美国偶像冠军Chris Daughtry组的乐队。
虽然在第五届“美国偶像大赛”中并未入围最终的三甲,但凭借其颇具爆发力的嗓音得到广大观众喜爱的“光头人气王”克里斯·多特里(Chris Daughtry却是那届“美国偶像”给人留下印象最深的歌手之一。在凯丽·皮克勒(Kellie Pickler)之后,Chris Daughtry是同届的美国偶像中第二位发行正式专辑的歌手。作为Chris Daughtry的个人乐队Daughtry的首张正式专辑,这张《Daughtry》在全美发行首周的销量达到30万4千张,夺得了本周Billboard 200专辑榜的亚军。
其实,美国偶像大赛的风格并不适合缺少幽默感,缺乏青春活力的Chris Daughtry。和第四届美国偶像大赛中的Bo Bice一样,比起来“美国偶像大赛”冠军这个头衔,热爱摇滚乐的Chris Daughtry更想成为的是一位摇滚明星。和Bo Bice相比,Chris Daughtry不仅仅是拥有更出色的嗓音,而且其他方面也更具玩摇滚的素质。在第五届美国偶像大赛还没内有完全结束的时候,Chris Daughtry已经组建了Daughtry乐队,就是为了证明他自己具有做音乐的实力。与此前Bo Bice的个人专辑《The Real Thing》相比,这张《Daughtry》中的绝大多数歌曲都由Chris Daughtry和他乐队的成员共同创作。当然,作为一名歌坛新人,很多时候还是需要老将帮助的。在这张专辑中,Daughtry不仅得到了曾与“我的化学浪漫”(My Chemical Romance)和All-American Rejects等当红乐队合作过的制作人Howard Benson的帮助,就连我们十分熟悉的金属吉他英雄Slash也跨刀助阵,与Daughtry合作了一首《What I Want》。从专辑中的歌曲来看,除了与Slash合作的《What I Want》以外,开场曲《It's Not Over》,《Home》,《Gone》和《What About Now》等多首单曲的旋律都还是非常不错的。
对于Chris Daughtry这样一位半路出家玩摇滚的歌手来说,这张《Daughtry》可以算作是一样相当出色的处女专辑。作为一位摇滚乐队的主唱,Chris Daughtry的嗓音条件和驾驭不同音域歌曲的能力都比与他有几分相似的Nickelback主唱Chad Kroeger要更出色,但如果以更高的标准来衡量Chris Daughtry和他乐队的这张专辑的话,可以说,这张《Daughtry》只能说是他较好的完成了从“美国偶像”一位普通的参赛选手到原创音乐人之间的转变。但要想在美国摇滚届真正开创出属于自己的一片天地的话,Chris Daughtry还有很长的路要走。
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Bo Bice proved that American Idol could have a rocker as a finalist, but Chris Daughtry proved that the show could generate a successful rocker outside the context of the show. Of course, it helped that he was the polar opposite of Bice, a shaggy retro-rocker soaked in the South. Bold and bald, Daughtry was the picture of a modern rocker, living by the rulebook written by Live and Fuel. These were the qualities that helped make Chris Daughtry the most successful new rock & roll singer of 2006, as well as one of the most successful Idol graduates in the show's history.
Like many American Idol finalists, Daughtry had a long run as an amateur musician. The North Carolina native -- born in Roanoke Rapids, he lived in Charlottesville, VA, before establishing himself in the Greensboro area -- began singing in local rock bands when he was 16 years old. He continued to play local shows after his high-school graduation in 1998, marrying his girlfriend Deanna several months after the January 2000 birth of their son Griffin (he also adopted Deanna's daughter from a previous marriage). Family man he may have been, but Daughtry didn't let his rock & roll dream die, as he continued to play guitar and sing in a band called Absent Element. He also auditioned for Rock Star: INXS in 2005 but was rejected -- a rejection that turned out to be rather fortunate, as it freed him to audition for the far more popular televised singing competition American Idol.
Daughtry was featured heavily during the show's seemingly never-ending audition rounds for two reasons: he was telegenic, and he capitalized on the rocker promise of Bo Bice and Constantine Maroulis from the previous season. Moreover, he was bald and handsome, had a terrific smile, and his devotion to family made for great TV. Daughtry sailed through to Hollywood and made it into the final 12, where he was hailed as a standout and soon seemed to be a favorite to win. Daughtry mania began to peak in March when his rendition of Fuel's "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" caused such a sensation that rumors began to fly that Fuel wanted to hire him as their lead singer -- something that proved to be no rumor, as the modern rock group, savoring the new press, practically pleaded for his presence after he was voted off the show. But this was still two long months away -- two months in which he continued to be one of the top draws in the season, even courting some controversy when he sang Live's arrangement for Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line." This moody reinterpretation was misinterpreted as a Daughtry original, and on the results show he had to clarify where he had learned this version. Still, this controversy paled to his exit from the show in May: Daughtry was one of the final four and Katharine McPhee just narrowly beat him, a result that visibly shocked the rocker. Daughtry would soon have the last laugh.
After he was kicked off of Idol, he turned down Fuel's standing offer of replacing their lead singer and set off on his own career, signing with Idol's 19 Entertainment group and RCA Records in July 2006. By the time his album materialized in November, it had turned into a project by a band called DAUGHTRY (spelled all in capital letters), whose lineup featured guitarist Jeremy Brady, guitarist Josh Steely, bassist Josh Paul, and drummer Joey Barnes. They did not play as a band on the finished album, though, as Brady was replaced after the album's release by Brian Craddock -- a matter of semantics overlooked by most, especially in light of the album's blockbuster success. Like many hotly anticipated albums of the SoundScan era, it debuted high on the charts, but it surprisingly remaining in the Top Ten for months. Leadoff single "It's Not Over" proved to be equally popular. This meant that DAUGHTRY was not only a huge hit by Idol standards, it was one of the few hit rock albums -- period -- in 2006.
By February, it was evident that Chris Daughtry's popularity eclipsed his American Idol rivals Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee, as DAUGHTRY was certified the fastest-selling debut album in SoundScan history. Five hits charted in the Top 40 before the singer set to work on a sophomore album, Leave This Town.