Shinedown is an American hard rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. The band was formed in early 2001 by four friends Brent Smith, Jasin Todd, Brad Stewart, and Barry Kerch. Though they have gone through many line-up changes, the band’s two main members, lead vocalist Brent Smith and drummer Barry Kerch still remain. The band has released three albums on a major label, all three of them spawning successful singles such as “45″, “Save Me”, and “Devour”.
     Metal mavens Shinedown first appeared in 2003 with the release of “Leave a Whisper.” The group made it onto modern rock radio thanks to the single “Fly from the Inside.” Singer Brent Smith borrows heavily from the Scott Weiland template of grungy crooning. Shinedown are known as road warriors, having garnered much of their fanbase through nonstop touring. Other notable bands from Jacksonville, Fla., include Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers Band and Mofro.
     The band is notable for having a song performed by an American Idol contestant; Chris Daughtry sang their single “I Dare You” during a performance. The band has formed a fairly stable fanbase and has had considerable commercial success in their years. The band has also become legendary for their energetic and personal live performances. Their most recent album, The Sound of Madness, was released in 2008 on Atlantic Records. Their debut album, Leave a Whisper was certified Platinum in 2006.

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Bon Jovi

     Bon Jovi is a hard rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi, the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 1980s. Over the past 25 years, Bon Jovi has sold over 120 million albums worldwide, including 34 million in the United States alone.
     With the possible exception of Def Leppard, no other band defined the Pop Metal era of the 1980s better than Bon Jovi. Everyone’s favorite furry-chested heartthrob Jon Bon Jovi has appeared as an actor in several feature films. Rocker Billy “Stroke Me” Squier produced the demo tape that got Bon Jovi signed in 1983. According to one bio, Jon Bon Jovi was offered the lead in the movie “Footloose”. Kevin Bacon stars in the movie. Jon Bon Jovi’s first recording was the song “R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas” for a “Star Wars” Christmas album.  
     Bon Jovi formed in 1983 with lead singer Jon Bon Jovi, guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, bassist Alec John Such, and drummer Tico Torres. Other than the departure of Alec John Such in 1994 (which pared the lineup down to a quartet), the lineup has remained the same for the past 25 years. After two moderately successful albums in 1984 and 1985, the band scored big with Slippery When Wet (1986) and New Jersey (1988), which sold a combined 19 million copies in the U.S. alone, charted eight Top Ten hits (including four number one hits), and launched the band into global super stardom. After non-stop touring, the band went on hiatus after the New Jersey Tour in 1990, during which time Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora both released successful solo albums. In 1992, the band returned with the double platinum Keep the Faith and has since created a string of platinum albums throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

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