Fitz and the Tantrums
Biography
Fitz and the Tantrums are an American soul group from Los Angeles, California. The group was founded in 2008 by Michael Fitzpatrick, who had begun writing soul music for a solo project on an old church organ he had purchased. He added friend James King to the group as an arranger and soon after expanded the band to a seven-piece, including several horns. Fitzpatrick shares the vocal duties with Noelle Scaggs. Other members include Joseph Karnes, Jeremy Ruzumna, and John Wicks.
The groups debut EP, Songs for a Breakup, Vol. 1, was released in 2009. Dangerbird Records signed the group in 2010 and issued their first full-length album, Pickin Up the Pieces, in August of that year. The album reached #15 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. Los Angeles Times music critic Ann Powers wrote, "Fitz and the Tantrums is the kind of band that communicates best in concert, but this album serves as a fine proxy and party-starter." Aly Comingore of the Santa Barbara Independent wrote that the band members craft "soulful, nostalgia pop thats not only infectious, but just fresh enough to make it stand apart from its predecessors."
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In 2010 the group opened several dates on tour with Maroon 5. On January 12, 2011, Fitz and the Tantrums performed the songs "MoneyGrabber" and "Dont Gotta Work It Out" on ABCs Jimmy Kimmel Live in Los Angeles. In 2010 the groups music video for the song "MoneyGrabber" was incorporated into the opening scene of a sixth season episode of the CBS crime-drama Criminal Minds entitled "Safe Haven".
Fitzpatrick has said that the bands musical style can be fairly described as "soul-influenced pop". He noted that while the band is influenced by the classic songs of the Motown and Stax record labels, the band is not trying to create an exact replica of that music. In another interview, Fitzpatrick talked about his decision to not use guitars in the band. "I did want to try and make a big sounding record without guitars," he said. "For me, I just feel like in any music that has a band, the guitar is always there, its always featured, its always prevalent. Im just sick of hearing it." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.
