NEEDTOBREATHE

The band began life after two brothers, William Stanley "Bear" Rinehart III (lead vocals, guitar, piano, organ, harmonica) and Nathaniel Bryant "Bo" Rinehart (lead guitar, banjo, mandolin, backing vocals) started performing together in their hometown, mostly at coffee houses at Furman University. Soon they were joined by Seth Bolt (bass, mandolin, backing vocals), who had studied recording engineering at Full Sail University, using his home studio to record the band's first releases. The album, "The Feature" and EPs "Fire" and "Turnaround" helped gain the band attention, alongside their extensive touring, eventually attracting the attention of Atlantic/Lava Records, an affiliate with Universal, signing the band in 2005.

The band recorded their first album, "Daylight" in the UK, released on April 4th, 2006. Their first radio single was "You Are Here" which was originally featured on their "Fire" EP. This was followed by 2007's "The Heat," which pushed Needtobreathe's music to a wider audience and also receiving critical acclaim. They were nominated for two Dove Awards in 2009 for their song "Signature of Divine (Yahweh)" for Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year, as well as for Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year. In 2009, their song "Washed by the Water" went on to win the award for Rock/Contemporary Song of the Year. This success helped to establish the band as one of the biggest new names in the christian rock scene.

It was with their third album that Needtobreathe cemented their place in the scene, with 2009's "The Outsider" reaching number 20 on the Billboard 200. 2011's "The Reckoning" took this further, peaking at number six on the Billboard 200. The first single from the album, "Slumber" reached number 26 on the Christian Rock Chart. Following this release, "Rivers in the Wasteland" came out in April, 2014, debuting at number three in the Billboard 200 and number one on the Christian Albums Chart, selling 49,000 copies in the first week.