LIVE is an American band which rose to fame as part of the burgeoning post-grunge scene in the mid 1990s, finding breakthrough success with their 1994 multi-platinum album, Throwing Copper.
The band formed whilst the members were still at school and after a number of name changes and a couple of EPs, their debut, Mental Jewelry was released in 1991. It reached No.73 on the Billboard charts partly on the strength of the single, “Operation Spirit” which reached the Top 10 of the Modern Rock chart. Throwing Copper (1995) hit the top of the Billboard charts and spawned several hit singles including “Lightning Crashes”, “I Alone” and “Selling the Drama”. The follow-up, Secret Samadhi 1997, did not quite match the success of its predecessor, though it hit the top of the charts nonetheless.
The next album, The Distance to Here (1999), suggested that the band were slipping commercially but their position was reclaimed somewhat when a post-9/11 American public responded well to “Overcome”. The track from V was released days after the tragic attacks. However, both V and Birds of Pray (2003) indicated that the band were past their peak and, though their 2006 album Songs from Black Mountain enjoyed a good critical reception, the main thrust of sales are outside of their homeland.
In 2009, Live front man Edward Kowalczyk parted ways with the band. The band remains on hiatus.
