Jonas Brothers

2005–07: It's About Time

In 2005, Joe, Kevin and Nick recorded "Please Be Mine", their first song recorded. Upon hearing the song, the Columbia Records president Steve Greenberg decided to sign the brothers as a group. They considered naming their group "Sons of Jonas" before settling on the name Jonas Brothers. While working on their debut studio album, the band toured throughout 2005 with artists such as Jump5, Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, and The Click Five among others. They spent the latter portion of the year on an tour with Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Girls. Additionally, they opened for The Veronicas in early 2006. For their first album, titled It's About Time, the band collaborated with several writers, including Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Michael Mangini (Joss Stone), Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), Billy Mann (Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson) and Steve Greenberg. The album was initially supposed to be released in February 2006, but was pushed back several times, due to executive changes at Sony (the parent company of Columbia) and the executives' desire to have "another lead single" on the album. For the album, the Jonas Brothers covered two hit songs by UK band Busted – "Year 3000" and "What I Go to School For". The Jonas Brothers' first single, "Mandy", was released on December 27, 2005. Its music video was shown on MTV's Total Request Live on February 22, 2006 and reached number four. Another song, "Time for Me to Fly", was released on the Aquamarine soundtrack, also in February. In March, "Mandy" was featured in the Nickelodeon television film Zoey 101: Spring Break-Up and the Zoey 101: Music Mix soundtrack album, with Nicholas Jonas listed as the artist name. The group's music was also featured on Cartoon Network's Friday night programming block Fridays.

The band covered "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" from Pirates of the Caribbean for the Disneymania 4 album, released on April 4, 2006. Over the summer of 2006, the Jonas Brothers went on tour with Aly & AJ.f The Jonas Brothers also created the theme song for the second season of American Dragon: Jake Long, airing from June 2006 to September 2007 on the Disney Channel. It's About Time was finally released on August 8, 2006. According to the band's manager, it was only a "limited release" of 50,000 copies, so the album's price can rise as high as $200–$300 USD on auction sites like eBay. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers considered switching labels. On October 3, 2006, Nick's 2004 solo single, "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)", was re-released on Joy to the World: The Ultimate Christmas Collection. The same month, the Jonas Brothers covered "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from The Little Mermaid. Along with a music video, the song was released on a two-disc special-edition release of The Little Mermaid soundtrack. The second single from It's About Time was "Year 3000", the music video of which premiered on the Disney Channel in January 2007. The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.

2007–08: Jonas Brothers

After being without a label for a short time, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007. Around the same time, the brothers began appearing in commercials for Baby Bottle Pops, singing the jingle. On March 24, two additional songs on two different albums were released: "Kids of the Future", from the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack (based on Kim Wilde's "Kids in America"), and "I Wanna Be Like You", from Disneymania 5. The Jonas Brothers made their first appearance at the White House on Monday, April 9, 2007, during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, where they sang the National Anthem. They returned on Wednesday June 27, 2007, during a Celebrating Women in Sports Tee Ball game on the South Lawn. They sang the National Anthem again, and, after the game, the Jonas Brothers entertained at the picnic-reception with a selection of their hits. Their self-titled second album was released on August 7, 2007. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week. Two singles with music videos were also released around this time — "Hold On" two weeks before, and "S.O.S.", 4 days before the release of the album. In August 2007, the Jonas Brothers made several appearances on television. On August 17, they guest-starred in an episode of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana titled "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas".

They also performed "We Got the Party" with Miley Cyrus in the episode, which premiered after High School Musical 2 and was viewed by 10.7 million people that night. On August 24, the Jonas Brothers performed two songs at the Miss Teen USA contest. On August 26, the Jonas Brothers co-presented an award with Miley Cyrus at the Teen Choice Awards. On November 18, 2007, they performed at the American Music Awards, performing the song "S.O.S." On November 22, the brothers appeared in the 81st annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. For their final performance of 2007, the three brothers performed their singles "Hold On" and "S.O.S." at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. The Jonas Brothers kicked off their Look Me In The Eyes Tour on January 31, 2008 in Tucson, Arizona. They performed several new songs on the tour that were slated to be on their third studio album, A Little Bit Longer. The Jonas Brothers made their acting debut in Season 2 of the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana, where they guest starred and performed "We Got The Party With Us" on the episode "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas". In 2008, they collaborated with Miley Cyrus on her 3D concert film, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, filmed during Cyrus' Best of Both Worlds Tour, where they sang "We Got The Party With Us" with Cyrus as Hannah Montana. While on the Look Me in the Eyes Tour, the Jonas Brothers filmed a Disney Channel reality short series entitled, Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream, that premiered on Disney Channel.

2008–09: A Little Bit Longer and acting

The Jonas Brothers' third studio album, A Little Bit Longer, was released in the United States on August 12, 2008. On June 24, 2008, iTunes announced that it would release four songs from A Little Bit Longer, one roughly every two weeks. The purchase of each of the songs applies to the cost of the entire album, which could be purchased via iTunes' Complete the Album feature after release. Each song released also featured a podcast. Each song occupied the number one spot on iTunes for at least three days. After the Look Me In The Eyes Tour ended on March 22, 2008, the Jonas Brothers announced that they would be opening up for Avril Lavigne's Best Damn Tour along with Boys Like Girls, for the second leg of the tour in Europe, which lasted from late May to late June 2008. While filming Camp Rock, the Jonas Brothers co-wrote and co-produced six songs for fellow Disney Channel star and close friend Demi Lovato, for her upcoming album, Don't Forget. The album, co-produced by the Jonas Brothers, was released on September 23, 2008. A soundtrack was released for the film Camp Rock on June 17, 2008, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 188,000 copies sold in its first week. The Jonas Brothers also did a half-hour variety special on Disney Channel special entitled, Studio DC: Almost Live, that featured The Muppets and other Disney Channel stars. During this time, the Jonas Brothers also appeared on the Olympics-based special miniseries the Disney Channel Games, for the third annual show.

During the summer of 2008, the Jonas Brothers started the Burnin' Up Tour in North America, promoting A Little Bit Longer. The tour began on July 4, 2008, at Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto. The band made their film debut in the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock, in which they played a band called Connect Three. Joe Jonas plays the lead male role and lead singer Shane Gray, Nick Jonas plays the role of Nate, a guitarist, and Kevin Jonas plays the role of Jason, another guitarist. The film premiered on June 20, 2008 in the United States on Disney Channel, and Canada on Family, receiving mixed reviews. A Disney Digital 3-D production crew filmed the two shows of their Burnin' Up Tour in Anaheim on July 13 and July 14, 2008. Both shows and additional footage recorded while on tour were used for the theatrical release of their 3D concert biopic Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience on February 22, 2009. A Disney Digital 3-D production crew filmed the two shows of their Burnin' Up Tour in Anaheim on July 13 and July 14, 2008, including a performance by Lovato with the Jonas Brothers on "This Is Me" and Taylor Swift with the brothers on "Should've Said No". Both shows and additional footage recorded while on tour were used for the theatrical release of their 3D concert biopic, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, on February 22, 2009.

On July 14, they announced on stage that the band had already written five songs for their fourth studio album. The band was featured in the July 2008 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, and became the youngest band to be on the cover of the magazine. The Jonas Brothers visited downtown Cleveland, Ohio's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before their sold-out concert on the evening of August 22, 2008, at Blossom Music Center. They presented the suits and pants they wore on the cover artwork of A Little Bit Longer to Jim Henke, vice president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The suits are part of the Right Here, Right Now! exhibit. In December 2008, the Jonas Brothers were nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards. It was confirmed that the brothers were collaborating with R&B producer Timbaland on a song called "Dumb" for his new album Shock Value 2. In an interview, Chris Brown told JustJared.com that he was collaborating with the Jonas Brothers, saying, "I'm possibly doing something with them. If they want me on the record, I'll stay on the record, but I just wanted to write a record for those guys." The Jonas Brothers appeared as musical guest on Saturday Night Live's 34th season on February 14, 2009, making their SNL debut; this appearance is the only time they have been on the show. The band also announced on March 11, 2009 that they will be embarking on a world tour in mid-2009. They were joined by the popular Korean girl band Wonder Girls, who debuted in America, as their opening act. In April 2009, the Jonas Brothers finished filming the first season of their Disney Channel Original Series, JONAS. The show's title was originally an acronym for "Junior Operative Networking as Spies". The series premiered on May 2, 2009.

2009–11: Lines, Vines and Trying Times

The brothers finished recording their fourth studio album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, and began to talk about the album in the beginning of 2009. They said on several occasions that they had been working on writing and recording songs since their Burnin' Up tour in mid-2008. On March 11, 2009, the Jonas Brothers announced that their fourth studio album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, would be released on June 15, 2009. They said about the title in the interview with Rolling Stone that, "Lines are something that someone feeds you, vines are the things that get in the way, and trying times, well, that's obvious." They also told Billboard, "We're trying to learn as much as we can, continuing to grow." Kevin added that, "The overall message is it's the same old Jonas Brothers, in a sense, but we're adding more and more music, including different musical instruments that are going to add and build to the sound we already have." Nick also said the songs on the album are "our journal in songs, about all things we've gone through, personal experiences we get inspiration from. We've also been working on trying to use metaphors.. to kind of mask a literal thing that happens to us.". Before the release of Lines, Vines and Trying Times, they released two singles, "Paranoid" (a month before) and "Fly with Me" (seven days before). Lines, Vines and Trying Times became their second No. 1 album. It debuted at number one.

On July 7, 2009, the Jonas Brothers announced that they had signed Honor Society to the record label they started with Hollywood Records. A month later, "Send It On" was released on Radio Disney. The radio single was performed with Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and Demi Lovato for Disney's Friends for Change. On August 9, 2009, the Jonas Brothers hosted and performed on the 2009 Teen Choice Awards. Hollywood Records announced via YouTube Demi Lovato and Jonas Brothers' Walmart CD+DVD Soundcheck. Joe a guest judge on American Idol during the Dallas auditions, which aired January 27, 2010. After the success of Camp Rock, a sequel was in immediate development. Production on the film began on September 3, 2009 and wrapped on October 16, 2009. The film, entitled Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, was aired on Disney Channel on September 3, 2010. The movie was filmed in Ontario, Canada. In late 2010, the Brothers took part in a concert at the White House honoring Paul McCartney's reception of a Gershwin Prize for Popular Music by U.S. President Barack Obama. As a personal request from McCartney, they covered "Drive My Car" from The Beatles' Rubber Soul. In December 2011, a new song leaked on the internet, marking the first time the brothers collaborated since Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. The new song was called "Dance Until Tomorrow". Kevin hinted that the band's reunion was quickly approaching, telling People magazine: "I think the tides are perfectly lining up for the future of the Jonas Brothers again".

2012–13: LiVe and split

On March 6, 2012, the Jonas Brothers released a video on Twitter of them in their home studio, along with the hashtag "#JonasBrothers2012", suggesting that a reunion was occurring. Joe was on tour promoting his debut solo album, while Nick starred the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway. On May 1, 2012, the Jonas Brothers announced that they had parted ways with Hollywood Records, who had been their label since February 2007, and had released their previous three albums. Hollywood Records stated that the split was amicable, calling their work with the Jonas Brothers "amazing successful" and that they "wish[ed] Nick, Joe, and Kevin all the best in their future endeavors". The split caused Jonas Records to become defunct. On August 19, 2012, Kevin began appearing in an E! reality series, alongside his wife Danielle and brothers Nick and Joe. Married to Jonas documented the young couple's domestic life and the brothers' recording efforts as they prepared to release their newest album. On August 17, 2012, Ryan Seacrest announced on On Air with Ryan Seacrest the first Jonas Brothers reunion concert after a long absence since Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam and Jonas L.A.. In September 2012, the brothers announced two concerts in Russia that took place in Saint Petersburg and Moscow on November 6, 2012 and November 8, 2012, respectively. On September 23, 2012, they announced that the release of a new single was imminent. On September 25, 2012, two concerts in the Philippines and one in Malaysia were announced. On October 3, 2012, a preview of the song "Meet You In Paris" was released on Cambio, after a preview of the song premiered on Married to Jonas.

Their reunion concert, which had been announced in August 2012, took place on October 11, 2012 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where they performed several songs from their previous albums along with a new song entitled "Let's Go", intended to be on their fifth studio album. During the reunion concert, they also performed a new song entitled "Wedding Bells". Another new song, entitled "First Time" was also debuted during the reunion concert. On October 29, 2012, it was announced that the Jonas Brothers would hold two concerts at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles. A third date was announced on November 2, 2012. The concerts took place on November 27, 28, and 29, 2012, respectively. They performed at Jingle Ball at L.A. Live on December 1, 2012, and announced several tour dates to take place in South America in February and March 2013 as part of their 2012/2013 World Tour, their first concert tour since the 2010 World Tour. They performed at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival on February 28, 2013 in Chile. Their fifth studio album, which would have been their first not to be released through Hollywood Records since 2006 and their first record since 2009's Lines, Vines and Trying Times, was scheduled to be released in 2013. The lead single, "Pom Poms" was released on April 2, 2013. The music video for the song was filmed in February 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana and premiered on E! on April 2, 2013.

"First Time", the second single from their fifth album, was released on June 25, 2013. On July 10, 2013, the group announced that their fifth studio album would be titled V (pronounced: Five), the Roman numeral for five. On October 9, 2013, the group cancelled their highly anticipated comeback tour days before it was slated to start, citing a "deep rift within the band" over "creative differences". Following the tour cancellation, the Jonas Brothers' Twitter page went offline and the brothers' individual accounts became temporarily obsolete, causing several media outlets to report that a break-up was imminent. On October 29, 2013, the Jonas Brothers officially confirmed their split and announced that the release of V had been cancelled. During an interview, Nick Jonas stated that the album wouldn't be released but decided to release 16 recordings to their Team Jonas fan club members. "We want to do something special for our fans because they've been so supportive of us for so many years. What we've decided to do is package an album with 10 live tracks from the summer tour and four of the songs that would have been on 'V', and if you count 'Pom Poms' and 'First Time', it's actually 6 songs that would have been on 'V'. We’ll be sending that out soon for the fans." The album was released with the title "LiVe", noting the letter "V" in caps as a reference to their would-be fifth studio album of the same name.

Philanthropy

The Jonas Brothers are of Italian, German, Cherokee, English, Irish, Scottish, and French-Canadian descent. The Jonas Brothers earned an estimated $12 million in 2007, and have donated 10% of their earnings to their charity, Change for the Children Foundation. Change for the Children Foundation, started by the Jonas Brothers, has contributors donate to charities such as "Nothing But Nets", "American Diabetes Foundation", "St. Jude Children's Research Hospital", "Children's Hospital Los Angeles", and "Summer Stars: Camp for the Performing Arts". Since August 6, 2008, Bayer Diabetes Care has partnered with Nick Jonas as a diabetes ambassador to promote the idea that young people should manage their diabetes, as Nick was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 13. Jonas testified in the U.S. Senate to promote more research funding for the disease.

The Jonas Brothers have been strong supporters of Do Something. In 2007, the brothers filmed a public service announcement raising awareness about teenage homelessness and encouraging teens to begin "jeans drives" in their communities to donate to the homeless. In 2010, Nick further volunteered his efforts for Do Something by offering his time as a prize to teens who donated jeans to Do Something and Aeropostale's "Teens for Jeans" campaign. Further, Nick filmed another public service announcement, this one in support of Do Something's "Battle of the Bands" campaign for the advancement of music education in schools.

Discography