It makes perfect sense that an anonymous online music fan has best described what rocker Chris Daughtry's Phoenix-like ascension means to the ever-evolving rock n' roll canon. It's his intensity - notes the insightful blogger - a balm for an ailing industry, writing that Daughtry in a recording studio is akin 'to putting a beat-up violin in the hands of a master.' A 'pure' and 'soulful' balm, with even professional scribes concurring that 'Daughtry dominates,' according to USA Today. 'Homeboy loves to rock' crows Rolling Stone - but if the phenomenal impact and enduring legacy of the double-platinum-and-counting debut of Daughtry means anything - it's how enthusiastically the wandering music listener has embraced rock's new standard bearer.
Use any measurement you like, Daughtry has almost single-handedly given the genre back its heart, resurrecting an endangered species via the bluesy swagger of "What I Want," and the image-shredding angst of "Feels Like Tonight,"; restoring its nomadic longing for place on "Home," its righteous indignation on "It's Not Over." With signature ache and poise, the North Carolina native blends each hard-won attribute into a rousing mosaic for the ages.
The DAUGHTRY album is also forging unprecedented sales and chart breakthroughs - affirming there is still gold to be mined. In just a few months of release, the celebrated disc has leaped more milestones faster and further than any rock debut in recent memory. Anointed as the quickest selling rock debut in Soundscan history, DAUGHTRY became the #1 top selling album in the country not once, but twice, after debuting at #2 in November, 2006, moving upwards of 300,000 copies in the first week alone.
Chris always knew the secret of his connection with his fans was widening the circle surrounding his music no matter what medium of transfer. Whether he was interpreting other artists material or his own, his razor-sharp instincts told him the right band could take such a bond to even greater heights. "One of the things I've always loved about great bands is you feed off of each other's confidence, build on each other's strengths and create an opportunity for something magical to happen every time you go out there," he notes. Daughtry is living proof of that edict, locking down what quickly became 2007's must-see show: 'Daughtry clearly connects with the audience and it would seem to be only the beginning…' raved the San Francisco Chronicle.
What a beginning: The double-platinum juggernaut that is Daughtry has hovered in the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 200 Albums since its release, the first album since the 2006 phenomenon High School Musical soundtrack to log more than 9 weeks among the Top 3 albums, and the first rock band to achieve such a streak in the first 15 weeks of release since Creed in 2002. Daughtry is also the first rock band release in nearly 20 years - since Bon Jovi's 1988 classic New Jersey - to hit the top spot after debuting below #1.
Daughtry has also seamlessly engrained itself in the digital domain, with their album remaining a Top 10 staple on itunes since it's release. The debut single "Its Not Over," has conquered every digital, mobile, radio and video platform imaginable and the video reigned at the top of VH1's Top 20 Countdown show for two months running, as well as garnering most played status on MTV.
"The way it all has unfolded is everything an artist could ever ask for," says Chris.
