Caleb Followill

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Caleb Followill is the singer of Kings of Leon, an American rock band formed in 1999 in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. The group consists of the brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. The brothers grew up in Oklahoma and Tennessee, where their father Ivan Leon Followill was a minister in the United Pentecostal Church. He preached in churches and at tent meetings in Oklahoma and the Deep South, and the boys travelled with him.

Music and breakthrough

The band's early music mixed Southern rock and garage rock with influences from the blues. Later it developed towards a more alternative rock sound. In the United Kingdom success came first, with nine top 40 singles and two BRIT Awards in 2008. The third album, Because of the Times, reached number one there. After Only by the Night in 2008 the breakthrough in the United States followed too, with the singles Sex on Fire, Use Somebody and Notion. After that came Come Around Sundown in 2010, Mechanical Bull in 2013, Walls in 2016, When You See Yourself in 2021 and Can We Please Have Fun in 2024. For Use Somebody the band received a Grammy for Record of the Year in 2010.

Influence

Caleb Followill carries the band with his hoarse, raw voice, which does not hide its roots in church and Southern rock.

Listening