LĪVE was an American rock band from York, Pennsylvania, composed of Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals and guitar), Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass), and Chad Gracey (drums). Touring members have included Ed's younger brother Adam Kowalczyk as a rhythm guitarist, British keyboard player Michael "Railo" Railton, and guitarist Christopher Thorn of Blind Melon.
Live achieved worldwide success with their 1994 album, Throwing Copper, which has sold eight million copies in the US. The band had a string of hit singles in the mid 1990s including "Lightning Crashes", which stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 10 consecutive weeks and the Modern Rock Tracks (now Alternative Songs) chart for nine weeks from February 25 to April 22, 1995.The band has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. Their last three studio albums fared only moderately well in the US, but they continued to enjoy success in The Netherlands, South Africa and Australasia.
On November 30, 2009 Chad Taylor revealed that what had initially been termed a "two-year hiatus" was more likely a permanent break-up, due to what he felt were inappropriate and possibly illegal actions by Ed Kowalczyk, which have resulted in a lawsuit being filed against him by the other three band members. In June 2011, Taylor revealed that he, Gracey and Dahlheimer were to reform Live without Kowalczyk, who confirmed that he would not work with the other three again.
History
Early history and Mental Jewelry: 1988–1992
Kowalczyk, Taylor, Dahlheimer and Gracey first played together at a middle-school talent show in York, Pennsylvania. They remained together throughout high school, playing new wave covers under band names such as First Aid, Club Fungus, Paisley Blues, Action Front, and Body Odor Boys. Eventually they settled on the name Public Affection and recorded a self-released cassette of original songs, The Death of a Dictionary, in 1989. In 1990 they released an EP of demos produced by Jay Healy, titled Divided Mind, Divided Planet, via their Black Coffee mailing list. The band played regular concerts at CBGB in New York City, which helped earn them a contract with Radioactive Records in 1991.Under the new name Live, the band entered the studio with producer Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads) and recorded the EP Four Songs. The single "Operation Spirit (The Ty ranny of Tradition)" went to number nine on the Modern Rock chart and was followed by their debut album, 1992's Mental Jewelry, which Harrison again produced. Given the band's inexperience, Harrison's input was invaluable. Pat Dalheimer said that it was, "So important to have somebody else in the room to help us, especially with arrangements. I mean, we were still learning how to write songs...Jerry just seemed to know everything...this guy's a wizard!" Some of the album's lyrics, written by Kowalczyk, were inspired by Indian philosopher and writer Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Throwing Copper and mainstream success: 1993–1996
After appearances on the MTV 120 Minutes tour, at Woodstock '94 and on Peter Gabriel's WOMAD tour, Live's second album, Throwing Copper, achieved mainstream success. The album featured the singles "I Alone", "All Over You", and the number one US Modern Rock hits "Selling the Drama" and "Lightning Crashes". "Lightning Crashes" also stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for ten consecutive weeks. The band appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live, where they performed "I Alone" and "Selling the Drama".The success of the singles eventually gained Throwing Copper the number one position on the Billboard 200 album chart on May 6, 1995, its 52nd week on the chart. It was the third longest gap between an album first charting and reaching number one, behind Fleetwood Mac's Fleetwood Mac in 1976 (58 weeks) and Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl in 1989 (64 weeks). It is Live's best-selling album, having sold eight million copies in the US alone.[1] In 1995 the band appeared on MTV Unplugged. Their set included a cover version of Vic Chesnutt's "Supernatural".
