Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band that formed in Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom in 1994 and currently based in Bangor, Northern Ireland, where most of the band members are from. They consist of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, vocals), Paul Wilson (bass), Tom Simpson (keyboards) and Jonny Quinn (drums). Lightbody and Quinn are the only original members who remain in the band.

The band became wildly successful on both sides of the Atlantic on the back of their fourth record, 2006's Eyes Open and the ballad "Chasing Cars" - a song that has spent a near-record breaking 90 weeks on the UK Top 75. Some of their other well known songs are Run, Spitting Games, You're All I Have, Hands Open and Take Back The City.

The main thing to get about Snow Patrol is that, 14 years after they started out as a student band at Dundee University, they're still flying, gloriously and unpredictably, by the seat of their pants. "The great and terrifying thing about our band," declares their leader and main songwriter Gary Lightbody, "Is that everything has always happened as it's going along. There's been very little masterplan. We allow things to happen as much by accident as by deliberate intention." One notable early accident was their name. Lightbody's band used to be known as Polar Bear - hence their 1998 debut album Songs For Polarbears - but were obliged to change it after discovering that this was what the bassist of Jane's Addiction was calling his side project. 'Snow Patrol' had already been chosen for them by a friend who didn't care for the Polar Bear moniker; and so it came to pass that Snow Patrol signed in 1995 to Jeepster, home of their Glaswegian indie heroes at the time, Belle and Sebastian.

Now that the band have become feted as commercial giants - their last album Eyes Open was the UK's best-seller of 2006 - it's worth remembering that Snow Patrol spent the 1990's so broke that at one low point Lightbody had to sell his record collection to pay the rent. Jeepster finally dropped them in 2001 after their second album, the presciently titled When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up, failed to connect beyond their passionate but stubbornly tiny fanbase. "We spent 10 years making records that 6000 people bought," Lightbody confirms. "Success to us isn't a chart thing, it's when you turn up to play a gig and find the place is full." In the early days, their largest audiences were back in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as Bangor-born Lightbody grew up in Northern Ireland before moving to Scotland as a student. "We're very lucky in that we seem to have three home town audiences in Belfast, Dublin and Glasgow, although we get an extraordinary reception whenever we play anywhere in Ireland or Scotland."

Snow Patrol began to get considerably bigger all over the UK and in America after signing to Fiction in 2003 and hooking up with the producer Garrett 'Jacknife' Lee. "An amazing influence," in Lightbody's estimation, "Jacknife has become like an indispensable member of the band. I can't imagine working with any other producer." Under Lee's inspired guidance, Snow Patrol and their increasingly charismatic vocalist Lightbody, shed some of their indie rough edges and began to hone their pop smarts. In 2003 they released Final Straw their first number one album, which yielded the band's first top 5 hit, Run. It also won them the inaugural Ivor Novello for best album in 2004. In 2005 they moved into a remote studio in the middle of Ireland, Grouse Lodge, and completed Eyes Open, home of one of the most emotionally potent tunes of the 21st century, Chasing Cars. With over 100,000 radio plays in the UK, 2m downloads in the US, and the accolade of 'Best Song of All Time' from the listeners of Virgin Radio, Chasing Cars also had the rare distinction of closing the BBC's long running TV chart show Top Of The Pops in July 2006. The effect was phenomenal, leading to Eyes Open selling 4.7m copies worldwide.

At this point most similarly blessed bands would probably have either taken a long, expensive holiday, or re-grouped for another assault on the global pop charts. Lightbody and co did neither, opting instead to call up Jacknife Lee and make an album which took them on an unexpected creative odyssey from Galway in the West Of Ireland, back to Grouse Lodge in County Meath and on to the legendary Hansa studio in Berlin where Bowie and many other luminaries from the 1970's recorded seminal work. In line with the innovative traditions of the studio the album, A Hundred Million Suns, is Snow Patrol's most ambitious and exhilarating collection so far; and one in which Lightbody feels his band has, accidentally of course, squared its own circle.

In 2009 Snow Patrol continued their success by touring with U2 and Coldplay

The lead single from Fallen Empires (their sixth studio album released on 11/11/11), was Called Out in the Dark, premiered on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show on July 21st 2011 and released on September 2nd. (Called Out In The Dark Songfacts). The second single This Isn't Everything You Are was released on October 14th.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

Ed Sheeran (born 17 February 1991) is a singer songwriter currently signed under Atlantic Records. Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire before moving to Framlingham, Suffolk. In his time in Suffolk, he was known to have flourished as a hidden talent when it came to music. He learned guitar at a very young age, and began writing songs during his time at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham. By the time Sheeran had left school, he was already certain that music was going to play a major part in his life, and therefore studied at Access To Music in Norwich before moving to London which improved his chances of getting gigs.

Sheeran began recording in 2005, which lead to the release of his first EP, The Orange Room EP. Sheeran also released two albums, a self titled one in 2006 and Want Some? in 2007 gaining little attention. After Sheeran moved to London and had done extensive gigging, performing songs from his EP and albums, as well as ones which he had recently written, he decided to release another EP, You Need Me in late 2009. However, it wasn't until February 2010 that Sheeran began to get noticed after he posted a video through SB.tv displaying his diverse style. This video led to mainstream rapper Example asking Sheeran to tour with him. Throughout 2010, Sheeran began to be seen by more and more people over the internet through Youtube and his fan-base grew incredibly, with him also getting credit from The Independent newspaper, England football captain Rio Ferdinand and even Elton John. Sheeran released three EP's in 2010, Loose Change, which features one of his most known songs, "The A Team", Songs I Wrote With Amy, and Ed Sheeran: Live at the Bedford, a live EP recorded in October. During the year, Sheeran also went to the US, where he was discovered by international superstar Jamie Foxx, who asked Sheeran to perform on his radio show, which gained him some fans in the US. By the end of the year, Sheeran was seen to be one of the best unsigned artists in the country.
On 9 January 2011, Sheeran released his final independent EP, No.5 Collaborations Project featuring appearances by grime artists including Wiley, Jme, Devlin and Ghetts. With this EP, Sheeran gained mainstream attention for reaching number 2 in the iTunes chart, without any promotion or label. He was listed as a 'special guest' on Devlin's 2011 'Bud, Sweat and Beers' mini tour alongside Griminal and Tinchy Stryder. Songfacts reports that after signing for Atlantic Records in January 2011 "The A Team" was released as the first single from his debut album on June 12, 2011.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

Jonquil is an alternative / tropical pop band.

They formed in Oxford by (then) 20-year-old multi-instrumentalist / songwriter Hugo Manuel in an attempt to flesh out what was initially a bedroom recording project.
They have released two albums; Sunny Casinos (2006 / Try Harder) and Lions (2007 / Try Harder) and the 'Whistle Low' EP (2008 / Acuarela Records).

They have toured the UK and Europe extensively and have recently supported high profile acts such as Bombay Bicycle Club, Foals and The Morning Benders

They are set to release an 8 track mini LP in November 'One Hundred Suns' on US label Dovecote Records.

They are self-described as 'Paul Simon's take on The Smiths'

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.