Caleb Followill life and biography

Caleb Followill is part of the Kings of Leon, an American rock band that formed in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee in 1999, consisting of brothers Anthony Caleb Followill (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Ivan Nathan Followill (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Michael Jared Followill (bass guitar, backing vocals), with their cousin Cameron Matthew Followill (lead guitar, backing vocals). Each member of the family group is known by his middle name (second given name) as opposed to his first given name.

The band's early music was an upbeat blend of Southern rock and blues influences, but it has gradually expanded over the years to include a variety of genres and a more alternative, arena rock sound. Kings of Leon achieved initial success in the United Kingdom with a total of nine Top 40 singles, two BRIT Awards in 2008, and all three of the band's albums at the time peaking in the top five of the UK Albums Chart. Their third album, Because of the Times, also reached the No. 1 spot. After the release of Only by the Night in September 2008 the band achieved chart success in the United States. The singles "Sex on Fire", "Use Somebody", and "Notion" all peaked at No. 1 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album itself was their first ever Platinum-selling album in the United States, and was also the best-selling album of 2008 in Australia, being certified Platinum nine times. The band's fifth album, Come Around Sundown, was released on October 18, 2010.

The three Followill brothers spent much of their youth traveling around the Southern United States with their father, Ivan Leon Followill, a United Pentecostal Church preacher, and their mother, Betty-Ann. Caleb and Jared were both born in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee and attended Mount Juliet High School, while Nathan and Matthew were born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. According to Rolling Stone magazine, "While Leon preached at churches and tent revivals throughout the Deep South, the boys attended services and were occasionally enlisted to bang on some drums." They were either home-schooled by their mother, Betty-Ann, or enrolled in small parochial schools at this time. Except for a five-year period when they settled in Jackson, Tennessee, the Followills' childhoods were spent driving through the southern United States in a purple 1988 Oldsmobile, decamping for a week or two wherever Leon was scheduled to preach.

When the boys' father resigned from the Church and their parents divorced in 1997, Nathan and Caleb relocated to Nashville and embraced the rock music and lifestyle they had previously been denied, attempting to break into the music industry in the process. While there, they met songwriter Angelo Petraglia who helped the siblings hone their songwriting skills and introduced them to the musical influences of Thin Lizzy, The Rolling Stones and The Clash in particular. Their youngest brother, Jared, who had briefly attended public school, was more influenced by the music of The Pixies and The Velvet Underground. When he and their cousin Matthew also moved to Nashville in 1999, Kings of Leon was formed. They named the band after the brothers' father and grandfather, who were both called Leon.

By 2002, Nathan and Caleb had received interest from a number of music labels and eventually signed with RCA Records, who at first insisted on putting a band together for the two of them. In an interview with Billboard, however, Nathan outlined how they told RCA, "We don't want to be Evan and Jaron. We're going to buy our little brother a bass, he's a freshman in high school. Caleb will teach himself the guitar, Matthew played guitar when he was 10 and I'll play the drums. They said, 'All right, we'll come down in one month and see you guys.'" Later in the interview Caleb admitted to the brothers "kidnapping" their cousin Matthew from his hometown in Mississippi in order for him to join the band. They told his mother that he was only going to be staying for a week but never allowed him to return home. "We locked ourselves in the basement with an ounce of marijuana and literally spent a month down there. My mom would bring us food down," added Nathan. "And at the end of that month the label people came and we had "Molly's Chambers," "California Waiting," "Wicker Chair," and "Holy Roller Novocaine."

Discography:

Youth and Young Manhood (2003)
Aha Shake Heartbreak (2004)
Because of the Times (2007)
Only by the Night (2008)
Come Around Sundown (2010)

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