Emerson Drive

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Emerson Drive is a Grammy Award-nominated Canadian country music band which started out in Grande Prairie, Alberta in 1995 as 12 Gauge. The band is composed of Brad Mates (lead vocals), Danick Dupelle (lead guitar), Mike Melancon (drums), Dale Wallace (keyboards), and David Pichette (fiddle). Former bass guitarist Patrick Bourque committed suicide in late 2007, and has not been replaced with an official bass guitarist.

Early on, the band found minor success in Canada, releasing two albums under the name of 12 Gauge, the first Open Season was a product of winning a local "Battle of the Bands" contest. They charted two minor singles on the Canadian charts and a music video on CMT. By 2003, they had been re-named Emerson Drive, and had moved to Nashville, Tennessee to find a major label record deal. Emerson Drive recorded two albums on the DreamWorks Records label, and charted several hits on both the U.S. and Canadian country music charts. After DreamWorks' collapse in 2005, Emerson Drive signed to Midas Records Nashville, where they resumed their streak of hit singles, including their first Number One single in "Moments". In summer 2008, Midas Records decided to discontinue their country division. As a result, Emerson Drive was moved over to The Valory Music Co. and the CD which Emerson Drive had been working on, Believe, became a co-partnership with Midas Records, who kept ownership of the CD while The Valory Music Co. was in charge of promotion and distribution of Emerson Drive and Believe.

History

12 Gauge

12 Gauge was formed in February 1995 when Brad Mates entered a talent contest at his local high school in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Through the contest, Mates (lead vocals) met Pat Allingham (fiddle) and Chris Hartman (piano/guitar/vocals). They decided to form a band with Dan Binns (lead electric guitar) David Switzer (acoustic guitar), Jeff Loberg (bass) and Remi Barre (drums). The band started practicing in Mates' basement and entering singing contests. In 1996, they won the opportunity to write and record an EP titled Open Season.

12 Gauge began work on their second album, Until You Walk the Tracks, the following year. By this time, Switzer had left the group and drummer Remi Barre had been replaced by Derrick Kuzemchuk. Soon after the release, Binns left the group. He was replaced by Dan Bauman (lead guitar). Bauman stayed with the band for just over a year, then he and Kuzemchuk left the group. They were then replaced by Danick Dupelle (lead guitar) and Mike Melancon (drums). They toured around Canada to support the album, charting two songs in Canada and even releasing a music video to CMT Canada ("Some Trains Never Come").

Emerson Drive

After finding success in Canada, the band headed to Nashville for an American record deal. They also hired Gerry Leiske as their manager, replacing previous manager Lionel Allingham (father of fiddler, Pat Allingham). After discovering the name 12 Gauge was already registered to an American rap group, the band had to search for a new name. They also dropped their old-fashion country image (dressing in trenchcoats holding rifles), after the recent tragedy at Columbine. They finally settled on the name "Emerson Drive", named after a local road, the Emerson Trail.

DreamWorks Records signed the group in 2000, and released their debut single, "I Should Be Sleeping," in 2001. The song was a top 5 hit on the Billboard singles chart, as was the follow-up single, "Fall into Me." DreamWorks released their album, Emerson Drive, on May 21, 2002, debuting at #13 on Billboard. With their success came more changes to the line-up. Jeff Loberg exited the group to focus on his songwriting in August 2002, and was replaced by Patrick Bourque. Chris Hartman was replaced by Dale Wallace after he left to return to school. Finally, in June 2003, David Pichette joined the group after Pat Allingham parted to spend more time with his family. Lead singer Brad Mates is the only member from the group's original line-up. During late 2003 and early 2004, Emerson Drive opened up for Shania Twain during her Up! Tour.

What If?

Emerson Drive recruited pop star Richard Marx to produce their second album, What If?, on June 29, 2004. Though the album debuted at #12 on Billboard's Country Albums chart, singles released from the album struggled on the country chart. "Last One Standing" peaked at #21, while "November" only reached #41. While the band was still doing well in their native Canada ("If You Were My Girl" was a top 10), DreamWorks dropped the band from their label in 2004.

Countrified

Keith Follesé and Brad Allen were launching a new record label, Midas Records Nashville, when they heard Emerson Drive. They quickly signed the band as their flagship artist. With Alabama's Teddy Gentry and veteran Nashville musician Josh Leo producing, Emerson Drive released their fifth album, Countrified, on September 19, 2006. The first single, "A Good Man," brought the band back to the American top 20, while the second single, "Moments", gave the group its first No. 1 single on the American country music charts. The third single "You Still Own Me" made the American top 25 in early 2008. The band also received the awards for Best Group [1] and Song of the Year "Moments[2]" in the 2007 AboutCountry awards hosted by About.com.^[1][2] Bass guitar player Patrick Bourque left the band in July 2007. At the 2007 Canadian Country Music Awards, Emerson Drive was named Group of the Year. They also won awards for Single of the Year and CMT Video of the Year, both for "Moments".

Death of Patrick Bourque

Patrick Bourque, formerly the band's bass guitarist, resigned from the band in August 2007. On September 26, of that same year, he was found dead in his Montreal, Quebec home.^[3] The cause of death was not released by police. The members of Emerson Drive learned of his death while traveling to a concert in Valentine, Nebraska. Lead singer of Emerson Drive, Brad Mates, later stated on an episode of CMT Insider that Bourque's death was ruled a suicide.^[4]

Believe

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Emerson Drive's fourth studio album, Believe, will be released in late 2009, while the CD was released in Canada on May 5, 2009. The lead single off the album, "Belongs to You", entered Top 40 on the US charts and Top 10 on the Canadian country charts in December 2008. The album's second Canadian single, "Believe" was released to radio in March 2009.

Discography

Studio albums

• Open Season (1996)
• Until You Walk the Tracks (1997)
• Emerson Drive (2002)
• What If? (2004)
• Countrified (2006)
• Believe (2009)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Emerson Drive Official Site
• Emerson Drive at MySpace