3 Doors Down

Brad Arnold, Matt Roberts and Todd Harrell all grew up in Escatawpa Mississippi in the mid 1990s. Todd and Chris played in a band, and the boys knew Brad at Matt (who are a little bit younger than them). When Todd and Chris split from their band, the 4 got together to form a new group. Brad played drums and sung, Chris and Matt played guitar, and Todd bass. But they just could not decide upon a name for the band - to quote Brad 'We had like, a double-page list of names'. But inspiration struck when one day they came across a sign on a damaged building reading 'Doors Down'. Adding a '3', they'd hit upon a final name for their band.

Soon they were performing at small venues around town - their set was a mix of cover songs and original material. Encouraged by the enthusiastic welcome from (most) audiences, they committed themselves to producing a CD of original material. They raised the money themselves to produce a few hundred copies. Calling the albumThe Better Life, they began selling it at shows. Hoards of fans snatched it up, and the CD started to receive a serious amount of local radio airtime. The band's popularity came to the notice of Universal Records, who signed them up, to rerecord the album.

The Better Life's big launch was early in 2000. It achieved phenomenal success, eventually going 6 times platinum. Hit tracks from the record include Kryptonite, Loser and Duck and Run.

The band have gone on to record three more albums. Away from the Sun and Another 700 Miles, released in 2002, with the signature singles Here Without You and When I'm Gone. Seventeen Days, which came out in 2005, spawning the successful tracks Let Me Go and Behind Those Eyes. And in 2008 the self-titled 3 Doors Down, which contained the hit single It's Not My Time.

Through the whole of the band's history, the only line-up changes to have occurred are on drums. Early on Brad Arnold (who had an rare Phil-Collins' like talent for singing and drumming) decided to concentrate on vocals so Richard Liles was brought in to play the drums. He was replaced in 2002 by Daniel Adair, who was in turn was replaced by Greg Upchurch. (Daniel Adair left to join Nickelback). Though Brad still burns a candle to play drums - the other members often jokingly suggest putting 2 drum kits on stage.