Live
Live is an American alternative rock band that gained fame for their hit singles… Read Full Bio ↴Live is an American alternative rock band that gained fame for their hit singles during the 90s, being perhaps best known for the international top 40 smashes "I Alone" and "Lightning Crashes". Characterized by an earnest approach to melodic songwriting and a spiritual zen lyrically, somewhat reminiscent of 'Joshua Tree'-era U2 and other arena-made artists, Live climbed from modest modern rock success to the mainstream spotlight worldwide on the strength of their 1994 breakthrough album. Titled 'Throwing Copper', the band has sold over six million copies of the release.
Hailing from York, Pennsylvania, the group is comprised of Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals & guitar), Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums). Since approximately 1999, Live has toured with Ed’s younger brother, Adam Kowalczyk as a rhythm guitarist, and, previously, British keyboardist Michael “Railo” Railton.
Kowalczyk, Taylor, Dahlheimer, and Gracey first came together for a middle-school talent show in the Pennsylvania blue-collar town of York. The group remained together throughout high school, going through a handful of band names and new-wave covers before settling on the moniker Public Affection and recording a self-released cassette of originals, The Death of a Dictionary, in 1989. Frequent trips into New York to play at CBGB helped net the band a deal with Radioactive Records in 1991. With the new name Live, the band entered the studio with former Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison that year and began recording the EP Four Songs. The single “Operation spirit (the tyranny of tradition)” went to #9 on the Modern Rock chart, and paved the way for the band’s Harrison-produced, full-length debut, 1991’s Mental Jewelry (#73). The album lyrics, penned by Kowalczyk, were heavily inspired by Indian guru Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Fueled by heavy touring (including billing at Woodstock ‘94 and Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD tour) and a string of hit singles (“I Alone”, “All Over You” and the #1 Modern Rock hits “Selling the drama” and “Lightning crashes”), their next album, Throwing Copper, went to #1 in 1994. It is their best-selling, and often most highly regarded by fans and critics, album to date. The band was even asked to perform on Saturday Night Live where they performed their hits “I Alone” and “Selling the Drama” and to this day, they are the only band to receive a standing ovation at the party after the broadcast.[citation needed]
The momentum continued long enough to help 1997’s Secret Samadhi (coproduced by the band and Jay Healey) debut at #1. Deriving its name from a state of Hindu meditation, the album spawned four Modern Rock hit singles, but failed to match its predecessor’s success, with sales topping off at 2 million. The band performed “lakini’s juice” and “Heropsychodreamer” from this album on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
Harrison came back on board as coproducer for 1999’s The Distance to Here, which debuted at #4 and featured the minor US hit single “The Dolphin’s Cry.”
In September 2001, the more experimental V (originally scheduled to be titled “Ecstatic Fanatic”) was issued to mixed reviews, preceded by “Simple creed” as the first single. However, with the events of 9/11—which occurred a week before V ‘s release—the melancholic “Overcome” began receiving significant airplay, superseding “Simple Creed” and becoming V’s selling point. Unfortunately, Live’s commercial stock—compounded by their petering radio airplay—had fallen further since The Distance to Here, with V merely reaching #22 at home, failing to reach gold status.
Birds of Pray appeared in May 2003, bolstered by the unexpected success of “Heaven”, Live’s first US Hot 100-placing since “The Dolphin’s Cry.” Reaching #28, Birds of Pray ultimately outsold V, although it too received mixed reviews and failed to reach gold status.
In November 2004, Live released Awake: The Best of Live, a career-spanning compilation that included “We deal in dreams”, a previously unreleased song from the Throwing Copper sessions, and a cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line”, as well as Birds of Pray’s “Run Away”, re-imagined with Shelby Lynne on co-lead vocals.
In 2005, Live signed with Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Epic label, and released a new album entitled Songs From Black Mountain in June 2006, preceded by “The river” as lead single. Thus far, while the album has achieved international success, it has proven Live’s lowest-seller yet domestically, only reaching #52 in the US before quickly disappearing from the charts.
While Live remain only moderately popular in terms of record sales in the United States, much of their current sales come from places in Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Ed Kowalczyk has said that “Holland is the center of the Live universe” [citation needed].
The group made news in January 2006 as three band members (Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and touring rhythm guitar Adam Kowalczyk) and two members of the band’s road crew were on a United Airlines flight when smoke filled the cabin, requiring the pilot to make an emergency landing.
On season 5 of American Idol, finalist Chris Daughtry was accused of performing Live’s rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” and calling it his own. This angered some Live fans, but one week later Daughtry acknowledged it was not his own rendition, even saying Live was one of his favorite bands. In May 2006, Live appeared on The Howard Stern Show and addressed this issue.
On May 24, 2006, the band and Chris Daughtry performed “Mystery” on the season finale of American Idol, and on June 7, a new version of “Mystery” was released on the Friends of Live website featuring Chris Daughtry on guest vocals.
The members of Live announced in June 2009 that the band would be taking a two-year hiatus as they work on other projects. On November 30, 2009, guitarist Chad Taylor confirmed that the hiatus of the band was most likely a permanent rift. See the Wikipedia page for more. During the first European tour of the new band of Taylor, Gracey and Dahlheimer (The Gracious Few), Taylor commented both on stage and in post-show discussions that he believes Live may still come back together, though he also stated that the chances of Kowalczyk joining them in this effort may be very small. In an exclusive blogpost[1] on website The Comet, Taylor confirmed that the remaining members of the band would be working on new material for Live in Nashville early July 2011.
The band returned from their nearly three-year hiatus on March 12, 2012, with Chris Shinn, formerly of Unified Theory, as their new lead singer. The new line-up performed before an invited audience at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in York. The band performed as a six-piece with The Gracious Few's Sean Hennesy on guitar and Alexander Lefever on keyboards
[1]: http://thecomet.com/posts/exclusive_blog_chad_taylor_talks_the_gracious_few_and_live
There's another band with the same name:
2. Live was a 70s-era Progressive Rock group from Germany. Formed in 1971, the outfit appeared to be a strangely named band indeed.
In October 1972 their guitarist Martin Knaden went to Curly Curve. Throughout their history only one member has remained, the multi-talented keyboards and flute player Norbert Aufmhof. Although in existence for a decade Live never got to record a proper studio album, or gain a contract, which surely they should have. Maybe the band name was a bit of a jinx?!
Their earlier history was originally just documented by a single. Only more recently did an LP surface collecting 1974 recordings. Quite obviously a collection of rehearsal session tapes, the LP reveals a band with promise albeit rather grottily recorded with often barely understandable muffled lyrics in English. Musically, there are nods to early Satin Whale and Jane, but with lots of classical touches, notably Grieg and Bach, and a penchant to meander rather nicely during the instrumentals.
Based on the ROCK OFFERS track "Sea Fever", they had blossomed and changed focus somewhat, as a much more sophisticated symphonic progressive of the Pancake and Jane type, typical of the mid/late-1970's.
In all, during their history, three different versions of Live existed, but eventually the band split in 1976. A full history of the band is included in the GEVELSBERG CD, which documents other oddments, sessions, and a live recording!
Hailing from York, Pennsylvania, the group is comprised of Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals & guitar), Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums). Since approximately 1999, Live has toured with Ed’s younger brother, Adam Kowalczyk as a rhythm guitarist, and, previously, British keyboardist Michael “Railo” Railton.
Kowalczyk, Taylor, Dahlheimer, and Gracey first came together for a middle-school talent show in the Pennsylvania blue-collar town of York. The group remained together throughout high school, going through a handful of band names and new-wave covers before settling on the moniker Public Affection and recording a self-released cassette of originals, The Death of a Dictionary, in 1989. Frequent trips into New York to play at CBGB helped net the band a deal with Radioactive Records in 1991. With the new name Live, the band entered the studio with former Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison that year and began recording the EP Four Songs. The single “Operation spirit (the tyranny of tradition)” went to #9 on the Modern Rock chart, and paved the way for the band’s Harrison-produced, full-length debut, 1991’s Mental Jewelry (#73). The album lyrics, penned by Kowalczyk, were heavily inspired by Indian guru Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Fueled by heavy touring (including billing at Woodstock ‘94 and Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD tour) and a string of hit singles (“I Alone”, “All Over You” and the #1 Modern Rock hits “Selling the drama” and “Lightning crashes”), their next album, Throwing Copper, went to #1 in 1994. It is their best-selling, and often most highly regarded by fans and critics, album to date. The band was even asked to perform on Saturday Night Live where they performed their hits “I Alone” and “Selling the Drama” and to this day, they are the only band to receive a standing ovation at the party after the broadcast.[citation needed]
The momentum continued long enough to help 1997’s Secret Samadhi (coproduced by the band and Jay Healey) debut at #1. Deriving its name from a state of Hindu meditation, the album spawned four Modern Rock hit singles, but failed to match its predecessor’s success, with sales topping off at 2 million. The band performed “lakini’s juice” and “Heropsychodreamer” from this album on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
Harrison came back on board as coproducer for 1999’s The Distance to Here, which debuted at #4 and featured the minor US hit single “The Dolphin’s Cry.”
In September 2001, the more experimental V (originally scheduled to be titled “Ecstatic Fanatic”) was issued to mixed reviews, preceded by “Simple creed” as the first single. However, with the events of 9/11—which occurred a week before V ‘s release—the melancholic “Overcome” began receiving significant airplay, superseding “Simple Creed” and becoming V’s selling point. Unfortunately, Live’s commercial stock—compounded by their petering radio airplay—had fallen further since The Distance to Here, with V merely reaching #22 at home, failing to reach gold status.
Birds of Pray appeared in May 2003, bolstered by the unexpected success of “Heaven”, Live’s first US Hot 100-placing since “The Dolphin’s Cry.” Reaching #28, Birds of Pray ultimately outsold V, although it too received mixed reviews and failed to reach gold status.
In November 2004, Live released Awake: The Best of Live, a career-spanning compilation that included “We deal in dreams”, a previously unreleased song from the Throwing Copper sessions, and a cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line”, as well as Birds of Pray’s “Run Away”, re-imagined with Shelby Lynne on co-lead vocals.
In 2005, Live signed with Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Epic label, and released a new album entitled Songs From Black Mountain in June 2006, preceded by “The river” as lead single. Thus far, while the album has achieved international success, it has proven Live’s lowest-seller yet domestically, only reaching #52 in the US before quickly disappearing from the charts.
While Live remain only moderately popular in terms of record sales in the United States, much of their current sales come from places in Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Ed Kowalczyk has said that “Holland is the center of the Live universe” [citation needed].
The group made news in January 2006 as three band members (Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and touring rhythm guitar Adam Kowalczyk) and two members of the band’s road crew were on a United Airlines flight when smoke filled the cabin, requiring the pilot to make an emergency landing.
On season 5 of American Idol, finalist Chris Daughtry was accused of performing Live’s rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” and calling it his own. This angered some Live fans, but one week later Daughtry acknowledged it was not his own rendition, even saying Live was one of his favorite bands. In May 2006, Live appeared on The Howard Stern Show and addressed this issue.
On May 24, 2006, the band and Chris Daughtry performed “Mystery” on the season finale of American Idol, and on June 7, a new version of “Mystery” was released on the Friends of Live website featuring Chris Daughtry on guest vocals.
The members of Live announced in June 2009 that the band would be taking a two-year hiatus as they work on other projects. On November 30, 2009, guitarist Chad Taylor confirmed that the hiatus of the band was most likely a permanent rift. See the Wikipedia page for more. During the first European tour of the new band of Taylor, Gracey and Dahlheimer (The Gracious Few), Taylor commented both on stage and in post-show discussions that he believes Live may still come back together, though he also stated that the chances of Kowalczyk joining them in this effort may be very small. In an exclusive blogpost[1] on website The Comet, Taylor confirmed that the remaining members of the band would be working on new material for Live in Nashville early July 2011.
The band returned from their nearly three-year hiatus on March 12, 2012, with Chris Shinn, formerly of Unified Theory, as their new lead singer. The new line-up performed before an invited audience at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in York. The band performed as a six-piece with The Gracious Few's Sean Hennesy on guitar and Alexander Lefever on keyboards
[1]: http://thecomet.com/posts/exclusive_blog_chad_taylor_talks_the_gracious_few_and_live
There's another band with the same name:
2. Live was a 70s-era Progressive Rock group from Germany. Formed in 1971, the outfit appeared to be a strangely named band indeed.
In October 1972 their guitarist Martin Knaden went to Curly Curve. Throughout their history only one member has remained, the multi-talented keyboards and flute player Norbert Aufmhof. Although in existence for a decade Live never got to record a proper studio album, or gain a contract, which surely they should have. Maybe the band name was a bit of a jinx?!
Their earlier history was originally just documented by a single. Only more recently did an LP surface collecting 1974 recordings. Quite obviously a collection of rehearsal session tapes, the LP reveals a band with promise albeit rather grottily recorded with often barely understandable muffled lyrics in English. Musically, there are nods to early Satin Whale and Jane, but with lots of classical touches, notably Grieg and Bach, and a penchant to meander rather nicely during the instrumentals.
Based on the ROCK OFFERS track "Sea Fever", they had blossomed and changed focus somewhat, as a much more sophisticated symphonic progressive of the Pancake and Jane type, typical of the mid/late-1970's.
In all, during their history, three different versions of Live existed, but eventually the band split in 1976. A full history of the band is included in the GEVELSBERG CD, which documents other oddments, sessions, and a live recording!
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Live Lyrics
05 I Walk The Line I keep a close watch on this heart of mine I…
10,000 Years (Peace Is Now) The world is burning down Can't you smell the smoke in…
6310 Rodgerton Dr There's a house I loved On the canyon wall Where Bogart kiss…
6310 Rodgerton Dr. There's a house I loved On the canyon wall Where Bogart ki…
All I Need All I need Is right here on my sleeve You get what…
All Over You Our love is like water Pinned down and abused For being stra…
Alone Feel so alone lone lone All on this lonely road Did it…
Beautiful Invisible My dear, sweet woman You're making me cry And I don't know…
Beauty of Gray If i told you he was your brother We could reminisce Then…
Bring The People Together I was lost, I am found All the buildings are burnt…
Brother so many people I know only a few yes I…
By Design There is a ghost Following me Staring me down and it's eatin…
Call Me A Fool I can't believe I finally found The key, the door, the…
Century Everybody's here Puke stinks like beer This could be a…
Dance With You sittin' on the beach the island king of love deep in fijian…
Deep Enough We hit the room, me and my crew and it…
Deep Enough (remix) we hit the room, me and my crew and it was…
Deeper I can't even look at this skin tonight Knowing that our…
Dolphin's Cry The way you're bathed in light Reminds me of that night God…
Don Make a wish on a star you may get what…
Don't Run to Wait I had a feeling we were close from the beginning No…
Dust in the Wind If you would suck my soul I will lick your funky…
Everytime I was looking everywhere to find you By and by, my…
Face and Ghost You got it bad, you got it good You saw the…
Face and Ghost (The Children's Song) you got it bad you got it good you saw the sun like…
Feel the Quiet River Rage always fighting the storm afraid to suffer the wound all…
Flow Nkosi sikelela umswenk' wam Coming with that old school jeng…
Forever now i'm fully sure that love is nothing more then a…
Forever May Not Be Long Enough Forever Forever may not be long enough for my love I have…
Freaks If the mother goes to sleep with you Will you…
Gas Hed Goes West Then you were dead Subsistin' on that same old bread…
Get Ready Come on, get ready This is the spring of our love Come…
Ghost I stayed awake 'til dawn I felt that shit inside me That…
Good Pain He said he said he said "There…
Graze people should not be afraid we came to the earth…
He Could Teach the Devil Tricks Yeah you, you really had to start the fight You really…
Heaven You don't need no friends Get back your faith again You have…
Heaven Wore A Shirt Suddenly she came Like a come that comes and goes With a…
Hero Of Love I caught a glimpse of heaven last night To the left…
Heropsychodreamer I'll kill you in my dreams I turn the other…
Hold Me Up Hold me up in the palm of your hand Lying to…
Home I'm a soldier on the field Fighting for you, fighting for…
Horse All the things that they make you say And all of…
I Alone It's easier not to be wise And measure these things by…
I Walk The Line I keep a close watch on this heart of mine I…
Insomnia and the Hole in the Universe my brother kicked his feet to sleep my brother kicked…
Insomnia And The Hole In The.. my brother kicked his feet to sleep my brother kicked…
Introduction Hello and welcome to Maximum Live The first talking book ab…
Iris I liked the way my hand looked On your head In the…
Lakini It was an evening I shared with the sun To find…
Life Marches On In the country The farms and the orchards swell With oranges…
Lift Me Up Hold me up in the palm of your hand Lying to…
Lighthouse The lighthouse lost it's light On her a long time ago She…
Lighting Crashes Lightning crashes a new mother cries Her placenta falls to …
Lightning Crashes Lightning crashes a new mother cries Her placenta falls to t…
Lightning Crashes (Album Ver Lightning crashes, a new mother cries Her placenta falls t…
Lightning Crashes (NY unplugged) Lightning crashes, a new mother cries Her placenta falls to …
Like A Soldier I'd just come down from the mountain a happy man Turned…
Like I Do Darlin' I feel like a god when I am next…
Live Live life Live life Live life Live life Live life Live Life …
Love Lounge Once upon a time in deja-vu land I kissed you on…
Love My Way On a crystal clear blue morning There is a peace that…
Love Shines (A Song for My Daughters About God) On a crystal clear blue morning There is a peace that…
Meltdown Like Himalayan cold winter These jaws of kali yuga Yeah…
Merica Looks like america's dropped her load she was ready to…
Mirror Song I know that I should think about giving and think…
Mother Earth Is a Vicious Crowd pollution cain and misery oceans of golden mystery…
My Heart Lies We found ourselves so far from home Somehow We'd found ourse…
Mystery My ammunition won't load into my gun My inhibitions, they fa…
Natural Born Killers I don't know how you ever take it I see the…
Need Tonight You never thought we'd get this far The road was closed Yo…
Negation Never used to be so tired Never used to be so…
Night of Nights I'm still guessing what you want But well I don't care…
Nobody Knows I was on a street, With a common name I prayed…
OK Everybody has there eyes on me I'm starting to feel the…
Operation Spirit Heard a lot of talk about the ocean Heard a lot…
Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition) heard alot of talk about the ocean heard alot of talk…
Out To Dry The dust had just settled She's wonderin', what happens now?…
Overcome Even now the world is bleedin' But feelin' just fine…
Pain Lies On The Riverside I have never taken life Yet I have often paid the…
People Like You In a dream I had You were standing all alone With a…
Pillar Of Davidson warm bodies I sense are not machines that can…
Purifier Dirty city on my skin People in my face I came here…
Radiant Sea She is just a goddess in a pair of Diesel…
Rattlesnake Let's go hang out in a mall, or a morgue A…
River Town And from a tiny river town you came With momma's rock…
Run Away "Looks like I've lost my will to carry on, my…
Run Away (feat. Shelby Lynne) Looks like I've lost my will to carry on my…
Run To The Water Oh desert speak to my heart Oh woman of the earth Maker…
Selling The Drama And to love a god And to fear a flame And to…
She They say closed mouth's don't get fed I got to humble…
Shit Town The weavers live up the street from me The crackheads, they…
Shit Towne the weavers live up the street from me the crackheads…
Show This love has taken a turn My maps are no good…
Simple Creed Born with your back to the god That spit you out…
Siren I count the ways you turn me on I calculate the…
Sofia Diamonds and pearls don't move this girl She can be icy…
Sparkle I'm gatherin' up my friends today And those who recognize…
Stage I want to feel I want to try I want…
Sun let the world be the world let the dream unfurl…
Supernatural Built a king on complements, carisma and advertisement Still…
Supernatural (live) Built a king on compliments charisma, and advertisements Sti…
Susquehanna It's hard to bleed a man Hard to bleed a man When…
Sweet Release I hope (I hope) She lights that candle I hope (I hope) She…
T.B.D in the moment I was losing my head and I…
T.B.D. in the moment I was losing my head and I…
Take My Anthem War in me War overseas There ain't no difference between Bl…
The Beauty Of Gray If i told you he was your brother We could reminisce Then…
The Dam At Othter Creek When all that's left to do Is reflect on what's…
The Dam At Otter Creek When all that's left to do Is reflect on what's…
The Distance Sell Sell Excel A E A A A Distance but baby your…
The Dolphin The way you're bathed in light Reminds me of that night Go…
The Dolphin's Cry The way you're bathed in light Reminds me of that night God…
The Dolphins Cry The way you're bathed in light Reminds me of that night Go…
The Ride in the east they can meditate They can recreate the sound…
The River Falling into digital code To escape from the world I used to…
The Sanctity Of Dreams Paint a moustache on the Mona Lisa Ride a Harley through…
The Sirens Call I count the ways you turn me on I calculate the…
The Strength to Hold On All I wanted and had hoped to see Was too days…
The Way Around Is Through Breaking it was easy Now we'll never know Just how well it…
They Stood Up For Love naked lovers feel the blood beneath their veins electric n…
They Stood Up for Love (acoustic version) Naked lovers feel the blood beneath their veins Electric ner…
Till You Came Around I used to think, that I really knew What beautiful was Belie…
Tired of "Me" You say "Hold on to the reigns" I say "Let them…
Tired Of Me You say "Hold on to the reigns" I say "Let them…
Top Like I bench press tryna get this weight up off…
Transmit Your Love Bowm, bowm Everybody in the hotel Bowm, bowm Everybody in th…
Turn my Head Anyone, caught in your mystery Keep it angry Keep it…
Turn My Head Anyone, caught in your mystery Keep it angry Keep it…
Unsheathed the baby's not screaming enough the singer's not singing en…
untitled When I was her and she was me We got along'…
Vine Street Take a left on vine street Follow us round Under the bridg…
Voodoo Lady light up a cigarette she said and calm the fuck…
Waitress Come on baby leave some change behind She was a…
Waterboy What do you say to the child Whose god is in…
We Deal in Dreams Don't you feel so very pointless In the feelings of the…
We Open the Door We open the door And as real as it seems Are we…
We Walk In The Dream I was wrong We are not these bodies alone In…
What Are We Fighting For Battleflag in the bassinet Oil and blood on the bayonet Cr…
What Are We Fighting For? Battleflag in the bassinet Oil and blood on the bayonet Crow…
When Dolphins Cry The way you're bathed in light Reminds me of that night Go…
Where Do We Go From Here I wanted a mountain, you gave me a sea I wanted…
Where Do We Go From Here? I wanted a mountain, you gave me a sea I wanted…
Where Fishes Go yeah I found god and he was absolutely nothin' like…
White I talk of freedom You talk of the flag I…
White Discussion I talk of freedom You talk of the flag I…
White, Discussion I talk of freedom You talk of the flag I talk of…
Wings Weighin' on your mind, like a ball and chain Like a…
You Are Not Alone So many people die everyday Who lived everynight without hop…
You Are The World If you've ever known love If you've ever known peace…