| Group Biography |
| ***all this info i took from other websites...i cant exactly remember which ones, but anyway..i cant guarantee that this is all entirely true...just so ya know*** ok...so way back in the day Johnny was in a group called the Beaumonts with Robbys cousin. John and Robby met and decided to start their own band. They got together with George Tutuska and formed the group the Goo Goo Dolls. When they first stared, John did not sing lead vocals like he does now. He was very shy and had trouble talking to people, let alone singing in front of them. Robby instead did all the singing on their first album "Goo Goo Dolls" which was released in 1987. On their next album, "Jed" John did sing 2 songs but made everyone turn off all the lights in the studio when he sang. Gradually, he started to sing more and on their 3rd album, "Hold Me Up", he sang plenty.In 1993 after the release of their 4th album, "Superstar Carwash" they set out on their first national tour. However, they didnt sell many records and didnt make much money so they were sent back to Buffalo. Throughout this whole time John had many other jobs such as a bartender and a hot dog vender. By the release of their 5th album, "A Boy Named Goo", John and George werent getting along very well and after a while John actually left the band. Fortunately, Robby was able to talk him into comming back but first they had to fire George. They found a new drummer, Mike Malinin The Goo Goo Dolls big break came to them in 1996 with their hit "Name". This song, off ot the "A Boy Named Goo" album did really well and the band sold more then 2 million copies of the album. Sadly, because this song was a little more mainstream then most of their songs, John was labled as a sell-out for writing it. After their "A Boy Named Goo" tour, they received a royalty statement saying that they owed their record company $115,000. They did everything they could to pay off their debt. Afterword, John took an indefinate leave of absence from the band. Johnny and Robby moved to New York City to and John tried to write for their 6th c.d. but got a terrible case of writters block. Thats when the band thought it was really over. Then, John was asked to write a song for the movie "City of Angels" and after seeing the movie wrote the song "Iris" in less then an hour. His writers block was over. "Iris" immediately became a hit and has been names the most-played song in recorded music history. In September of 1998 their 6th album "Dizzy Up The Girl" was released and has sold millions of copies. The group toured for a while. When the tour was over, John divorced his wife, Laurie, and moved to L.A. There he began writing their new album "Gutterflower". The album was released April 9th, 2002, and is doing pretty well. The band is now out on tour and have set tour dates through September.. And just think, they never expected they would become famous. |