Keane

Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley were friends almost from birth, developing a mutual interest in music as they attended Tonbridge School in Kent together. Studying for a Classics degree at University College, London in 1995, Rice-Oxley formed a band, Lotus Eaters, with Richard Hughes on drums and Dominic Scott on guitar. Chris Martin invited Rice-Oxley to join the newly formed Coldplay, but he opted to stick with Lotus Eaters, a decision vindicated when his old friend Tom Chaplin joined as singer - quitting a degree course at Edinburgh University - and they transmuted into Cherry Keane and then Keane. Initially progress was slow, but after lead guitarist Dominic Scott left in 2001 they developed their unique guitar-less sound with piano as lead instrument and debut album Hopes And Fears rocketed them to the forefront of British rock. There was a hiatus when Chaplin went into rehab in 2006 but normal service was resumed with the Perfect Symmetry album in 2008.