Hanson is proof positive that brilliant records can come from just about anywhere. You never know where you're going to strike oil. So it's fitting that the brothers Hanson (Isaac, Taylor and Zac) were born and raised in the drilling town of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since 1992 the brothers have recorded two self-distributed CDs, written more than 100 original songs, and performed in public hundreds of times. But it wasn't until the runaway success of their single, "MMMBop," released in 1997, that the pre-pubescent brothers gained national attention.

The group's career may well have started when Hanson's father's job took the family to live in Trinidad, Ecuador and Venezuela, during which time the boys developed an obsessive love for the Time/Life compilation records covering the years 1957-1969. "The first music we started listening to was late '50's, early '60's rock and roll," Isaac says. "Chuck Berry, Bobby Darin and the Beach Boys. We also love '60's soul records like Johnnie Taylor's Who's Making Love and anything by Otis Redding or Aretha --The Queen of Soul."

The boys wrote and recorded Middle Of Nowhere, their debut for Mercury Records containing "MMMBop," in Los Angeles over a period of five months. On the album, which was released in May 1997, Isaac plays guitar, Taylor plays keyboards and Zac plays drums.

In the spring of 1998, Hanson released Three Car Garage: The Independent Recordings '95-'96, which culls material from MMMBop, one of their pre-Mercury Records indie releases.

Live From Albertane, recorded in Seattle during their summer '98 tour, was released in the fall of the same year. Hanson's latest, This Time Around, came out in 2000.