Zac formed a band with his brothers Isaac and Taylor, which was originally called The Hanson Brothers, and eventually became 'Hanson' started out as three young boys who sang a cappella and recorded songs like "Rockin' Robin", "Splish Splash" and "Johnny B. Goode" as well as their own material. Their first performance as a professional group took place in 1992 at the Mayfest arts festival in Tulsa.
Hanson also appeared on Carman's Yo! Kidz: The Vidz which included Taylor, the middle child, cast as a young Biblical David facing Goliath; Isaac was cast as an event announcer, and other members of the family, including Zac, in the stands cheering on this "sporting event."
The three kids all started out playing the piano. Isaac and Taylor needed one more player in their band so Zac entered the group. Later on, Isaac picked up a secondhand guitar, Zac borrowed an old set of drums, and Taylor became the keyboard player of what turned into a garage band. The band recorded two independent albums in their hometown of Tulsa, Boomerang (recorded autumn 1994, released 1995) and MMMBop (1996). The latter featured the original version of what would later become the runaway single on their debut commercial record Middle of Nowhere. The boys then found themselves at the South By Southwest music festival for unsigned music bands in Austin, Texas. There, they were promptly signed by manager Christopher Sabec. He shopped them to several record companies, most of which dismissed the band as either a novelty or fraud before Steve Greenberg, an A&R representative for Mercury Records, heard them play a set at the Kansas State Fair. This break resulted in the band being signed almost immediately by Mercury. They soon became a worldwide sensation with the release of their first major-label album, Middle of Nowhere.
Middle of Nowhere was released on May 6, 1997. The album's first single, "MMMBop", debuted at #16 in the United States, reaching #1 in both the US and the UK, reaching #2 in Canada, and staying over two months in the top spot in Australia. The group was heavily featured in teen magazines such as Tiger Beat and found a wide following among teen and pre-teen girls. The album's second single, "Where's the Love", followed "MMMBop" to the top of the charts. Their first album's worldwide success was registered in Tulsa, Tokyo and the Middle of Nowhere, an 82-minute videotape with home videos, interviews, video clips, and live performances.
During the summer of 1998, Hanson began a highly successful concert tour, The Albertane Tour. They performed a string of shows throughout stadiums and arenas in the US, targeting young audiences with its playful and energetic theme. A live album, titled Live From Albertane, was released the following fall.
Since then, follow up albums have failed to match the success of Middle of Nowhere and Hanson has struggled against the label of one-hit wonder. Hanson released their second album, This Time Around, in May 2000 but due to lack of sales the label pulled funding on their tour. They toured through the summer and fall of 2000 on their own funds.
The brothers left their record label, Island Records, due to conflict with the producers who felt their material was lacking quality and had refused over 80 songs from the band. The band now works under their own independent label, 3CG Records ("3 Car Garage Records"), named for the three-car garage in which their studio lies today. The label has distribution deals through Alternative Distribution Alliance in the United States, Sony BMG in Asia, and various other distributors throughout the world.
During the struggle with their former label, Hanson signed with their current management company, 10th Street Entertainment, which also manages artists such as Meatloaf and Blondie.
The band toured during the summer and fall of 2003 in support of Underneath Acoustic, which was composed of acoustic versions of songs from their then-forthcoming release, Underneath. The tour culminated on November 5, 2003 with a performance at the prestigious Carnegie Hall.
Underneath was released on April 20, 2004, and the following week debuted at #1 on Billboard's Independent Album Chart and #25 on the Billboard 200 album chart, making Underneath one of the most successful independent albums of all time (only a few artists, such as Prince and Ani DiFranco, have released a top 25 independent album).
The first single from Underneath was "Penny & Me"; its music video featured The O.C.’s Samaire Armstrong and was directed by Chris Applebaum ("Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne). "Penny & Me" reached #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart. The video for the album's second single, "Lost Without Each Other", was directed by P.R. Brown and filmed in Boston, and includes live footage from the concert played in the city that coincided with the filming.
On March 5, 2005, Hanson performed the US anthem at the inaugural NASCAR Busch Series Telcel-Motorola 200 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City.
In fall 2005, Hanson toured the US and played at certain Canadian venues to support their recently released live album, The Best of Hanson: Live & Electric. They also visited various colleges in order to showcase Strong Enough to Break, their documentary chronicling their struggles with Island Def Jam during the making of Underneath, as well as their subsequent departure from the label. During the college visits, the band also held question-and-answer sessions about the problems that independent artists face in music industry today.
In November 2005, Hanson's old record label released "Mmmbop: The Collection", a compilation of famous tracks from the first two albums and the consequent B-sides of singles. However, the CD never charted, partially based on poor distribution. The album also received criticism from Hanson's loyal fan base, as many fans rejected the record label that released the album. This was in large part due to Hanson's recent documentary and college tour, which did not frame the music industry in a particularly positive light.
During the spring of 2005, Hanson toured many countries in South America and Europe, and performed their first ever electric shows in Australia during their highly successful Live and Electric tour. Hanson plans to release Strong Enough to Break on DVD in late 2006 and are currently working on their fourth studio album set for release in early 2007. This album, which Taylor revealed to be titled The Walk in a chat on Hanson.net in July, has been said by the band to be very different from Underneath. Zac recently posted on their official website, saying that the band recorded a school choir in Soweto, South Africa. This indicates that the new record will indeed be different from the quieter, more acoustically-driven songs featured on Underneath. A recent video posted on their official website reveals the clip of a song that was played live on the Underneath Acoustic '03 Tour, called "The Walk", and revealed the possible title of their upcoming album, or maybe a documentary on the album, called "Taking the Walk".
On October 13, 2006, Hanson posted a new song from the upcoming Van Wilder 2 soundtrack, exclusively for members of Hanson.net. The song is called "The Ugly Truth" and is, in the band's own words, "a true back to basics rock'n'roll tune".
--Wikipedia
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