Sugar Ray

All Music Guide:

Belying their origins as a raucous funk metal band, Sugar Ray created several of the most breezily infectious summer singles of the late '90s, hitting on an appealing combination of sunny pop, lightly funky hip-hop grooves, and reggae lilt. Pegged as likely one-hit wonders after their 1997 breakthrough smash "Fly," Sugar Ray managed to maintain their career momentum far longer than many observers expected, aided in no small part by the pinup-worthy looks of lead singer Mark McGrath. Of course, it also helped that the band was able to duplicate the carefree vibe and effortless catchiness of "Fly" on a string of subsequent singles, including "Someday" and "Every Morning." Not everything Sugar Ray recorded bore the sonic stamp of those songs, of course, but that was certainly the sound that transformed the band into a mainstream entity.

Sugar Ray formed in Orange County, the heavily suburban area south of Los Angeles, in 1992. Guitarist Rodney Sheppard, bassist Murphy Karges, and drummer Stan Frazier had been playing parties together in a hard rock/heavy metal cover band, Shrinky Dinx, since the late '80s. Karges served as the touring bassist of L.A. punk veterans the Weirdos in 1990, although a story that Sheppard had once been a cast member on Land of the Lost was patently false. Friend Mark McGrath became the lead singer of Shrinky Dinx after jumping up on-stage to perform one night, and they soon began collaborating on original material. Shows in the L.A./San Diego area helped the band build a regional audience, and a friend of the group even financed a music video for one of their original tunes. The video wound up getting them a deal with Atlantic Records in 1994, albeit owing more to the band's visual presence and potential than the song itself.

The threat of legal action by Milton Bradley, which owned the rights to the original Shrinky Dinks toy, forced the band to change its name to Sugar Ray (after boxer Sugar Ray Leonard). Around the same time, they began augmenting their live shows with the turntables of Craig Bullock, aka DJ Homicide, who later became an official member of the group. Sugar Ray released their debut album, Lemonade and Brownies, in the spring of 1995. Dominated by aggressive funk metal, with touches of punk and alternative rock, the record's typically roaring guitars and smart-ass humor seemed to position the band as a potential keg-party favorite. Commercially, however, the album stiffed.

Atlantic decided to try again, based on the enthusiasm Sugar Ray generated on their lengthy supporting tour, and sent them into the studio with producer David Kahne (who, among many other credits, had recently masterminded Sublime's commercial breakthrough). The result, Floored, became double-platinum hit thanks to "Fly," a laid-back groove that was seemingly tailor-made for summertime. With help from reggae toaster Super Cat, "Fly" set new airplay records at modern-rock radio and reigned as one of the summer's most ubiquitous hits. The song didn't sound much like anything else in Sugar Ray's repertoire, however, and when Floored failed to produce a significant follow-up hit, many assumed that "Fly" was a fluke that the band would never be able to repeat.

After partnerning with Kahne once again, Sugar Ray delivered their third album in early 1999. The title, 14:59, was a wry reference to Andy Warhol's "15 minutes of fame" dictum, but as it turned out, the group's time wasn't up by a long shot. 14:59 wound up outselling its predecessor, eventually going triple platinum. The first single, the "Fly"-like "Every Morning," shot to number three on the pop charts and became the group's second number one at modern-rock radio. The follow-up singles were successful this time as well, with the hit songs "Someday" and "Falls Apart" consolidated the group's growing reputation for summery, radio-friendly alternative pop. Plus, the album boasted a guest appearance from hip-hop legend KRS-One. The band played Woodstock '99 that summer and made a guest appearance on Run-D.M.C.'s Crown Royal album.

In the spring of 2000, McGrath made his acting debut portraying a doctor on an episode of the acclaimed drama ER. Sugar Ray returned in the summer of 2001 with their self-titled fourth album, which entered the charts at number six and gave the band its first-ever Top Ten album; meanwhile, lead-off single "When It's Over" became another substantial hit in the familiar Sugar Ray mold. But in spite of reviews claiming that the band sounded more like a band than ever before, Sugar Ray's sales were ultimately disappointing. Hurt by the relatively lackluster performance of follow-up singles "Answer the Phone" and "Ours," the record failed to go platinum. In the Pursuit of Leisure and its single "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)" also underperformed and after the release of The Best of Sugar Ray in 2005, the band was dropped from Atlantic. In 2009 they returned with the single "Boardwalk" along with the album Music for Cougars, both released by the Pulse label.

Wikipedia:

Sugar Ray is a band from Orange County, California. The band, starting off more as an alternative metal band, first gained fame in 1997 with their release of the song "Fly". This song's success, coupled with its pop rock sound that was quite different from the rest of their material at the time, led the band into changing into a mainstream, pop music style. Subsequent albums shared this similar style, and the band landed a number of hits with "Every Morning", "Someday", and "When It's Over".

History

Formation and Lemonade and Brownies (1988–1996)

Prior to Sugar Ray, in the late 1980s, Rodney Sheppard and Stan Frazier had been together in a band under the name The Tories. Later additions Murphy Karges and Mark McGrath changed the band's name to "Shrinky Dinx". After signing with Atlantic Records, the name was changed to Sugar Ray upon threat of lawsuit from the Milton Bradley Company, maker of the Shrinky Dinks toy.

The band's debut album, Lemonade and Brownies, was released in 1995 and though it failed to produce a major hit single it did earn them recognition in alternative circles. Their early work was strongly influenced by funk metal, hip-hop, punk, and alternative rock. This first album leaned on experimenting with those many influences, combining genres.

After they gained fame with the 1997 album Floored in 1998, the single "Speed Home California" and "Mean Machine" off Lemonade and Brownies was featured in the PlayStation game Road Rash 3D, and its Nintendo 64 counterpart Road Rash 64, respectively.

Floored (1997–1998)

Sugar Ray's first mainstream hit came in the summer of 1997 with their song "Fly", which was released on the album Floored and featured reggae artist Super Cat. "Fly" was notable for not sounding anything at all like the rest of the tracks on the album and received frequent radio play, resulting in a number one rank on the Billboard's Hot 100 List. As a result of the success of "Fly", Floored sold well and was certified double platinum. However, by the end of 1997, critics were skeptical that Sugar Ray could put out another successful song and labeled them a one-hit wonder. The same year, Sugar Ray was featured in the movie Father's Day, starring Billy Crystal and Robin Williams. Floored featured a strong nu metal influence and was their last "heavy" album before they moved into a more adult contemporary direction.

14:59 (1999–2000)

Their 1999 album 14:59 was the reply to these accusations, with the title implying that their 15 minutes of fame were not quite up — their "fame clock" reading 14:59. "Every Morning", which received widespread comparisons to "Fly", rose to similar success during the spring of 1999, reaching No. 3 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Their follow-up single "Someday" received extensive airplay later that year as well and reached No. 7 in the U.S. 14:59 outsold its predecessor and was certified triple platinum. Another Billboard hit, "Falls Apart", gained popularity as well.

Sugar Ray (2001–2002)

In 2000, Sugar Ray did a cover version of John Cale and Brian Eno's "Spinning Away" for the soundtrack to "The Beach". Their 2001 self-titled album Sugar Ray produced another hit with "When It's Over", although it failed to reach the same level of success as their previous singles, still reaching No. 13 in the U.S. Other singles such as "Answer the Phone" and "Under the Sun" gained some popularity as well, despite the inefficiency of a billboard spot.

In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003–2005)

Sugar Ray's 2003 effort In the Pursuit of Leisure, and the first single from that album, "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)", received a lukewarm reception. The album also contained the band's cover of Joe Jackson's famous "Is She Really Going Out With Him?". In 2005, Sugar Ray released a greatest hits album, with three new songs, "Shot of Laughter", "Time After Time", and "Psychedelic Bee".

Music for Cougars (2006–present)

After releasing their Greatest Hits album, in 2005, the band went into a period of relative inactivity for a number of years, with Mark McGrath starting a new job as an anchor on the television show Extra. In January 2006, Sugar Ray was released from their recording contract with Atlantic Records. An exception to this was during mid 2007, with their inclusion of the previously unreleased song "Into Yesterday" on the Surf's Up movie soundtrack, and a brief tour in Asia in August 2007 where they headlined SingFest, Singapore's first international music festival.

Sugar Ray appeared on the May 18, 2008, season 3 finale of American Dad, titled "Spring Break-Up", as themselves, playing "Fly" at a Spring Break party. They also starred in the first live-action Scooby-Doo movie as themselves performing the song "Words to Me".

An announcement came the next day, on May 19, 2008, that the band would be entering the studio to record their first album of new material since 2003. It was also announced that the band signed a new record deal with Pulse Recordings and that the new album should be released in the summer of 2009.

On March 6, 2009, Mark McGrath posted an update on Facebook announcing that a new album, titled Music for Cougars, was on the way. It was released on July 21, 2009. The first single was "Boardwalk".

On August 22, 2010, Sugar Ray's Twitter page announced that Craig "DJ Homicide" Bullock has left the band.

Sugar Ray released on their blog a song called "Down With Whatever" that was previously unreleased. Also on their blog, they make mention of new music before planning another tour.

As of April 2012, Murphy Karges and Stan Frazier are no longer in Sugar Ray, and have been replaced by bassist Justin Bivona and drummer Jesse Bivona, respectively. Al Keith has also joined as percussionist, making Sugar Ray a 5-piece band once again.