Nick Jonas: Discovery and solo album (1999-2005)

The band started as a solo project of Nicholas Jonas. When Nick was 6 years old, he was discovered while singing at a barber shop and was referred to a professional show business manager. At the age of 7, Nicholas began performing on Broadway. He had acted in several plays, including A Christmas Carol (in 2000 as Tiny Tim and Scrooge at eight), Annie Get Your Gun (in 2001 as Little Jake), Beauty and the Beast (in 2002 as Chip), and Les Misérables (in 2003 as Gavroche). After Les Misérables closed, he performed in The Sound of Music (as Kurt) at the Paper Mill Playhouse.

In 2002 while performing in Beauty and the Beast, Nicholas had written a song with his father called “Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer).” With background vocals from the Beauty and the Beast cast, Nick performed the song on the 2002 annual Broadway “Equity Fights AIDS” album, Broadway’s Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure, Vol. 4. In November 2003, INO Records received a demo copy of “Joy To The World (A Christmas Prayer).” The label released the song to Christian radio, where it quickly became popular on Record & Radio’s Christian Adult Contemporary Chart. While Nicholas was working on his solo project, Joseph followed in his footsteps to Broadway, appearing in Baz Lurhmann’s production of La Boheme.

Track listing of Nicholas Jonas’s solo album:

1. “Dear God” – 3:12
2. “Time for Me to Fly” (Nick Jonas Version) – 3:31
3. “Appreciate” – 3:08
4. “When You Look Me In the Eyes” (First Version) – 4:01
5. “Higher Love” – 3:54
6. “Please Be Mine” (Nick Jonas Version) – 4:04
7. “I Will Be the Light” – 4:16
8. “Don’t Walk Away” – 3:35
9. “Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)” – 3:58
10. “Crazy Kind of Crush On You” – 2:54
11. “Wrong Again” – 3:55

It’s About Time (2005-2006)

After being signed to Columbia, the brothers considered naming their group “Sons of Jonas” before settling on the name “Jonas Brothers.”

Throughout 2005, the Jonas Brothers went on several tours, including Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, and The Click Five. They spent the latter portion of the year on an anti-drug tour with Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Girls. Additionally, they opened for The Veronicas in early 2006.

For the album, titled It’s About Time, the band collaborated with several writers, including Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Michael Mangini (Joss Stone), Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), Billy Mann (Destiny’s Child, Jessica Simpson) and Steve Greenberg (Joss Stone, Hanson). The album was initially supposed to be released in February 2006, but was pushed back several times. The delay was due to executive changes at Sony (the parent company of Columbia) and the executives’ desire to have “another lead single” on the album. For the album, the Jonas Brothers covered two hit songs by UK band Busted – “Year 3000″ and “What I Go to School For”.

The Jonas Brothers’ first single, “Mandy,” was released on December 27, 2005. Its music video was shown on MTV’s Total Request Live on February 22, 2006 and reached number four. Another song, “Time for Me to Fly,” was released on the Aquamarine soundtrack, also in February. In March, “Mandy” was featured in the Nickelodeon television film Zoey 101: Spring Break-Up and the Zoey 101: Music Mix soundtrack album, with Nicholas Jonas listed as the artist name. The group’s music was also featured on Cartoon Network’s Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. The band covered “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)” from Pirates of the Caribbean for the DisneyMania 4 album, released on April 4, 2006. Over the summer of 2006, the Jonas Brothers went on tour with Aly & AJ. The Jonas Brothers also created the theme song for the second season of American Dragon Jake Long, airing from June 2006 to September 2007 on the Disney Channel.

It’s About Time was finally released on August 8, 2006. According to the band’s manager, it was only a “limited release” of 50,000 copies. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers then considered switching labels.

On October 3, 2006, Nick’s 2004 solo single, “Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)”, was re-released on Joy to the World: The Ultimate Christmas Collection. Also in October, the Jonas Brothers covered “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid. Along with a music video, the song was released on a two-disk special-edition release of The Little Mermaid soundtrack. The second single from It’s About Time was “Year 3000.” The song became popular on Radio Disney, and the music video debuted on Disney Channel in January 2007.

The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.

Jonas Brothers (2007-2008)

After shortly being without a label, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007. Around the same time, brothers began appearing in commercials for Baby Bottle Pops, singing the jingle. On March 24, two additional songs on two different albums were released: “Kids of the Future” from the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack (Based on Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America”), and “I Wanna Be like You” from DisneyMania 5.

Their self-titled second album, Jonas Brothers, was released on August 7, 2007. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week. Two singles with music videos were also released around this time – “Hold On” two weeks before, and “S.O.S.” just after the release of the album.

In August, the Jonas Brothers made several appearances on television. On August 17, they guest-starred in an episode of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana titled “Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas.” They also performed “We Got the Party” with Miley Cyrus in the episode, which premiered after High School Musical 2 and was viewed by 10.7 million people that night. On August 24, the Jonas Brothers performed two songs at the Miss Teen USA contest. The following day, the closing ceremonies of the Disney Channel Games was aired, featuring a performance from the Jonas Brothers. The games were taped on April 27, 2007 in Orlando, Florida. On August 26, the Jonas Brothers co-presented an award with Miley Cyrus at the Teen Choice Awards.

On November 18, 2007, they performed at the American Music Awards, performing the song “S.O.S.” On November 22, the brothers appeared in the 81st annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. For their final performance of 2007, the three brothers performed their singles “Hold On” and “S.O.S.” at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

The Jonas Brothers kicked off their Look Me In The Eyes Tour on January 31, 2008 in Tucson, Arizona. They performed several new songs on the tour that will be on their 3rd studio album, A Little Bit Longer.

A Little Bit Longer (2008-present)

The Jonas Brothers third studio album, A Little Bit Longer, is set to be released in the United States on August 12, 2008.

After the Look Me In The Eyes Tour had ended on March 22, 2008, the Jonas Brothers announced that they will be opening up for Avril Lavigne’s Best Damn Tour along with Boys Like Girls, but will only be going for the second leg of the tour in Europe.

The band filmed a Disney Channel Original Movie called Camp Rock where they play a band called “Connect Three.” Joe plays the lead male role and lead singer “Shane Gray”; Nick plays the role of “Nate,” a guitarist; and Kevin plays the role of “Jason,” also a guitarist. A soundtrack for the movie was released on June 17, 2008. The movie premiered on June 20 in the USA on Disney Channel, and Canada on Family Channel. It will air around the world throughout the summer.

Their Disney Channel reality short series, Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream, premiered on Disney Channel on May 16, 2008. The show, which will tentatively run until September 5, 2008, documents their lives on the Look Me In The Eyes Tour.

In the summer, the Jonas Brothers will start their North American tour, the Burning Up Tour, promoting A Little Bit Longer. The tour kicks off July 4, 2008 at Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto, Ontario. A Disney Digital 3D production crew will be filming the two shows in Anaheim, CA on July 13 and 14, which will be made into a theatrical movie and will be released in theatres as a 3D concert movie in late January or early February 2009.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/