Coldplay
Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland met during their first week at University College London in September 1996. They began to write their first songs together in early 1997. Guy Berryman joined the trio months later, and they recorded numerous demos without a drummer under the name Big Fat Noises by November. Will Champion entered the picture in January 1998 when his roommate failed to show up for a drum session. Champion played instead and scheduled the band's live debut on the 16th of January 1998 at the Laurel Tree in Camden. The group called themselves Starfish before settling on Coldplay. Phil Harvey financed the independent release of the EP Safety in May 1998. One hundred fifty out of five hundred copies went to open market. Harvey sold the first one to his roommate for three pounds and gave the rest to record labels. He eventually dropped out of his course at Trinity College, Oxford to manage the band full time.
The album Parachutes debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart upon its release on the 10th of July 2000. It was released in North America on the 7th of November 2000 by Nettwerk. The lead single Yellow rose to number four on the UK Singles Chart after its release on the 26th of June 2000. A minimalistic music video for Yellow featured Martin singing in one continuous shot while walking along Studland Bay in Dorset. Parachutes won a Brit Award for British Album of the Year and a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. The follow-up album A Rush of Blood to the Head arrived in August 2002 and spawned successful singles like In My Place and Clocks. This second record earned the same accolades as its predecessor. X&Y concluded what Coldplay viewed as a trilogy and became the best-selling album of 2005 with worldwide sales of 8.3 million copies. Both Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends from 2008 and X&Y topped charts in over thirty countries. Viva la Vida became the first song by a British act to reach number one in both the United States and United Kingdom simultaneously in the twenty-first century.
Coldplay began work on their fourth studio album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends in October 2006 with producer Brian Eno. They recorded some tracks in churches and other venues across Latin America during early 2007. The band described this new direction as a change from their past three albums which they felt was a completed trilogy. Martin allowed his voice's lower register to take precedence while songs like Violet Hill contained distorted guitar riffs and bluesy undertones. The title track Viva la Vida is considered baroque pop and featured church organs and orchestras alongside layered productions. Ghost Stories released in May 2014 adopted a melancholic style incorporating electronica, R&B, synth-pop and ambient influences. A Head Full of Dreams arrived in December 2015 featuring bright tones and elements of disco and funk. Everyday Life served as a double album with Sunrise and Sunset halves that drew from gospel, blues and classical music. Music of the Spheres released in October 2021 leaned towards pop sounds with progressive rock ballads running over ten minutes long. Moon Music followed in 2024 and topped charts in sixteen countries including the United States.
Coldplay became the first artist to include LED wristbands in live performances according to Pollstar. Their Mylo Xyloto Tour earned more than 171.3 million dollars from ticket sales and ranked as the fourth-highest-grossing tour of 2012 worldwide. The Head Full of Dreams Tour finished on the 15th of November 2017 with a total gross of 523 million dollars from 5.38 million tickets sold. This run ranked as the third-highest-grossing concert tour of all time at that point. The Music of the Spheres World Tour began in San José's Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica on the 18th of March 2022. It visited over forty countries and became the most-attended and second-highest-grossing tour of all time. Coldplay was the first band to gross one billion dollars from their tours. They held two shows at the Narendra Modi Stadium earning the largest stadium attendance of the twenty-first century with more than 111,000 people each night. The concerts used fireworks, lasers and confetti cannons while featuring interactive elements like laser harps and reactables.
With over 160 million records sold worldwide, Coldplay are one of the best-selling music acts of all time. Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head and X&Y have all been listed among the fifty best-selling albums in the United Kingdom. This marks the most appearances by a group in the ranking. The latter album was also the third-fastest-selling album in the country's history upon release. In 2008, Viva la Vida became the first song by a British act to top both the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously since Rod Stewart's Maggie May in 1971. Their namesake album earned the largest digital sales of the 2000s. Coldplay is the first group in Spotify history to reach 100 million monthly listeners. Fuse listed them among the most awarded artists which includes the record for most Brit Awards won by a band. They hold three of the fifty best-selling albums in the United Kingdom and have the most UK Albums Chart number ones without missing the top ten. The British Phonographic Industry called them one of the world's most influential and pioneering acts while the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame added A Rush of Blood to the Head to their Definitive Albums list.
Coldplay are involved in philanthropy, politics and activism supporting numerous humanitarian projects. They donate ten percent of their profits to charity. Martin advocated for an end to extreme global poverty during the 2015 Global Citizen Festival in Central Park's Great Lawn. The band performed at Sound Relief in Sydney Cricket Ground on the 14th of March 2009 as a benefit concert for victims of the Victorian Bushfire Crisis. They released a song called Life Is Beautiful with proceeds donated to relief efforts after the Puebla earthquake in October 2017. In 2023 they featured on the inaugural Time 100 Climate list. For the Music of the Spheres World Tour they developed environmental plans aimed at reducing CO2 emissions by fifty percent compared to previous tours. The shows reduced their carbon footprint by fifty-nine percent as of June 2024. CD and vinyl pressings for Moon Music were crafted from recycled polycarbonate and PET-plastic bottles respectively. They played small shows for charity and held a special livestream at the Amman Citadel in Jordan to match album themes while addressing sustainability concerns.
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Common questions
When did Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland meet to form Coldplay?
Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland met during their first week at University College London in September 1996. They began writing songs together in early 1997 before Guy Berryman joined the trio months later.
What was the original name of the band before they became Coldplay?
The group called themselves Starfish before settling on Coldplay. They recorded numerous demos under the name Big Fat Noises by November 1997 without a drummer.
Which album won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album for Coldplay?
Parachutes won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album upon its release on the 10th of July 2000. The album also won a Brit Award for British Album of the Year.
How many copies of X&Y were sold worldwide when it became the best-selling album of 2005?
X&Y became the best-selling album of 2005 with worldwide sales of 8.3 million copies. It concluded what Coldplay viewed as a trilogy of albums.
When did the Music of the Spheres World Tour begin and where was the opening show held?
The Music of the Spheres World Tour began in San José's Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica on the 18th of March 2022. It visited over forty countries to become the most-attended tour of all time.