the story: It all started when Rodney and Stan started a band called "The Tories" when they were in high school. Mark thought they were the greatest. "I'd follow them around like heroes. Like, 'Hey Rod, can I carry your guitar?' One night they were playing at a party. I had my Ratt cut-off shirt on, flexing my non muscles, and they called me up. I screamed and did a flip into the pool. They were more amused than impressed."
When "The Tories" broke up, Rodney and Stan sought out Mark to start a new band. They soon asked Murphy, who Stan knew because he was dating Murf's sister, to play bass. Together, they formed, "The Shrinky Dinx". "It was a lame little toy, and we were a lame little band, so it worked out perfectly.", jokes Mark. The played together while Mark attended USC, and rehearsed in the Dental Lab where Rod was training to be an ortodontist. They played a bunch of little frat parties, and soon made an amature music video which they sent to Atlantic records and got signed. Then, Hasbro Toy company threated a lawsuit for using their products name for their band. Their first choice was "Black Elvis", then one of the older men who worked at Atlantic at the time coached Sugar Ray Leonard. They thought it would be a shame to not name themsleves after the boxer. Another way they got their name was from Mark, "I'm a huge fan of boxing, and I like to abuse the band with sports references. I was like, 'Why don't we call our selves Sugar Ray?' And they were like 'No, maybe, lets see what else we come up with.' Then I told them, 'Well, it's apart of Americana, like 7UP and Levi Jeans....' and they were like 'Oh ok!'." They went into the studio after the got signed to Atlantic Records in 1994, and recorded their debut album, 'Lemonade and Brownies', a hard core rock album. DJ Lethal was not able to go one tour with the boys due to his comitment to The House of Pain. They had a tryout and DJ Homicide, aka, Craig Bullock was chosen. The debut album had poor sales, but the did manage to have a small and deditcated group {of fans}. When it came time to record thier follow up album, 'Floored', the band was under way too much pressure to produce a hit. Mark had got upset and quit the band. The four men were in the studio one night trying to figure out how to get out of this rut when Craig came up with a drum loop. Soon after, Murphy fell into the beat and Stan sung the first words out of his mouth, "I just wanna fly." meaning "I just wanna get the F*** outta here.". The band seeked out Mark, again, who was missing for five days. They found him at home and pleaded that he came back. "I was ready to quit and had stormed out of the studio," says Mark, "That's when they came up for the music for 'FLY'.". Mark wrote the verses, and hated the song. He wanted to do the same hard core raw punk they used to do. 'Floored' was realeased summer of '97. Soon, 'FLY' became a huge mainstream song. When the song was becomming old, Sugar Ray released another single, 'RPM', the song failed to make it in the mainstream rock. By this time, Sugar Ray was placed on the One-Hit Wonder list.
Through the next year, Sugar Ray went on many shows, Letterman, Leno, O'Brian, SMF2, Carson Daly show, and many more. All the had to show was that one song. On the last 'Floored' tour date, March 7th, 1998, they began writing material for their next album. An album in which would be completely different then anything else they did in the past. They wanted to be more musically inclinded, and they were no longer afraid to say "I love you" in a song. Their guitarist Rondey got married and people in the band lost loved ones. The most devistating was the lose of Stan's mother to cancer, in which the new album is dedicated to her. They also made the album for the fans, Sugar Ray wanted to write and make music people wanted to hear, and could relate to. The first name for the new album was 'Raised By Wolves'. Then they changed it to 14:59, after Andy Warhols famous saying "Everyone has their 15 minutes of fame." The album is saying they are still here and they still have that one second left."So we thought that we'd beat everybody to the punch. Everybody's put us on that one-hit-wonder cruiseship, so we just said, 'F*** it, it was a great run with 'Fly,' let's name the record '14:59.' If the album fails miserably, it's genius, and if it succeeds, it's still genius." 14:59 was released on January 12, 1999, but back in early December of 1998, they released their first single, 'Every Morning'. By the time '14:59' was released, the song was already huge. Sugar Ray has overcome their One-Hit Wonder mark, and have another hit single, 'Someday', and their newest single, 'Falls Apart'. Will the band record another album? Depends, if 'Falls Apart' does great, on both radio and video, they will go back on tour, if not, the boys will go back to the studio and record a new album. Either way, we'll hear from Sugar Ray in the future.
--submitted by Adopt-a-Star team member, Felecia
the CDs:
(click on title to purchase)
- Lemonade and Brownies (1995)
- Floored (1997)
- 14:59 (1999)
other works:
- appeared in movie, Father's Day (1997) as themselves
trivia:
- When they first formed the 'Dinx, Mark got mad a quit. He said he sunk into a deep depression, then one night, he got back up onto stage and rejoined the band and he was fine!
- They've been together 10 1/2 years
- Mark and Stan ran track and played basketball together at Corona del Mar High School
- the first song they ever wrote, "Caboose" can be found on Lemonade and Brownies
the guys: Sugar Ray is Mark McGrath, Stan Frazier, Murphy Karges, Rodney Sheppard, and Craig "DJ Homicide" Bullock.
Adopt-a-Star
Adopt-a-Star friend responsible for this page:
Felecia
Thanks Felecia!
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