Coldplay are Chris Martin (lead vocals, guitar) from Devon, Jon Buckland (guitar) from North Wales, Guy Berryman (bass) from Scotland and Will Champion (drums) from Southampton. So, you ask, how the hell did these four guys meet up to become the phenomenon that is Coldplay? Well, the answer to that is University College, London, where the four were brought together on their degree courses and began to devote more time to their music than their studies.
Their similar musical tastes initially brought them together and it was not long before they realised they were onto something good, something good enough for them to spend some time thinking up a name for the band in fact. However, somewhat lacking inspiration, they decided to steal the name Coldplay from another local band that had recently split up.
Their first release was self-financed and intended as a demo aimed at record companies, although it was not sufficient for them to gain a deal through it. Only 500 copies of the "Safety" EP were pressed and most were given away, indeed only 50 were available for general sale; making the EP something of a collectors item to Coldplay fans now.
After this the band had no choice but to tour the country searching for a record deal, a mission which ended in success this time. Fierce Panda Records front-man Simon Williams was part of a crowd of 150 to whom Coldplay played in London in December 1998, and he was very impressed with what he heard. Things then moved rapidly on, with the band featuring in NME and being proclaimed as the next big thing for 1999, all this despite still being unsigned.
This was all to change though as "Brothers And Sisters" was released in April 1999 on Fierce Panda, with 2500 copies being produced. The record was brought to the attention of Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq, who played it on his Evening Session, and this ensured a first UK chart entry for Coldplay, albeit at number 92! The publicity could only serve to help Coldplay though, and they signed to major label Parlophone in the summer and also appeared at Glastonbury on the new bands stage.
Work then began on a debut album, but Parlophone were keen on some more releases and so the "Blue Room" EP was released in October, again as a limited edition, but with 5000 copies available this time. This gained good press and was followed up with the band's first Official UK Top 40 hit, "Shiver" entering the charts at number 35 in March 2000. This brought Coldplay into the public eye and they started to build up a solid fanbase, tours with Terris and Muse adding to this.
The band then did their own tour as headliners and played many sold-out venues, before the release of "Yellow" in June which catapulted Coldplay firmly into the big-time, entering the charts at number 4. This was the cumulation of lots of hard work by the band, plus some major airplay for the song, and gained Coldplay their first appearance on Top Of The Pops. Yellow was still being played all the way up the release of the much-anticipated debut Coldplay album, named "Parachutes", which helped the records assault of the charts; it entering at a proud number 1 in July 2000.
"Parachutes" was heralded as the best album of the year by much of the music press and received rave reviews from all, while another Glastonbury appearance also boosted the bands success. Festival dates at T In The Park and V2000, plus a massive headlining tour from October through until Christmas, firmly put Coldplay into the limelight and cemented their place in the British music scene. A Brit Award for best album was also gained as Parachutes lingered in the top ten of the album chart for months.
The third single from Parachutes was released in late Ocober of 2000. "Trouble" reached number 10 in the Official UK Top 40 Chart, a strong follow-up to the success of "Yellow", and the band then announced that it would be the last single to come from "Parachutes". However, a fourth single was released in Europe, but not the UK, in the shape of "Don't Panic". The band claiming that they did not want to "Over-Coldplay" the British market, feeling that the UK had heard quite enough of them over the last year! The single was available on import from all good record stores though, but could not manage to chart on import sales alone, a feat only expected by the most ardent of optomists among the Coldplay fans.