Education
He was home-schooled.
He was home-schooled.
Originally dropping out of school to become a construction worker he soon went on to found a band with his eldest brother Nathan. Raised in the church by his preacher father Ivan and mother Betty Ann he spent most of his childhood as a nomad while his father went from church to church around the Bible Belt. Either home-schooled or enlisted in parochials the boys would sometimes play tunes for the church. Although mostly veiled from secular music they say their father would often play rock records in the car and Caleb himself used to sneak
a radio under his pillow at night just to listen to the classics. Eventually Jared introduced the band to broader music, listening to such as the Pixies and The Velvet Underground while in public school, with musical influences still rolling in even as some of the boys near their 30's.
Signed to RCA in 2002 their EP "Holy Roller Novacaine" was released in 2003 with four of it's songs being remade and re-released on their first full album "Youth and Young Manhood. Both faired well, especially overseas, where they were put on the map as a promising act. Their third "Aha Shake Heartbreak" soon followed in 04-05 which broadened their audience and even garnered then some praise from fellows rockers like Elvis Costello. They ended up touring with the likes of Bob Dylans, Pearl Jam, and U2 for much of 05-06. With Dylan citing "Trani" as "one hell of a song" and wishing he could just keep the Kings for the rest of the tour. After touring in '06 the boys headed back to the studio to record their "Because of the Times". The album was released in '07 with praise and critism on the maturity and lack thereof that they seem to have found. Evenstill they debuted with a number one album in Russia and Ireland, and a big hit with their single "On Call" in Britain and Ireland. Their latest album "Only By the Night" has gotten them a bigger audience (and distaste from seasoned fans because of the so-called new fans) as well as further cementing them as one of the great modern acts today. Debuting at number one and remaining there for 4 weeks on the UK album charts, as well as going 5x platinum boosted their appeal. With singles such as "Use Somebody" and "Sex on Fire" both charting number one positions their homeland finally seemed to be taking notice. They were soon nominated for a Grammy in '09 for "Sex on Fire" which they subsequently won during the Feb. 8th ceremonies. They aso won the titles of Best International Band/Album during the '09 Brit Awards at which they also performed.
Praised by critics and idolized by fans this lucky mix of Southern, Garage, and Alternative rock puts a pulsating, entrancing melody through you as soon as you listen. With new influences starting to come out of the woodworks for Caleb as well as his bandmates their follow-up will be happily waited for. Working with the likes of Angelo Petraglia and Ethan Johns (whose dad Glyn Johns produced classics for the likes of Zeppelin, which in an ironic twist is the band the Kings got a boxset of that "blew their minds") on most of if not all of their albums. Kings of Leon continue on their coup d'etat whilst fans and newbies eagerly give up the ghost.