Switchfoot

Switchfoot graduated from the mid-Nineties Christian rock scene to become one of America's most popular live attractions. Built around the crafted songwriting and distinctive vocals of John Foreman, the high energy Californian band took their name from a surfing term and were signed by the specialist Christian label Sparrow Records, achieving crossover success with their third album Learning To Breathe in 2000 - which was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Rock Gospel album. However, their biggest break came in 2002 when their music was heavily featured in the Mandy Moore movie A Walk To Remember, including a Jon Foreman-Mandy Moore duet. On the back of all the attention the band signed a major label deal with Columbia Records when their sound softened with the addition of keyboardist Jerome Fontamaillas; resulting in the 2003 album The Beautiful Letdown which became a runaway success and sold over 2.6 million copies. Drew Shirley joined as third guitarist in 2005 to help propel their Nothing Is Sound album to Number 3 in the US album chart, while their next album Oh! Gravity was released to great acclaim in 2007. One of their songs, This Is Home released after they'd left Columbia, was included in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and despite their 2009 album Hello Hurricane being an indie release, it produced the Top 10 single The Sound (John M Perkins Blues).