Coldplay music moves you

Chris Martin, Jon Buckland, Will Champion and Guy Berryman, who met whilst they were staying at the same Halls of Residence at University, formed Coldplay in 1996.

All four members studied at University College London – Chris was doing a course in Ancient History, Jon read Maths and Astronomy, Will was an Anthropologist, and Guy was training to be an engineer.

Both Chris and Jon had been playing the guitar since their early teens, Guy is the band’s bass player, and Will took the role of drummer, despite that fact that he prefers to play the guitar.

In 1998, Coldplay released their first EP, which they funded themselves. Only five hundred copies were made, and after they had handed them out to family and friends, only fifty were left for distribution around London.

Shortly afterwards, the band were spotted playing in Camden by the co-founder of Fierce Panda Records, Simon Williams. He offered them a one-off deal and they soon released the 'Brothers and Sisters' EP on the Fierce Panda label.

The band graduated from UCL in 1999 and, in the same year, were tipped by the NME as a band to watch. Later that year they signed to Parlophone Records.

'Yellow' was the first hit single from Coldplay, and after a critically acclaimed performance at Glastonbury festival in 1999, the track went straight into the charts at number four. The album this song was taken from, 'Parachutes', went into the album chart at number one just a few weeks later.

In just a few years, Coldplay have been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and done a great deal of work promoting various charities and humanitarian causes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MwjX4dG72s