To help inspire you to aim for the stars we have drawn together a list of some of the biggest bands that call Sunderland home, enjoy.
The Futureheads met at the City of Sunderland College in the early 2000s, rehearsing at the Sunderland City Detached Youth Project building before releasing their first single in 2003 reaching 58 in the UK Single Chart. Their self-titled album released in 2004 quickly reached number 11 in the UK album charts confirming The Futureheads as one of the up and coming bands in the country during the 2000s. Packing out the Stadium of Light in 2005 in celebration of Sunderland winning the Championship the band moved from strength to strength, releasing their eagerly anticipated second album in 2006. News and Tributes reached number 12 in the UK album chart, spawning singles like Skip to the End and Worry About It Later and helping the band secure world tours alongside the likes of Foo Fighters, Pixies and Snow Patrol. We will see just how big The Futureheads will get during the next few years - watch this space.
David A. Stewart (Eurythmics) was born in Sunderland in 1971 and formed his first band at the young age of just 14 being signed to Elton John's record label. Despite not achieving much commercial success as part of this band Longdancer he made some important contacts that he would use after meeting one Annie Lennox in his late teens. The two began to work together in the early 80s, falling in love, before starting the Eurythmics which would go on to be one of the most successful pop-duets of all time selling over 75 million records. With seven top 10 UK albums, including two number ones, the Steward - Lennox musical partnership is one of the legendary groupings within modern music. After the Eurythmics split in 1990 after this relationship was ended Steward released two solo albums that did well in Europe - luckily the Eurythmics still reform from time to time most recently in the 2012 London Olympics.
Kenickieformed in 1994 drawing members from Sunderland, Newcastle and Durham and rising to surprising commercial success during the late 90s with the UK number nine album At the Club (1997). After strong praise from Courtney Love, lead singer of The Hole - the band Kenickie had modelled themselves on, the group undertook a successful world tour before settling back down to record their follow up album. Yet Get It was not the commercial success that the band had been hoping for reaching only 32 in the UK album charts, consequently the band split in the same year with lead singer Lauren Laverne rising to become a well-known broadcaster on the BBC in her own right.
Toy Dolls are best known however for their sole UK hit, a punk-rock cover of Nellie the Elephant, formed in 1979 are an upbeat punk band who have released a massive 16 albums. Writing catchy riffs with often comical lyrics, with songs such as Yul Brynner Was a Skinhead, My Girlfriend's Dad's a Vicar and James Bond Lives Down Our Street, the band quickly gained an audience in the northeast before growing bigger during the 80s. Still going today Toy Dolls are perhaps the best example of happy punk.
