Linkin Park life and biography

Linkin Park is an American band formed in 1996; the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries.

Its following studio album, Meteora, continued the band’s success, topping the Billboard 200 album chart in 2003, and was followed by extensive touring and charity work around the world. In 2003, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth greatest band of the music video era and the third best of the new millennium behind Oasis and Coldplay.

Following Meteora's success, the band postponed working on a new studio album for the next few years. Instead, Linkin Park continued to tour and work on many side projects. Bennington appeared on DJ Lethal’s "State of the Art" and other work with Dead by Sunrise, while Shinoda did work with Depeche Mode. In 2004, the band began to work with Jay-Z to produce another remix album, entitled Collision Course. The album, which featured intermixed lyrics and background tracks from both artists' previous albums, debuted in November 2004.

Linkin Park returned to the recording studios in 2006 to work on new material. To produce the album, the band chose producer Rick Rubin. Despite initially stating the album would debut sometime in 2006, the album was delayed until 2007. The band had recorded thirty to fifty songs in August 2006, when Shinoda stated the album was halfway completed.

The album's first single, "What I've Done", was released on April 2, and premiered on MTV and Fuse within the same week. The single was acclaimed by listeners, becoming the top-ranked song on the Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. The song is also used in soundtrack for the 2007 action film, Transformers. Mike Shinoda was also featured on the Styles of Beyond song "Second to None" which was also included in the film. Later in the year, the band won the "Favorite Alternative Artist" in the American Music Awards.

Linkin Park's touring and live shows have, among other things, included a performance at Live Earth Japan on July 7, 2007. and headlining Download Festival in Donington Park, England and Edgefest in Downsview Park, Toronto, Canada. The band completed touring on its fourth Projekt Revolution tour before taking up an Arena tour around the United Kingdom, visiting Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester, before finishing on a double night at the O2 arena in London.

In May 2009, Linkin Park announced they were working on a fourth studio album, which was planned to be released on 2010. Shinoda told IGN that the new album would be 'genre-busting,' while building off of elements in Minutes to Midnight. He also mentioned that the album would be more experimental and "hopefully more cutting-edge."Bennington also addressed the media to confirm that Rick Rubin would return to produce the new album. The band later revealed the album would be called A Thousand Suns.

On January 19, 2010, Linkin Park released a new song entitled "Not Alone" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief called Download to Donate for Haiti in support of the Haiti Earthquake crisis. On February 10, 2010, Linkin Park released the official music video for the song on their homepage.

A Thousand Suns was released on September 14. The album’s first single, "The Catalyst", was released on August 2. The band promoted their new album by launching a concert tour, which started in Los Angeles on September 7. Linkin Park also relied on MySpace to promote their album, releasing two additional songs, "Waiting for the End" and "Blackout" on September 8.

Furthermore, a documentary about the album's production, entitled Meeting of A Thousand Suns, was available for streaming on the band's MySpace page. On August 31, 2010, it was announced that the band would perform the single live for the first time at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.The venue of the debut live performance of the single was Griffith Observatory, an iconic location used in Hollywood movies. "Waiting for the End" was released as the second single of A Thousand Suns.

On April 13, 2011, Shinoda confirmed that the album's fourth single will be "Iridescent". He also confirmed that there will be a new, slightly shorter version of the song, which will be part of the soundtrack of the upcoming film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, continuing the streak of Linkin Park songs being the theme songs of the Transformers films (after "What I've Done" and "New Divide"), as well as the fact that a music video will be shot for the single. The video was directed by Joe Hahn, who directed the videos for both of the previous songs.

The band were nominated for six Billboard Awards in 2011 for Top Duo/Group, Best Rock Album for A Thousand Suns, Top Rock Artist, Top Alternative Artist, Top Alternative Song for "Waiting for the End" and Top Alternative Album for A Thousand Suns, but did not win any award.

In November 8, 2011, the band was awarded with a Global Leadership Award at the Global Leadership Awards Dinner of the United Nations Foundation and the United Nations Association of the United States of America, for their efforts to highlight the importance of the UN and for utilizing their fan base to help those in need through Music For Relief. The band also announced their "Power the World" campaign."Power the World" encourages their fans to donate in order to give one million families in Haiti solar-powered lights, since the country still faces severe energy poverty. The project supports the Sustainable Energy For All initiative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The band released several YouTube videos to promote the campaign. The band is nominated for musical march madnessawards 2012 by MTV

On March 24, 2012, All Access Music Group announced that the band will release a new single entitled "Burn It Down" will be impacting radio on April 16, 2012, although it is yet to be confirmed by the band whether this is a fact.

Current members:
Mike Shinoda – vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards (1996–present)
Rob Bourdon – drums (1996–present)
Brad Delson – lead guitar, backing vocals (1996–present)
Joe Hahn – turntables, keyboard, samples, backing vocals (1996–present)
Chester Bennington – lead vocals (1998–present)
Dave "Phoenix" Farrell – bass, backing vocals (1996–1998, 2000–present)

Studio albums:
Hybrid Theory (2000)
Meteora (2003)
Minutes to Midnight (2007)
A Thousand Suns (2010)

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