The band started as a solo project of Nick Jonas. When Nick was six years old, he was discovered while singing at a barber shop and was referred to a professional show business manager.[1][2][3] At the age of 7, Nicholas began performing on Broadway.[4][5] He has acted in several plays, including A Christmas Carol (in 2000 as Tiny Tim and Scrooge at eight), Annie Get Your Gun (in 2001 as Little Jake), Beauty and the Beast (in 2002 as Chip), and Les Misérables (in 2003 as Gavroche).[5][6][7][8] After Les Misérables closed, he performed in The Sound of Music (as Kurt) at the Paper Mill Playhouse.[9]
In 2002 while performing in Beauty and the Beast, Nick had written a song with his father called "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)". With background vocals from the Beauty and the Beast cast, Nick performed the song on the 2002 annual Broadway "Equity Fights AIDS" album, Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure, Vol. 4.[10][11] In November 2003, INO Records received a demo copy of "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)". [12] The label released the song to Christian radio, where it quickly became popular on Record & Radio's Christian Adult Contemporary Chart.[11] While Nick was working on his solo project, Joe followed in his footsteps to Broadway, appearing in Baz Lurhmann's production of La Boheme.
By September 2004, an executive at Columbia Records found out about Nick's song.[13][11] Nick was soon jointly signed to INO Records and Columbia Records and released the single "Dear God".[14] A second single, a new solo recording of "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)", was released on November 16.[15] It was supposed to be followed by a December release of a self-titled solo album Nicholas Jonas, but the album had been pushed back;[16] it did, however, get a limited release.[17] Nick, along with his brothers, Kevin and Joe, had written several other songs for the album.[13]
In early 2005, Columbia Records' new president, Steve Greenberg, listened to Nick's record. While Greenberg did not like the album, he did like Nick's voice.[18] After meeting with Nick and hearing the song, "Please Be Mine", written and performed by the brothers, Daylight/Columbia Records decided to sign the three as a group act.[13][19][20]
After being signed to Columbia, the brothers considered naming their group "Sons of Jonas" before settling on the name "Jonas Brothers."[21]
Throughout 2005, the Jonas Brothers had gone on several tours, opening for various artists including, Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, and The Click Five.[1][22] They spent the latter portion of the year on an anti-drug tour with Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Girls.[22][23] Additionally, they opened for The Veronicas in early 2006.[13]
For the album, titled It's About Time, the band collaborated with several writers, including Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Michael Mangini (Joss Stone), Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), Billy Mann (Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson) and Steve Greenberg (Joss Stone, Hanson).[23] The album was initially supposed to be released in February 2006, but was pushed back several times.[13][19][22][23] The delay was due to executive changes at Sony (the parent company of Columbia) and the executives' desire to have "another lead single" on the album. For the album, the Jonas Brothers covered two hit songs by UK band Busted - "Year 3000" and "What I Go to School For".[18]
The Jonas Brothers' first single, "Mandy", was released on December 27, 2005.[24] Its music video was shown on MTV's Total Request Live on February 22, 2006[3] and reached number four. Another song, "Time for Me to Fly," was released on the Aquamarine soundtrack, also in February.[25] In March, "Mandy" was featured in the Nickelodeon television film Zoey 101: Spring Break-Up and the Zoey 101: Music Mix soundtrack album, with Nicholas Jonas listed as the artist name.[25] The group's music was also featured on Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoon Fridays.[1][25] The band covered "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" from Pirates of the Caribbean for the DisneyMania 4 album, released on April 4, 2006.[26] Over the summer of 2006, the Jonas Brothers went on tour with Aly & AJ.[27] The Jonas Brothers also created the theme song for the second season of American Dragon Jake Long, airing from June 2006 to September 2007 on the Disney Channel.[25][28]
It's About Time was finally released on August 8, 2006.[29] According to the band's manager, it was only a "limited release" of 50,000 copies, so the album can be bid on auction sites like eBay for up to $200-$300 USD. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers then considered switching labels.
On October 3, 2006, Nick's 2004 solo single, "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)," was re-released on Joy to the World: The Ultimate Christmas Collection.[30] Also in October, the Jonas Brothers covered "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from The Little Mermaid. Along with a music video, the song was released on a two-disc special-edition release of The Little Mermaid soundtrack.[31] The second single from It's About Time was "Year 3000." The song became popular on Radio Disney, and the music video debuted on Disney Channel in January 2007.
The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.
After shortly being without a label, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007.[32][33] Around the same time, brothers began appearing in commercials for Baby Bottle Pops, singing the jingle.[33] On March 24, two additional songs on two different albums were released: "Kids of the Future" from the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack[34] (Based on Kim Wilde's "Kids in America"), and "I Wanna Be like You" from DisneyMania 5.[35]
The Jonas Brothers made their first appearance at the White House on Monday, April 9, 2007, during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll where they sang the National Anthem.[36] They returned on Wednesday June 27, 2007, during a Celebrating Women in Sports Tee Ball game on the South Lawn. They sang the National Anthem and after the game, the Jonas Brothers entertained at the picnic-reception with a selection of their hits.[37]
Their self-titled second album, Jonas Brothers, was released on August 7, 2007.[38] It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week. Two singles with music videos were also released around this time - "Hold On" two weeks before, and "S.O.S." just after the release of the album.
In August, the Jonas Brothers made several appearances on television. On August 17, they guest-starred in an episode of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana titled "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas." They also performed "We Got the Party" with Miley Cyrus in the episode, which premiered after High School Musical 2 and was viewed by 10.7 million people that night.[39] On August 24, the Jonas Brothers performed two songs at the Miss Teen USA contest.[40] The following day, the closing ceremonies of the Disney Channel Games aired, featuring a performance from the Jonas Brothers. The games were taped on April 27, 2007 in Orlando, Florida.[41] On August 26, the Jonas Brothers co-presented an award with Miley Cyrus at the Teen Choice Awards.
On November 18, 2007, they performed at the American Music Awards, performing the song "S.O.S." On November 22, the brothers appeared in the 81st annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. For their final performance of 2007, the three brothers performed their singles "Hold On" and "S.O.S." at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.
The Jonas Brothers kicked off their Look Me In The Eyes Tour on January 31, 2008 in Tucson, Arizona. They performed several new songs on the tour that will be on their third studio album, A Little Bit Longer.
The Jonas Brothers' third studio album, A Little Bit Longer, was released in the United States on August 12, 2008, with CDVU+ technology, just like their second album, Jonas Brothers. On June 24, 2008, iTunes announced that it would release four songs from A Little Bit Longer, one roughly every two weeks.[42] The purchase of each of the songs applies to the cost of the entire album, which could be purchased via iTunes' Complete the Album feature after release. Each song released also featured a podcast. The schedule: June 24, 2008 for "Burnin' Up"; July 15, 2008 for "Pushin' Me Away"; July 29, 2008 for "Tonight"; and August 5, 2008 for "A Little Bit Longer." Now that all of the singles have been released, all of them have occupied the number 1 spot on iTunes for at least 3 days.
After the Look Me In The Eyes Tour ended on March 22, 2008, the Jonas Brothers announced that they would be opening up for Avril Lavigne's Best Damn Tour along with Boys Like Girls, but only on the second leg of the tour in Europe which lasted from late May to late June 2008.
While filming the movie Camp Rock, the Jonas Brothers co-wrote several songs for fellow Disney Channel star and close friend, Demi Lovato, for her upcoming album, Don't Forget.[43][44] Retooling some of her songs to give it the Disney Signatue.
"I (lovato) tend to write songs that are, I guess, a little bit more intense and less catchy, and I needed help writing catchy songs," she said, adding that the album also features a guest spot from Rooney frontman Robert Schwartzman. "So that's where they came in. I put a lot of my musical input and lyrics into these songs, and they just helped me with hooks and stuff like that." [45] "I'm more of a writer whose stuff wouldn't make it on a Disney album. It's too dark..." [46]
The album was released on September 23, 2008. The brothers also helped produce Lovato's album.
A soundtrack was also for the movie was released for the movie Camp Rock on June 17, 2008. It debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 with 188,000 copies sold in its first week.[47]
During the summer of 2008, the Jonas Brothers started their North American tour, the Burning Up Tour, promoting A Little Bit Longer and Camp Rock Soundtrack, and performing songs from previous albums as well: It's About Time and Jonas Brothers. The tour kicked off July 4, 2008, at Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto, Ontario. A Disney Digital 3D production crew filmed the two shows in Anaheim, California on July 13 and July 14[48] with Taylor Swift,[49] who sang a few singles from her album, Taylor Swift, for a theatrical movie that will be released in theatres as a 3D concert movie on February 22, 2009.[50] On July 14, Nick Jonas announced onstage that the band had already written five songs for their fourth studio album (third with Hollywood Records).[49]
The Jonas Brothers made history being the first group to sell more than 100,000 digital downloads for three consecutive singles: "Burnin' Up", 183,000+ first week sales, "Play My Music", 109,000+ sales, and "Pushin' Me Away", 116,000+ sales.[51] In addition, "Burnin' Up", "Pushin' Me Away", "Tonight", and "A Little Bit Longer" all charted as #1 on the iTunes "Top Songs" Chart for several days, pushing off Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl".
The band was featured on the cover of the July 2008 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine.[52]
On August 4, 2008, the brothers appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and performed Burnin' Up in front of an outdoor audience.
The Jonas Brothers visited downtown Cleveland, Ohio's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before their sold-out concert on the evening of August 22, 2008, at Blossom Music Center. The band presented the suits and pants they wore on the cover artwork of A Little Bit Longer to Jim Henke, vice president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The suits are part of the Right Here, Right Now! exhibit, which includes some of today's most popular artists.[53]
In December 2008, the Jonas Brothers were nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards.
