When It's Over (Sugar Ray song)|When It's Over ", although it failed to reach the same level of success as their previous singles, still reaching No. 13 in the U.S. Other singles such as "Answer the Phone" and "Under the Sun" gained some popularity as well, despite the inefficiency of a billboard spot.

In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003–2005)

Sugar Ray's 2003 effort In the Pursuit of Leisure , and the first single from that album, "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)", received a lukewarm reception. The album also contained the band's cover of Joe Jackson's famous " Is She Really Going Out With Him? ". In 2005, Sugar Ray released a The Best of Sugar Ray|greatest hits album , with three new songs, "Shot of Laughter", "Time After Time", and "Psychedelic Bee".

Music for Cougars (2006–present)

After releasing their Greatest Hits album, in 2005, the band went into a period of relative inactivity for a number of years, with Mark McGrath starting a new job as an anchor on the television show Extra (TV series)|Extra . In January 2006, Sugar Ray was released from their recording contract with Atlantic Records . An exception to this was during mid 2007, with their inclusion of the previously unreleased song "Into Yesterday" on the '' Surf's Up (film)|Surf's Up '' movie soundtrack, and a brief tour in Asia in August 2007 where they headlined SingFest, Singapore's first international music festival.

Sugar Ray appeared on the May 18, 2008, season 3 finale of American Dad , titled " Spring Break-Up ", as themselves, playing "Fly" at a Spring Break party. They also starred in the first live-action Scooby-Doo movie as themselves performing the song "Words to Me".

An announcement came the next day, on May 19, 2008, that the band would be entering the studio to record their first album of new material since 2003. It was also announced that the band signed a new record deal with Pulse Recordings and that the new album should be released in the summer of 2009.

On March 6, 2009, Mark McGrath posted an update on Facebook announcing that a new album, titled Music for Cougars , was on the way. It was released on July 21, 2009. The first single was "Boardwalk".

On August 22, 2010, Sugar Ray's Twitter page announced that Craig "DJ Homicide" Bullock has left the band.

Sugar Ray released on their blog a song called "Down With Whatever" that was previously unreleased. Also on their blog, they make mention of new music before planning another tour.
As of April 2012, Murphy Karges and Stan Frazier are no longer in Sugar Ray, and have been replaced by bassist Justin Bivona and drummer Jesse Bivona, respectively. Al Keith has also joined as percussionist, making Sugar Ray a 5-piece band once again.

Band members

;Current members

Mark McGrath – lead vocals, guitar (1992–present)

Rodney Sheppard – lead guitar, backing vocals (1988–present)

Justin Bivona – bass guitar, backing vocals (2012–present)

Jesse Bivona – drums, backing vocals (2012–present)

Al Keith – percussion, vibes (2012–present)

;Former members

Murphy Karges – bass guitar, backing vocals (1990–2012)

Stan Frazier (musician)|Stan Frazier – drums, percussion, guitar, backing vocals (1988–2012)

DJ Homicide|Craig "DJ Homicide" Bullock – turntables, programming, scratches, keyboards, backing vocals (1997–2010)

;Session musicians

David Kahne – keyboards, programming on Floored (1997); 14:59 (1999); Sugar Ray (album)|Sugar Ray (2001); In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003)

Super Cat – vocals on " Fly (Sugar Ray song)|Fly " from Floored (1997)

KRS-One – vocals on "Live & Direct" from 14:59 (1999)

Nick Hexum – vocals on "Stay On" from Sugar Ray (2001)

Esthero – vocals on "Heaven" from In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003)

ProHoeZak – vocals on "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)" from In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003)

Shaggy (musician)|Shaggy – vocals on "56 Hope Road" from In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003)

Collie Buddz – vocals on "Girls Were Made to Love" from Music for Cougars (2009)

Rivers Cuomo – vocals on "Love Is the Answer" from Music for Cougars (2009)

Donavon Frankenreiter – vocals on "Dance Like No One's Watchin'" from Music for Cougars (2009)

Discography

; Studio albums

Lemonade and Brownies (1995)

Floored (1997)

14:59 (1999)

Sugar Ray (album)|Sugar Ray (2001)

In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003)

Music for Cougars (2009)

Copyright Citations

This article is licensed under the GNU License
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