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The Newsboys are a Contemporary Christian Music rock/pop band formed in the late '80s around a core of John James and Peter Furler. Though early in their career the band was panned for a perceived overreliance on religious clichés in their lyrics, Newsboys later jumped on the secular music alternative revolution bandwagon in the early '90s for an image makeover, with good success.
The group gained six number one singles on the Christian charts, and have been featured in more secular media outlets than most Christian bands. Step Up to the Microphone, their first album for major label Virgin, followed in 1998; Love Liberty Disco appeared a year later. In celebration of the new millennium, the Newsboys also observed their own career with the greatest hits package Shine...The Hits, issued in fall 2000. Their most elaborate work to date, Thrive, was issued in spring 2002 and led to one of their biggest CCM hits ever, "It Is You." Over ten years into their own career, that fall Newsboys Remixed was released, offering new takes on several of their biggest hits. Afterwards, The band ventured into the Worship Music craze with in April 2003. The record included both originals and covers of well-known worship songs. A second worship album "Devotion" was released on November 2nd 2004.
Their current line up is:
Peter Furler: Lead vocals, backing guitar, and (most of the time) producer
Phil Joel (used to be Philip Urry, but changed his last name to his middle name Joel): Bass, some lead vocals, backing vocals
Bryan Olesen: Guitars, backing vocals
Jeff Frankenstein: Keys, dabbles in production, and mixing
Duncan Phillips: drums and percussion
Jody Davis was their guitarist from the early 90's to 2003 when he took time off to care for his daughter who was ill. He has since relocated to Arizona (where his inlaws live) to spend time with her, leaving Bryan Olesen, from the Lincoln, Nebraska based band Casting Pearls to become the new lead guitarist.
The Newsboys now seem heavily involved with the Every Nation church, which is headed by Rice Broocks. The group has given away free EN books ("The Purple Book") and invited an EN pastor, Jim Laffoon, as a speaker at their concerts.
External Links
Official Site (http://newsboys.com)
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