The rock band Matchbox Twenty was formed in 1995 in Florida. The current lineup includes Rob Thomas, Kyle Cook, Brian Yale, and Paul Doucette. They hold several awards, including two American Music and People’s Choice awards. The band is mostly famous for such hits as “Push”, “Bent”, “How Far We’ve Come”.
Matchbox Twenty used to be called Matchbox 20, which is what’s written on the matchbox with twenty matches. The band managed to sell more than 40 million album copies worldwide. Rob Thomas, who was born in Germany, is the author of most of the lyrics and the leading vocalist of the band. Before creating Matchbox 20, Tomas, Yale, and Doucette were part of the band called Tabitha’s Secret.
In 1996, Matchbox Twenty released their first album Yourself or Someone Like You. Even though the first single “Long Day” wasn’t successful, in the next two years several songs from that album, including “Push”, “3 am”, and “Real World” became very popular and got high spots on the charts. Eventually, the LP sold over 12 million copies in the USA and received a diamond status.
For several years the band was giving concerts and going on tours in support of that first album. At that time, they recorded a live version of their top-40 hit “3 a.m.” for a charity album Live Lounge X. The proceeds from that LP went to cerebral palsy research.