Band Bio: Newsboys

Newsboys
left to right, Jody Davis, Michael Tait, Peter Furler, Duncan Phillips, Jeff Frankenstein
Background information
Origin	Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia
Genres	Christian pop, pop rock, Christian rock
Years active	1985–present
Website	http://www.newsboys.com/
Members
Jody Davis Duncan Phillips Jeff Frankenstein Michael Tait
Past members
Peter Furler John James George Perdikis Sean Taylor Phil Yates Corey Pryor Jonathan Geange Vernon Bishop Kevin Mills Phil Joel Bryan Oleson Paul Colman

History

1980s

The band was formed in Mooloolaba, Queensland in 1985 by two young men: Peter Furler and his school mate George Perdikis. Two other teens were added soon after: Furler's best friend, John James, and guitarist Sean Taylor. The band's original name was The News, but once in the U.S. they changed it to The Newsboys to avoid conflict with the U.S.-based band Huey Lewis and the News. The band came to the United States in late 1987 after getting signed with Refuge Communications and released the album Read All About It in 1988 in the United States.

1990s

After signing with Star Song Communications, they released two more albums in 1990 and 1991: Hell Is for Wimps and Boys Will Be Boyz. None of the band's first three albums garnered much attention, and the band's lineup changed with every release. It wasn't until their 1992 album, Not Ashamed (containing a cover of the DeGarmo & Key song "Boycott Hell"), that the band gained notice in the Christian music scene. Steve Taylor, a singer-songwriter and producer, began a partnership with the band, producing the band's record and writing most of the lyrics for their songs. Furler remained the band's primary songwriter and beginning with this album began sharing lead vocal duties with James and continued to do so until James' departure.
In 1994, amidst continued lineup changes (which included the addition of mainstays Jody Davis and Duncan Phillips), the band released Going Public, their fifth album and first real success. The record proved to be a watershed for the group, winning a 1995 Dove Award for "Rock Album of the Year".It also produced three No. 1 hits: "Spirit Thing", "Let It Rain", and, most notably, "Shine". "Shine" won the 1995 Dove for "Rock Recorded Song of the Year". In 2006, CCM Magazine listed "Shine" in the top ten in its ranking of the 100 Greatest Songs in Christian music.
The 1996 follow-up album Take Me to Your Leader was recorded with an expanded line up with new additions Phil Joel and Jeff Frankenstein. The album produced more No. 1 hits: "God Is Not a Secret", "Reality", "Breakfast", and the title track. This album also won the group's third Dove, this time for "Recorded Music Packaging of the Year". This album spawned the newsboys only movie Down Under the Big Top (1996), which was based on the song "Reality".
In late 1997, James announced he would be leaving the band because of a drug and alcohol addiction.With his departure, Furler moved from drums to vocals and auditions were held for the now-vacant drum position. Eventually, Duncan Phillips, who had previously played keyboards and percussion for the band moved over to the drum kit. From 1998 to 2003, the band's lineup of Furler, bassist Phil Joel, guitarist Jody Davis, keyboardist Jeff Frankenstein, and Phillips stayed constant.
The first post-James record, Step Up to the Microphone, sold well with the song "Entertaining Angels" winning the 1999 Dove for "Short Form Music Video of the Year".
The band returned in 1999 with Love Liberty Disco, the band's only album to significantly deviate from their pop rock sound. Instead, this particular album featured more of a disco sound. Still, it produced several hits, including "Beautiful Sound" and the title track. The LLD tour was significantly more popular than the album. This tour featured an inflatable arena, called the Air Dome.
In 1999 Furler co-founded Inpop Records with Wes Campbell, as an independent contemporary Christian music record label.

2000s

In 2000, Newsboys headlined the annual, traveling CCM concert, Festival Con Dios, with Audio Adrenaline and The O.C. Supertones. That same year, Newsboys released a greatest hits compilation, Shine: The Hits, which did not include any songs from the Love Liberty Disco album but included four new songs, two of which ("Joy" and "Who") went to No. 1. After this album, the band did not release any new material until the 2002 release of Thrive. Also in 2002, The Newsboys recorded the track "In the Belly of a Whale" for the end credits of the 2002 Veggie Tales movie Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.
The Newsboys then followed with two praise and worship albums: Adoration: The Worship Album in 2003 and Devotion in 2004. Late in 2003, Davis departed and was replaced by Bryan Oleson on guitar. In 2005, The Newsboys co-authored a book of devotions with Jim Laffoon entitled Our Daily Blog which was published by Inspiro and released on 1 November. In 2006, Oleson left the band in order to focus on his own band Casting Pearls and was replaced by Paul Colman, formerly of Paul Colman Trio.
More radio hits came in 2006 with a live version of "I Am Free" (originally written by Jon Egan of the Desperation Band), and "Wherever We Go". On 31 October 2006, The Newsboys released a pop/rock record entitled GO. GO featured David Eri as a co-writer and the songs "Something Beautiful" and "In Wonder" were big hits on Christian Radio. That December, Joel announced that he would leave the band to pursue his own projects and albums. On 8 May 2007 the band released GO Remixed which was made up of new versions of the songs from GO and featured remixes by Tedd T., Jeff Frankenstein, Max Hsu of Superchick and Lee Bridges.
On 20 November 2007 the Newsboys released their second greatest hits compilation, The Greatest Hits.  This album was followed by Newsboys Live: Houston We Are GO, a CD/DVD combo recording package of a show from the GO Tour, which was released on 30 September 2008. Also in 2008, the band, with Steve Taylor providing vocals, recorded the song "Yo Ho Hero" for The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie

Books

On July 15, 2002, the band released their first book, Shine: Make Them Wonder What You've Got. This book stresses the need for Christians to be unafraid to show their faith, and includes a glow in the dark cover and journaling space. In April 2003, this book was re-released in a Spanish version.
The band co-authored a book with Pastor Jim Lafoon, named Our Daily Blog: Devotions by Pastor Jim Lafoon. This book, released in 2005, contains daily devotions written by Lafoon, with reflections by the band.

Current members

• Duncan Phillips (1993–present) Drums, percussion, formerly keyboards
• Jody Davis (1992–2003, 2009–present) Lead guitar, backing vocals
• Jeff Frankenstein (1994–present) Keyboards, synth bass, backing vocals
• Michael Tait (2009–present) Lead Vocals

Discography

John James era

• Read All About It (1988)
• Hell Is for Wimps (1990)
• Boys Will Be Boyz (1991)
• Not Ashamed (1992)
• Going Public (1994)
• Take Me to Your Leader (1996)

Peter Furler era

• Step Up to the Microphone (1998)
• Love Liberty Disco (1999)
• Thrive (2002)
• Adoration: The Worship Album (2003)
• Devotion (2004)
• Go (2006)
• Go Remixed (2007)
• In the Hands of God (2009)

Michael Tait era

• Born Again (2010)
• God's Not Dead (2011)