rock

Daughtry

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Chris Daughtry's band, which turned a talent-show runner-up finish into one of the more durable American rock careers of its era — big-chorus post-grunge built for arenas.

Daughtry formed in 2006 around Chris Daughtry, who had finished in fourth place on the fifth season of American Idol and turned down an offer to join Fuel as its singer instead. He signed with RCA Records and 19 Recordings, then auditioned musicians alongside the label to build a full band, keeping the surname as the group's name for the recognition it already carried.

The self-titled debut, produced by Howard Benson, arrived in November 2006 and topped the Billboard 200. It sold more than six million copies in the United States, was certified six times platinum, and was named Billboard's best-selling album of 2007, the fastest-selling debut rock album in Nielsen SoundScan history. It produced four top 20 hits on the Hot 100, including "It's Not Over" and "Home."

Leave This Town followed in 2009, also reaching number one and eventually selling more than 1.3 million copies, with "No Surprise" becoming the band's fifth top 20 single. Break the Spell (2011) went gold, Baptized (2013) opened at number six, and Cage to Rattle and Dearly Beloved followed in 2018 and 2021, taking the band's overall sales past nine million albums and 25.6 million digital tracks.

The sound stays melodic post-grunge and mainstream hard rock: mid-tempo guitar riffs, polished production and choruses built for large rooms, carried by Chris Daughtry's rough-edged baritone. Daughtry has written with a long list of rock songwriters over the years, among them Shaun Morgan of Seether, Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down, Rob Thomas and Chad Kroeger.

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