Isaac Hanson

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Isaac Hanson
Background information
Birth name	Clarke Isaac Hanson
Born	November 17, 1980 (1980-11-17) (age 27)
Origin	Tulsa, Oklahoma
Years active	1992–present
Label(s)	Mercury Records (1995-1999) Island Records (1999-2003) 3CG Records (2003-Present)

Clarke Isaac Hanson (b. November 17, 1980 in Tulsa, Oklahoma)^[1] is one of the three members of the pop/rock band Hanson, along with his brothers Taylor and Zac. He sings both backing and lead vocals, plays electric and acoustic guitar, as well as the piano, the bass and the synth.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 1997-2000: Commercial success 1.3 2001-present: Independent career 2 Personal life 3 Discography 3.1 Studio albums 3.2 Live Albums and Compilations 3.3 Singles 3.4 Promotional 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Firstborn child of Clarke Walker Hanson (born June 1, 1954) and Diana Frances Hanson (née Lawyer April 30, 1954), Isaac Hanson is the eldest of seven children: brother of Jordan Taylor Hanson (also going by his middle name; Taylor) (born March 14, 1983) and Zachary Walker Hanson (Zac Hanson) (born October 22, 1985), Jessica Grace (July 31, 1988), Avery Laurel (November 4, 1990), Joshua Mackenzie (January 7, 1994), and Zoë Genevieve (January 14, 1998).

Isaac formed a band with his brothers Taylor and Zac, which was originally called The Hanson Brothers, and eventually became 'Hanson' started out as three young boys who sang a cappella and recorded songs like "Rockin' Robin", "Splish Splash" and "Johnny B. Goode" as well as their own material. Their first performance as a professional group took place in 1992 at the Mayfest arts festival in Tulsa.

Hanson also appeared on Carman's Yo! Kidz: The Vidz which included Taylor, the middle child, playing a young Biblical David facing Goliath; Isaac was cast as an event announcer, and other members of the family, including Zac, in the stands cheering on this "sporting event."

The three kids all started out playing the piano. Isaac and Taylor needed one more player in their band so Zac entered the group. Later on, Isaac picked up a secondhand guitar, Zac borrowed an old set of drums, and Taylor became the keyboard player of what turned into a garage band. The band recorded two independent albums in their hometown of Tulsa, Boomerang (recorded autumn 1994, released 1995) and MMMBop (1996). The latter featured the original version of what would later become the runaway single on their debut commercial record Middle of Nowhere. The boys then found themselves at the South By Southwest music festival for unsigned music bands in Austin, Texas. There, they were promptly signed by manager Christopher Sabec. He shopped them to several record companies, most of which dismissed the band as either a novelty or fraud before Steve Greenberg, an A&R representative for Mercury Records, heard them play a set at the Kansas State Fair. This break resulted in the band being signed almost immediately by Mercury. They soon became a worldwide sensation with the release of their first major-label album, Middle of Nowhere.

[edit] 1997-2000: Commercial success

Middle of Nowhere was released on May 6, 1997. The album's first single, "MMMBop", debuted at #16 in the United States, reaching #1 in both the US and the UK, reaching #2 in Canada, and staying over two months in the top spot in Australia. The group was heavily featured in teen magazines such as Tiger Beat and found a wide following among teen and pre-teen girls. The album's second single, "Where's the Love", followed "MMMBop" to the top of the charts. Their first album's worldwide success was registered in Tulsa, Tokyo and the Middle of Nowhere, an 82-minute videotape with home videos, interviews, video clips, and live performances.

During the summer of 1998, Hanson began a highly successful concert tour, The Albertane Tour. They performed a string of shows throughout stadiums and arenas in the US, targeting young audiences with its playful and energetic theme. A live album, titled Live From Albertane, was released the following fall.

Since then, follow up albums have failed to match the success of Middle of Nowhere and Hanson has struggled against the label of one-hit wonder. Hanson released their second album, This Time Around, in May 2000 but due to lack of sales the label pulled funding on their tour. They toured through the summer and fall of 2000 on their own funds.

[edit] 2001-present: Independent career

The brothers left their record label, Island Records, due to conflict with the producers who felt their material was lacking quality and had refused over 80 songs from the band. The band now works under their own independent label, 3CG Records ("3 Car Garage Records"), named for the three-car garage in which their studio lies today. The label has distribution deals through Alternative Distribution Alliance in the United States, Sony BMG in Asia, and various other distributors throughout the world.

During the struggle with their former label, Hanson signed with their current management company, 10th Street Entertainment, which also manages artists such as Meatloaf and Blondie.

The band toured during the summer and fall of 2003 in support of Underneath Acoustic, which was composed of acoustic versions of songs from their then-forthcoming release, Underneath. The tour culminated on November 5, 2003 with a performance at the prestigious Carnegie Hall.

Underneath was released on April 20, 2004, and the following week debuted at #1 on Billboard's Independent Album Chart and #25 on the Billboard 200 album chart, making Underneath one of the most successful independent albums of all time (only a few artists, such as Prince and Ani DiFranco, have released a top 25 independent album).

The first single from Underneath was "Penny & Me"; its music video featured The O.C.’s Samaire Armstrong and was directed by Chris Applebaum. "Penny & Me" reached #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart. The video for the album's second single, "Lost Without Each Other", was directed by P.R. Brown and filmed in Boston, and includes live footage from the concert played in the city that coincided with the filming.

On March 5, 2005, Hanson performed the US anthem at the inaugural NASCAR Busch Series Telcel-Motorola 200 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City.

In fall 2005, Hanson toured the US and played at certain Canadian venues to support their recently released live album, The Best of Hanson: Live & Electric. They also visited various colleges in order to showcase Strong Enough to Break, their documentary chronicling their struggles with Island Def Jam during the making of Underneath, as well as their subsequent departure from the label. During the college visits, the band also held question-and-answer sessions about the problems that independent artists face in music industry today.

In November 2005, Hanson's old record label released "Mmmbop: The Collection", a compilation of famous tracks from the first two albums and the consequent B-sides of singles. However, the CD never charted, partially based on poor distribution. The album also received criticism from Hanson's loyal fan base, as many fans rejected the record label that released the album. This was in large part due to Hanson's recent documentary and college tour, which did not frame the music industry in a particularly positive light.

During the spring of 2005, Hanson toured many countries in South America and Europe, and performed their first ever electric shows in Australia during their highly successful Live and Electric tour. Hanson plans to release Strong Enough to Break on DVD in late 2006 and are currently working on their fourth studio album set for release in early 2007. This album, which Taylor revealed to be titled The Walk in a chat on Hanson.net in July, has been said by the band to be very different from Underneath. Zac recently posted on their official website, saying that the band recorded a school choir in Soweto, South Africa. This indicates that the new record will indeed be different from the quieter, more acoustically-driven songs featured on Underneath. A recent video posted on their official website reveals the clip of a song that was played live on the Underneath Acoustic '03 Tour, called "The Walk", and revealed the title of their ongoing documentary on the album, called "Taking the Walk".

They began a new tour in 2007. they performed in Carling Academy in Glasgow on the 15, the day before the release of their new single "Go".

On October 13, 2006, Hanson posted a new song from the upcoming Van Wilder 2 soundtrack, exclusively for members of Hanson.net. The song is called "The Ugly Truth" and is, in the band's own words, "a true back to basics rock'n'roll tune".

On October 8, 2007, Isaac and his brothers resumed their tour for The Walk, their fourth studio album, with a performance in Knoxville, Tennessee. The brothers plan to return to Africa in November to deliver 50,000 pairs of shoes they hope to have collected by then. The tour was halted to let Isaac recover from surgery and will be resumed in March 2008[1].

On November 16, 2007, Isaac, Taylor and Zac left for Africa to deliver the 50,000 pairs of shoes for needy children in Johannesburg. They plan to remain there for ten days, documenting their journey in photographs.

Hanson contribute backing vocals to the song "Twee Twee Dee" on Adam Green's album Sixes & Sevens, released March 7, 2008.

[edit] Personal life

During Hanson's 'This Time Around' tour, Isaac was linked to singer Marit Larsen from M2M who were the supporting act for the band at the time. The couple dated for about two years, before apparently parting amicably.

Isaac confirmed during the band's November 11, 2003 show at Chicago's House of Blues that the song "Hand in Hand" was written about his own personal experience, in which one of his previous girlfriends had been unfaithful.

Isaac married his girlfriend of 3 years Nicole Summer Dufresne (born November 25, 1983) of Panama City, Florida, on September 30, 2006 at Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa in a ceremony in front of 300 guests. Isaac met Nicole after spotting her in the 5th row of a crowd at one of the band's concerts.^[2] Brother Taylor served as Isaac's best man. Isaac wrote and recorded the song 'Every Day' the night before the ceremony for the couple's first dance. He performed this song for his solo during the band's "The Walk" tour in honor of the couple's first anniversary, which happenend to fall on the date of a scheduled performance in Chicago.

Isaac and Nicole's first child, Clarke Everett Hanson, was born on April 3, 2007 ^[3] weighing 8lb 12oz. Isaac has 3 nephews, Jordan Ezra (October 31, 2002), and River Samuel (September 4, 2006) by brother Taylor and sister-in-law Natalie, and John Ira Shepherd (May 27, 2008) by brother Zac and sister-in-law, Kate. He also has a niece, Penelope Anne (April 19, 2005), who is Taylor and Natalie's middle child..

On October 3, 2007, Isaac was hospitalized with a pulmonary embolism after suffering severe shoulder and chest pains. ^[4] He was rushed into emergency surgery, according to Tulsa World, and is now in recovery and in a stable condition. On October 4, they discovered that the form of embolism afflicting Isaac is venous thoracic outlet syndrome, a potentially fatal condition commonly referred to as Paget-Schroetter Syndrome. Isaac underwent surgery at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas to remove a rib that was obstructing blood flow to the arm. Dr. Bradley Grimsley, the surgeon who performed Isaac's surgery, expects Isaac to make a "full and swift recovery".

Isaac and his wife, Nikki recently did an interview with People Magazine, discussing the seriousness of his condition. The article appeared in People's October 22, 2007 issue. According to the magazine, Isaac will need to undergo a second surgery in December to remove a rib pressing on a vein, which was the cause of his nearly fatal episode on October 3. He underwent this second surgery in December 2007 and is "doing well". He and his brothers, Zac and Taylor, are expected to resume their tour in March 2008.

On February 8, 2008 Zac Hanson confirmed at the Conway and Whitman's show that Isaac and Nikki are expecting their second child[2][3] Isaac later reconfirmed the news in a statement to People Magazine. It was recently confirmed in the birth announcement of their nephew, Shepherd, that Isaac and Nikki's second child is due in June 2008.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

1. Boomerang (1995) Indie Release
2. MMMBop (1996) Indie Release
3. Middle of Nowhere (May 6, 1997) #2 US (4x Platinum), #1 UK
4. Snowed In (November 1997) #7 US, #87 UK
5. This Time Around (May 9, 2000) #19 US (Gold), #33 UK
6. Underneath (April 20, 2004) #25 US, #1 US Independent Chart, #49 UK
7. The Walk (2007)

[edit] Live Albums and Compilations

• 3 Car Garage (May 1998) #6 US, #39 UK
• Live From Albertane (November 1998) #32 US, #129 UK
• Underneath Acoustic (August 9, 2003) Available only through the Official Store. [4]
• The Best of Hanson: Live & Electric (October 2005) #182 US, #15 US Independent Chart
• Mmmbop: The Collection (November 2005)

[edit] Singles

• "MMMBop" (May 1997) #1 US, #1 UK
• "Where's the Love" (September 1997) #4 UK
• "I Will Come to You" (November 1997) #9 US, #5 UK
• "Weird" (March 1998) #19 UK
• "Thinking of You" (July 1998) #23 UK
• "If Only" (April 2000) #15 UK
• "This Time Around" (July 2000) #17 US
• "Penny and Me" (January 2005) #2 US, #9 UK
• "Lost Without Each Other" (April 2005) #39 UK
• "Underneath" (2005)
• "Great Divide" (November 2006)
• "Go" (2007)

[edit] Promotional

• Pepsi Music Live: Hanson (1998)
• MOE Enhanced CD (January 1, 1998)
• Teen Mag Music 2000 Volume 1 (July 1, 2000)
• HANSON.NET Enhanced CDs (Versions 2.0 - 2.2) (May 2002, May 2 2003, May 2005, and May 2006)
• Live & Electric Indie Sampler (2005)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Hanson Official Web Site
• Isaac Hanson at the Internet Movie Database

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