About a year and a half ago, the producers of Celebrity Big Brother asked Mark McGrath to stage a fake recording session so they could shoot a quick sizzle reel of him before the reality show began filming. But when Sugar Ray guitarist Rodney Sheppard arrived at the studio, he had the seed of a song idea he wanted to try out. The day after he emerged following a third place finish in the competition, Shepherd called him with some shocking news. Sugar Ray got a major label deal in ? His shock is understandable. They spent the next decade struggling to survive, parting ways with drummer Stan Frazier and bassist Murphy Karges in the process and later battling them in court. They are doing what they want to do and God bless them. My goal is met.

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We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. Beginning their life as a mischievous nu-metal outfit with a shameless debt to Red Hot Chili Peppers , the group sharpened and expanded their sound with 's Floored. Among the departures on Floored was the breezy reggae tune "Fly," a song that became an unexpected number one hit. Sugar Ray cannily decided to double down on their pop side on 's , an album whose very title showed that the band were in on the joke courtesy of its wink to Andy Warhol's notorious axiom that everybody would be famous for 15 minutes. Remarkably, and its hits "Every Morning" and "Someday" opened up a lasting career for Sugar Ray and lead singer Mark McGrath , whose stardom soon eclipsed that of the rest of the band. Once the big hits dried up, McGrath and guitarist Rodney Sheppard -- the only other member of Sugar Ray to stay with the band through all its incarnations -- happily played to the nostalgia market, while still making music that played to their sunny sweet spot. Rodney Sheppard played in a group of punk pranksters called Shrinky Dinx with drummer Stan Frazier and bassist Murphy Karges, a former touring member of the Weirdos. One night in , their mutual friend Mark McGrath jumped onstage to sing, and he soon became a regular member of the group.
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The decline of Sugar Ray happened all at once, or at least it seemed that way. The band peaked in the late '90s on the back of hits like "Every Morning" and "Fly," but by the early '00s it had cratered, barely able to sell a hundred thousand albums where the band had once sold millions. Sugar Ray went on hiatus, and frontman Mark McGrath took a spur-of-the-moment gig hosting the syndicated entertainment show "Extra. McGrath, 47, is as affable and self-aware a rock star as you could hope to meet. In a recent phone interview, he talked about being a nostalgia act he doesn't mind , recent rumors that he was dead he isn't perpetrated by the makers of a TV show he appeared on, and the casual cruelty of Captain Kirk. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation.
Originally playing heavier nu metal style music, the band achieved mainstream popularity in with their more pop -influenced single " Fly ". The song's success led the band to shift its style dramatically to the more radio-friendly pop sound with their subsequent releases. Their best-selling album, , was released in , and featured popular singles " Every Morning ", " Someday ", followed by a self-titled album in featuring the single " When It's Over ". The band would release two further albums, In the Pursuit of Leisure and Music for Cougars , though the albums and respective singles generally sold far less. The band continued to tour into the s. In , ten years after the band's last album, they announced their seventh studio album, Little Yachty , in June The lead single, "Make It Easy", was released the same month. The band members grew up in Orange County.