 London's otherworldly pop quad piece Coldplay was created on the scholarly grounds
of London University College in 1996.
The lineup consists of Guy Berryman on bass, Johnny Buckland on lead guitar, Will
Champion on drums and lead vocalist and guitarist, Chris Martin. Often compared to other guitar based
and pop-aware English bands such as Radiohead and the Verve, Coldplay stands strongly on its own two
feet by delivering its own brand of sensitive vocals and fluid guitar-shaped musical landscapes, praised
by both critics and fans alike.
Financed by Coldplay's friend and soon to be manager, their first EP, Safety, was
released in 1998 with a limited run of 500 copies. The EP was helpful in securing Coldplay a slot on
the bill for the important In the City music industry conference held in Manchester that year. In
April of 1999, Coldplay followed Safety with the single "Brothers & Sisters," released on the London
label Fierce Panda.
The "Brothers & Sisters" single, despite a limited release number of 2500, was not
only successful in hitting the No. 92 slot in the London charts but was also caught the ears of major
label Parlophone. Later that year, Coldplay arrived on the Parlophone label with their 5000-copy EP
release, The Blue Room. Parachutes, Coldplay's first full length CD was unleashed by Parlophone in July
of 2000 in the UK and Europe and quickly rose to the top of the charts with the single "Yellow."
Parachutes was also given the honor of being nominated for the 2000 Technics Mercury
Music Prize. "Yellow" entered the mainstream in America when ABC selected it as their official promo
song. The second single, "Trouble," was also a hit. The band spent 2001 touring the U.S., but frontman
Martin was often plagued by sickness, and many tour dates were cancelled.
Coldplay suffered from exhaustion, and the inconsistency sparked rumors of a
break up; however, Coldplay returned to the studio with the same producers who worked on Parachutes
and released the heart-wrenching and critically-acclaimed A Rush of Blood to the Head in 2002.
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