Sixpence None the Richer

Sixpence None The Richer
Origin	New Braunfels, Texas, USA
Years active	1990s-2004
Genre(s)	Pop/Rock
Label(s)	R.E.X. Records Squint Entertainment Reprise Records
Members	Leigh Nash Matt locum Sean Kelly Justin Carry Jerry Dale McFadden Dale Baker Rob Mitchell
Past members	Tess Wiley J.J. Plasencio

Sixpence None the Richer was a pop/rock band with roots in New Braunfels, Texas, eventually settling in Nashville, Tennessee. They are named after a passage in C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity.

Guitarist/songwriter Matt Slocum met vocalist Leigh Bingham Nash at a church retreat in the early 1990s. They recorded a demo (which now circulates as "The Original Demos") and eventually an album, "The Fatherless and the Widow," for R.E.X. Records in 1993. The record featured Chris Dodds (of Slocum's band Love Coma) on drums. Shortly after the release of the album, Slocum left Love Coma to pursue Sixpence full time. The band added Tess Wiley (guitar) J.J. Plasencio (bass) and Dale Baker (drums) for 1995's "This Beautiful Mess." Both albums were produced by Armand John Petri.

In 1997, the group signed to Steve Taylor's Squint Entertainment and released a self-titled album, which slowly began garnering attention from a wider audience. In 1999, "Kiss Me" was released as a single, propelling Sixpence into the national pop spotlight. The Grammy-nominated song became the top airplay song in over 10 countries including Canada, the UK, Japan (later, the band re-recorded "Kiss Me" with Japanese lyrics), Australia, and Israel and was also featured in a number of motion pictures (She's All That) and TV Shows (Dawson's Creek, Saturday Night Live, MTV's The Real World, The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives and others). One version of the video for the song became VH1's number-one video for the entire month of May. In June of 1999, "Kiss Me" was featured during the BBC's worldwide broadcast of Prince Edward's wedding ceremonies, at the request of Britain's royal family. "Kiss Me" was also used in 2001's Not Another Teen Movie, during a scene that parodied one from 1999's She's All That, in which the song was prominently featured. The song has also been covered by artists like Avril Lavigne.

In 2000, the band recorded a cover of The La's "There She Goes", which became their second hit single. This recording was added to the re-release of Sixpence's self-titled album as a 13th track.

Also in 2000, Sixpence contributed the song "Us" to Today Presents: the Best of Summer Concert Series CD, which raised money for the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance.

The band had a follow up album ready to release, but Squint Entertainment started to fall apart - leaving the band in limbo for several years. Finally, Squint Entertainment was purchased by Word Records and that album, Divine Discontent, was released in October of 2002. It differed significantly from the first pre-release version of the album that had circulated -- the songs "Us," "Deeper," "Don't Pass Me By," "Too Far Gone," and "Loser Like Me" were cut, and "Down and Out of Time," "A Million Parachutes," "Tonight," "Waiting for the Sun," and "Don't Dream It's Over" were added. All of the unreleased songs were eventually featured on singles or compilations, with the exception of "Deeper."

The band had almost a second career recording covers of other people's music for compilations and soundtrack albums. The band has recorded versions of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (How the Grinch Stole Christmas), "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" (The Beach Boys), "On the Run" (Electric Light Orchestra), "Bouquet" (Steve Taylor), "I Need Love" (Sam Phillips), "Carry You" (Sam Phillips), "Don't Dream It's Over" (Crowded House), "Christmastime Is Here" (Vince Guaraldi, Peanuts), "Love Letters in the Sand" (Patsy Cline, Pat Boone and others), "Goodnight Children Everywhere" (Vera Lynn), "Road to Zion" (Petra), "Dancing Queen" (ABBA), and "Love Is Blindness" (U2).

On February 26, 2004, Matt Slocum announced via a letter to CCM Magazine that the group had disbanded.

On July 22, 2004, CCMBuzz reported that Matt Slocum had started a new band, the Astronaut Pushers, with Lindsay Jamieson (of Departure Lounge) and Sam Ashworth (son of influential Christian musician Charlie Peacock). John Davis (formerly of Superdrag) joined the band in 2005. The Astronaut Pushers released a self-titled, four-song EP on their own label, Runway Network, in 2005. Sam Ashworth reported via MySpace that he and Slocum had acquired and were operating a recording studio in Nashville in early 2006.

Leigh Nash began work on a solo album titled Blue on Blue with producer Pierre Marchand in the fall of 2005. The album's official release date is August 15th, 2006.

Discography

• The Original Demos (1993) debut album
• The Fatherless & the Widow (1994)
• This Beautiful Mess (1995)
• Tickets for a Prayer Wheel [EP] (1996)
• Sixpence None the Richer (1997)
• Divine Discontent (2002)
• The Best Of Sixpence None The Richer (2004)\

Charts & RIAA Certifications

Albums

Singles

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