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Plain White T's

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Plain White T's
Plain White T's in 2009
Plain White T's in 2009
Background information
OriginLombard, Illinois, USA
GenresPop rock
Pop punk
Power pop
Years active1997–present
LabelsAtlantic
Fearless
Hollywood (2006-present)
MembersTom Higgenson
Dave Tirio
Mike Retondo
De'Mar Hamilton
Tim Lopez
Past member(s)Steve Mast
Ken Fletcher
WebsiteOfficial website / UK website

Plain White T's are an alternative rock band from Chicago. Their newest release, Every Second Counts (2006), was the first Plain White T's album to reach the mainstream. When the album came out, one song, Hey There Delilah, an acoustic love song, was played on many radio stations daily. Another famous song of theirs is Our Time Now.

Biography

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Formation

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The singer of the band, Tom Higgenson, first wanted to be a drummer. He was in many bands during his High School. However, when Plain White T's were made, he decided to become a singer and a songwriter. Bassist, Ken Fletcher, and drummer, Dave Tirio, joined the band began performing in Downers Grove, Illinois.

Early Career, 1999- 2001

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They started out by playing other people's songs, but in the summer of 1999 the band was beginning to become known by record labels like Atlantic Recordings. In 2000 they released their first album, "Come On Over". They toured around Chicago to try and make the album sell more and to get more fans.

Stop 2001-2004

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At the end of 2001, Plain White T's left Atlantic Recordings and signed to Fearless Records. They began recording for their next album, called "Stop". They chose in Downers Grove, Illinois and Santa Barbara, California. The album took four months to record, being finished in April 2002. The album was shown around Plain White T's home town before being released finally on August 20th 2002, a whole twenty months after it was started.

In October, the band went on their first big tour. The tour in the band ending up stopping being friends, this was solved with new members, with Dave switching from drums to guitar, Steve being replaced by Tim Lopez, Ken being replaced by Mike Retondo and De'Mar Hamilton taking up drums.

All That We Needed 2004-2006

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The band went into the studio to record their next album, called "All That We Needed",in May 2004. After recording the album, they toured the US. During this tour, they released their first single, All That We Needed. They then promoted the album internationally, gathering a growing fanbase, before heading back for the 2005 Take Action Tour.

During the "Take Action Tour '05", Plain White T's recorded their first music video with a single which they hoped would be more famous than "All That We Needed" .

Every Second Counts era 2006-present

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In 2006 they signed to another new label, Hollywood Records, and then began recording a new album. Shortly before the release of the album, the single "Hate (I Really Don't Like You)" was released, it was the first single by them to achieve noticeable success.

Plain White T's started touring in Winter and Autumn of 2006. By this time they were starting to get noticed in the music industry at last. Although they were beginning to get noticed in the minor US rock industry, internationally Plain White Ts were not doing so well, by this point, they had not even sold 100,000 copies of any album anywhere outside of the US. Hollywood Records thought that re-releasing "Hey There Delilah" would make the band famous.

Breakthrough: Hey There Delilah

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"Hey There Delilah" is an acoustic song, first released as a single in May 2006 as chasing cars, and was the last track in the band's first album, All That We Needed. One year later, in 2007, the song became the band's first mainstream hit. On 11 July 2007, the song reached number one for sales in the Billboard Hot 100. One month later, the song became a hit single all over the world. Hey There Delilah reached number two in the UK Singles Chart and Ireland Singles Chart, number four in the Australian chart and number six in the United World Chart. Its popularity made it to #1 in other countries like Germany and Canada.

Discography

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Date of Release Title Label US Billboard UK Australia
2000 Come On Over Atlantic
2002 Stop Fearless Records
2005 All That We Needed Fearless Records
2006 Every Second Counts Hollywood 10 3 55
Year Song Billboard Hot 100|U.S. Hot 100 Pop 100|U.S. Pop 100 Hot Modern Rock Tracks|U.S. Modern Rock Hot Digital Songs UK Singles Chart|UK Media Control Charts|GER Recording Industry Association of New Zealand|NZ Canadian Hot 100|CAN ARIA Charts|AUS Album
2004 "All That We Needed" - - - - - - - - - All That We Needed
2005 "Take Me Away" - - - - - - - - -
2006 "Hey There Delilah" - - - - - - - - -
"Hate (I Really Don't Like You)" 68 61 25 48 53 - - - - Every Second Counts
2007 "Hey There Delilah" (Re-release) 1 1 3 1 2 1 9 1 3
"Our Time Now" 90 66 29 - - - - - 75

Other websites

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