Imagine Dragons Biography

news-detailsSinger Dan Reynolds and drummer Andrew Tolman of Imagine Dragons met way back in 2008 when they were still students at Brigham Young University. Having the same passion in music, the duo recruited more members to complete lineup for their dream band. That's when Tolman's Daniel Wayne "Wing" Sermon and Sermon's college friend Ben McKee came in.

They started out in Provo, Utah before moving to Las Vegas, where they eventually dropped their first three mini albums. The first EP, a self-titled one, arrived in 2010, followed by the second one "Hell and Silence" in the same year. They didn't waste time and dropped another EP "It's Time" a year later before they finally scored a recording deal for their full-length release.

The band got their big break when they were called to step in for Train at the jam-packed Bite of Las Vegas Festival because Pat Monahan fell sick so his band couldn't perform at the event. Their popularity rose ever since due to positive word-of-mouth praise from the concergoers. "Our band wouldn't exist without Las Vegas," Reynolds once said. "It's a great place for an artist to start out."

Their debut album "Night Visions" was their collaboration with top-notch producer Alex da Kid. It was released in September 2012 after at least four more EPs. The album peaked at No. 2 on Hot 200, but the singles like "Radioactive" and "Demons" were the ones which really propelled them to mainstream stardom.

"This record has been three years in the making," Reynolds said of their first album. "We feel that we have finally created something we are all truly proud of and that can hopefully inspire others and help them feel a little less alone. That's what music is about. It's the greatest communicator I know."

"Radioactive" originally taken from EP "Continued Silence" reached top 3 on Hot 100 and continued to become one of the top 10 multiple times. It broke the record for the longest run into the top five and became the best-selling rock song on the Nielsen SoundScan running list of best-selling rock songs in digital history.

The Grammy win they got for the single put icing on the cake for their commercial success. They were nominated for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance, and won the latter.

The band's next big single was "Demons". Like its predecessor, it first appeared in "Continued Silence" before being included in "Night Visions". It peaked at No. 6 on Billboard chart and became an instant hit in various countries. They dedicated its music video to their fan who died of cancer in 2013.

In support of their debut album, the band embarked on a 145-date tour. Senora Lanza served as the opening act for the tour, which saw the band performing across North America and Europe. Imagine Dragons wrapped up the tour in April 2014 at Lollapalooza in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Shortly after wrapping up the tour, the band worked on their sophomore album "Smoke + Mirrors", which is greatly inspired by their tour. Prior to the album's release, Imagine Dragons released the lead single off their album "I Bet My Life". They also released a number of singles for other projects including "Battle Cry", which served as the soundtrack to "Transformers: Age of Extinction".

"Smoke + Mirrors" was released on February 17, 2015. The band embarked on a world tour in support of the album. The tour began on April 12, 2015 and concluded on February 5, 2016. During the tour, Imagine Dragons released two new songs, "Roots" and "I Was Me". They also released a cover of Eagles of Death Metal's "I Love You All the Time" in support of the victims of Paris attacks.

After the tour, frontman Reynolds told Billboard in an interview that the band would be taking a hiatus for the remainder of 2016. He stated, "This is the year we're going to actually take time off. We haven't stopped in, like, six years, so we've forced ourselves to take a year off."

Despite taking on a hiatus, Imagine Dragons released some soundtracks, including "Sucker for Pain", which served as the soundtrack to anti-hero flick "Suicide Squad". They also recorded "Levitate" for sci-fi movie "Passengers (2016)".

Towards the end of 2016, Imagine Dragons began teasing their third studio album. In January 2017, the band started teasing the lead track off the album, "Believer", on social media. The single was released in the following month and was used as part of the Super Bowl LI advertisement for Nintendo Switch.

The alternative rock band released second single "Thunder" in April before announcing the title of their third studio album "Evolve" as well as a tour in support of the album on May 8. They also released a new track "Whatever It Takes" on the same day as the announcement. "Evolve" was released on June 23.

On February 21, 2018, Imagine Dragons released a new single entitled "Next to Me". The song was released as a part of a re-issue of "Evolve". In addition, the band announced the summer dates of their "Evolve" tour.