How You Remind Me

Background:

“We thought about when we were selling 5,000 copies of our record a week last year, when all we wanted to do was start selling 150,000 records a week, right. And now that we’re doing it, we don’t even think about it, all we ever think about is time off! I think we’d almost give up one week's sales for one week off. Give up 100,000 records just to go to Hawaii.” Chad Kroeger

Canadian musician Chad Kroeger, born Chad Robert Turton, is most well-known as the singer and guitarist for the rock band Nickelback. He is frequently referred to as the “Kurt Cobain of the 21st Century” and the “Scary Jesus man on TV.” With Nickelback, he is probably best-associated with the monster hit “How You Remind Me,” which became the No. 1 Most Played Song of 2002. Even without Nickelback, Kroeger has proved himself a great artist thanks to the US Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock number 1 hit “Hero” (2002), a themed song for the blockbuster smash hit movie Spider-Man. For his fine efforts, Kroeger received a Grammy and Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations.

Outside the limelight, Kroeger is being charged with drunk driving after being arrested for drag racing on June 22, 2006, in Surrey, British Columbia. Police officers stopped his car after they became suspicious of how the vehicle was being driven. Kroeger’s attorney, Marvin Stern, stated in a report that the Nickelback singer “hopes to make it clear to all his admirers that drinking and driving is something that should be avoided at all costs.”


Bothered Youngster

Childhood and Family:

Born Chad Robert Turton, on November 15, 1974, Chad Kroeger (Kroeger is the family name of Chad’s half-brother, Mike, and was used by Chad from childhood) was raised in Hanna, Alberta, Canada. Growing up idolizing guitar bands and dreaming of starting his own, Chad started to teach himself to play the guitar when he was 13 year old. A year later, however, he was sent to a juvenile detention centre for repeatedly burgling his junior high school. He was finally returned, and overcame his teen troubles.


All the Right Reasons

Career:

After graduating from high school, Chad Kroeger started touring during the early 1990s as the front guitarist in a covers band, along with his older half-brother, Mike, on bass and Ryan Peake on flute. The group performed records by likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The covers band eventually separated and in 1995, Kroeger formed a band named Nickelback in his hometown of Hanna, Alberta, together with his brother Mike (bass), Ryan Peake (guitar) and Daniel Adair (drums). Kroeger himself serves as the vocalist and guitarist for Nickelback.

Heading from Hanna, Alberta to Vancouver, Nickelback started to make a name for themselves with releases that created waves on rock charts in Canada. Thanks to the mega-successful breakout single “How You Remind Me,” taken from 2001’s Silver Side Up, Kroeger finally broke into American market and emerged as a popular figure in the alternative rock worldwide. Silver Side Up, which was sold over 6 million copies in the U.S., also spawned the No. 1 hits “Too Bad” and “Never Again.”

Kroeger’s rising status was further confirmed in 2002 when he teamed up with Saliva vocalist Josey Scott to work on a soundtrack for the box office smash hit movie Spider-Man, “Hero.” The themed song was an instant huge hit. It became No. 1 hit at US Mainstream Rock and US Modern Rock and No. 13 at US Hot 100. Additionally, the song also brought Kroeger such nods as a Grammy nomination for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media and a Broadcast Film Critics Association nomination for Best Song.

The same year, he penned and performed the song “Why Don’t You & I” for Santana’s Shaman, as well as co-founded his own record label called 604 Records. Among the groups presently signed to the label are Theory of a Deadman, Marianas Trench and Armchair Cynics.

In 2003, Kroeger and Nickelback released their third album, The Long Road, which was certified triple platinum in America alone and had sold 5 millions copies worldwide in 2004. The album produced the radio hits “Someday,” “Feelin’ Way Too Damn Good” and “Figured You Out.” To promote the album, Nickelback embarked on their world tour in the summer of 2004.

Seven months after the release of The Long Road, Nickelback’s follow-up album, All the Right Reasons, hit the music shelves. Its lead single, “Photograph” (written by Kroeger), is now on heavy rotation on various radio and streaming radio stations. Among the album’s 11 tracks are “Side of a Bullet,” Fight For All The Wrong Reasons,” “Animals” and “Savin’ Me.”

“I really want to make music for the right reasons. The most important reason is to make music because you love it. And I think that’s why we spend so much time on it. On this record, we didn’t want to overlook any small detail.” Chad Kroeger on All the Right Reasons


Awards:
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