Daughtry on the Cover...

of Billboard Magazine!



Chris Daughtry is famous—hard not to be, what with the "American Idol" thing and the heartthrob thing and Grammy Award nomination thing and the gazillion records sold thing. But he still tries to be a normal guy. He runs errands when he's home in North Carolina; a favorite pastime is taking his kids to the movies. And it was when he saw "Alvin and the Chipmunks" in the theater with his children that he realized his life had reached the point where weird is the new normal.

"Whoa! Whoa! This chipmunk is oversinging my song," he says with a wince, recalling the dog-whistle octave stylings of Alvin on "Feels Like Tonight" in the film. "There were runs everywhere. I didn't even know what it was until the chorus."

It's been an impressive couple of years for Daughtry, both the man and the band, which includes Josh Steely on lead guitar, Brian Craddock on rhythm guitar, Josh Paul on bass and Joey Barnes on drums. Its self-titled first album sold 4.4 million copies since its release in November 2006, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and 7.1 million digital track downloads. "Daughtry" sold at least 15,000 copies per week— every week—from its release until May 2008 (see chart, page 22).

The album was a perfect storm of the commercial and the creative that paired Daughtry's gigantic fan base from "American Idol" with the set's instantly winning "Guitar Hero"-worthy guitar riffs and lyrics. The group's second album, "Leave This Town," set for release July 14, gets a leg up from this foundation; it's another record full of songs that make you want to roll down the car windows and bust a vocal cord or two while trying to match Daughtry's gravelly wail. But there's one key change to the music: Daughtry—the band—created this album, instead of it being the work of Daughtry the brand.

"So much of the focus of the launch of the first record was on Chris," RCA senior VP of marketing Aaron Borns says. "But they really are a band. When a band clicks the way they do, they work with such a good energy. It just comes through that they love what they do."

After finishing fourth in the fifth season of "American Idol" in 2006, Daughtry was obligated to complete the summer tour for the program's top 10 finalists. To capitalize on his appearance on the show with an album as soon as possible after the tour ended, it was a frantic rush for Daughtry, 19 and RCA to write songs, rehearse and record with session musicians. Only then were there auditions for the band members that would make up Daughtry and take those songs from the album on the road."That tour is 60 cities in 12 weeks," says Daughtry's manager, Stirling McIlwaine of 19 Entertainment, of the American Idols Live tour. "It's a grueling schedule. He had like one day off a week, so what we did is either fly Chris in or fly people out to meet him on the road."

After a series of auditions, the final lineup of Daughtry was set for the tour, and the very next day the band had its first photo shoot. The making of the album continued to avalanche until November 2006, when "Daughtry" arrived with a No. 2 debut on the Billboard 200 and eventually reached No. 1 after nine weeks.


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Their new album Leave this Town, hits the shelves July 14. They will start a 100 stop tour in September.


source: Billboard Magazine