Featured Artist: Sixpence None The Richer
Ask anybody and they will tell you that Sixpence None The Richer are best known for their song 'Kiss Me' which featured in the film She's All That. To some they might be known as a one hit wonder, but to the fans who have grown up with this band, they are known for so much more.
Sixpence None the Richer are an American rock/pop band that formed in Texas before eventually settling in Nashville, Tennessee. The name of the band comes from a book by C. S. Lewis called Mere Christianity. A little boy asks his father if he can get a sixpence to go and get a gift for his father. The father gladly accepts the gift and he's really happy with it, but he also realizes that he's not any richer for the transaction.
The band began in the early 90's when guitarist Matt Slocum met vocalist Leigh Nash. Together they recorded a demo, which now circulates as The Original Demos, with bassist T.J. Behling and drummer Brad Arnold.
Their first independent album was The Fatherless and The Widow. The record featured Chris Dodds (a member of Love Coma), and after the release Slocum left Love Coma to pursue Sixpence None the Richer full-time. More changes were afoot when the band added Tess Wiley (guitar) Joel Bailey (bass) and Dale Baker (drums) to tour in support of the album.
In 1998, 'Kiss Me' was released as a single, propelling Sixpence None the Richer into the national pop spotlight. The song also appeared in TV series Dawson Creek. Around the same time the band decided to record a version of The La's stunning song 'There She Goes' which also enjoyed mainstream success.
The band had a follow-up album ready to release, but their label Squint Entertainment started to fall apart, leaving the band in limbo for several years. Finally, Squint Entertainment folded and that album, Divine Discontent, was released in October 2002.
Baker left the band before that album's release and was replaced by Rob Mitchell. The album itself differs significantly from the first pre-release version of it that had circulated: the songs "Us", "Deeper", "Don't Pass Me By", "Too Far Gone", "Northern Lights", and "Loser Like Me" were cut, and "Down and Out of Time", "A Million Parachutes", "Tonight", "Waiting on the Sun", and a cover of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" were added. All of the unreleased songs were eventually featured on singles or compilations, with the exception of "Deeper". Two of Divine Discontent's singles, "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Breathe Your Name", received significant radio airplay and appeared on various Billboard charts.
In 2004 Matt Slocum announced that the group had disbanded. It was during this time that Leigh Nash started working on her solo work. Her first album was called 'Blue On Blue' and then in 2007 Nash worked on a collaboration with Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber of Delerium called Fauxliage. Leigh contributed her vocals to the songs "All the World", "Some Day the Wind", "Draw My Life", "Let It Go", "Without You", "Rafe" and "All Alone". The songs "Let It Go" and "All the World" were used in the drama series Moonlight.In November 2007, Sixpence None The Richer reunited. They released an EP My Dear Machine on NoiseTrade in 2008, the band's first official release since The Best of Sixpence None the Richer in 2004.
Sixpence signed to Credential Recordings and played a headline slot at the 2009 Greenbelt Festival in the UK. The band then began recording a new album in January 2010. The album, titled Strange Conversation, was originally planned for an August 2010 release, but the album name didn't stay and in 2011 Leigh Nash confirmed the band's much delayed new studio album, now titled 'Lost In Transition', would be release in August 2012.
