Malcolm Mackenzie - Idols of Pop: Jonas Brothers: Your Unofficial Guide to the Iconic Pop Siblings

Contents

Contents

The Jonas Brothers are loved very MUCH!

When the Jonas Brothers returned in 2019, the world lost its tiny mind.

T he Jonas Brothers re-forming couldnt have come at a better time. The world needed a bit of cheering up, but the return of three once goofy boys from New Jersey hit the sweet spot more than anyone couldve anticipated. With the confidence only time can bring, the brothers were suddenly everywhere, seeming happier, more chilled and playful than ever. They produced fun, engaging content that made other pop stars seem boring by comparison, and they looked incredible.

The reason the Jonas Brothers comeback was initially so surprising is that it didnt need to happen. Most boy bands get back together because not much else is going on, they miss performing, and the money is lovely. But individually, the Jonas Brothers were doing incredibly well, which makes the fact that they wanted to put the band back together even more special. They missed each other; they wanted to heal the wounds brought about by the split and wanted to spend their days creating music and playing it together.

Another thing that makes the Jonas reunion completely different is the fact that they didnt wait too long to do it. The brothers are still young and in their prime and just as hot and cool as anyone in the pop charts. If theyd waited ten years, it might have been an exciting nostalgic moment but also a bit like a bunch of dads trying to reclaim their youth. As it is, the Jonas Brothers are at the peak of their powers separately and together. They are still hugely relevant in the current pop climateeveryone is talking about them, their songs are on the radio, and they keep racking up YouTube views and plays on streaming platforms from new fans and old.

To give you some idea about how popular the Jonas Brothers are right now, you only have to look at the social media stats of other boy band members who got back together with their groups. Kevin Jonas, for example, has more Instagram followers than Nick Carter (Backstreet Boys), Jordan Knight (New Kids on the Block), Gary Barlow (Take That), Shane Filan (Westlife), and Ronan Keating (Boyzone) combined.

Nick, Kevin, and Joe are not just a re-formed band of brothers, they are a bona fide supergroup. Long may the happiness continue.

From church to schools to the Disney Channelthe Jonas Brothers steady rise to the top.

EARLY BLESSINGS

The Jonas boys grew up in the New Jersey town Wyckoff with their mother, a sign-language teacher, and their church pastor father. The brothers would join their music-loving father, Kevin Jonas Sr., onstage in church to perform songs that their dad had written.

BROADWAY BABY

Despite being the youngest, it all started with Nick. Nick would break into song, as kids do, and one day a woman suggested he get a manager, because obviously the kid had pipes. Pretty soon Nick, or Nicholas as he was called then, was performing on Broadway playing parts such as Tiny Tim in Scrooge when he was eight, Chip in Beauty and the Beast when he was nine, and Gavroche in Les Misrables when he was just ten.

In the beginning there was hair wax and gela lot of it.

YOURE NICKED

By the time he was 12, Nick had released his first solo album, called Nicholas Jonas, but Joe and Kevin were not completely out of the picture. They co-wrote and sang on some of the songs, so unsurprisingly when the suggestion was made by record company Columbia Records to form a group, it seemed like an excellent idea.

JONAS ASSEMBLE

The Jonas Brothers formed in 2005, releasing their debut single, Mandy, in December. The song, written by Nick, Kevin, and Joe, was featured on the Nickelodeon show Zoey 101 but it failed to chart. The album Its About Time came out in 2006 and featured two prominent Busted coversWhat I Go to School For and Year 3000, which they released as a single that got to number 31 in the US singles chart, selling over a million copies. Kerching!

DISNEY: THE RESCUERS

Despite a modest amount of success, Columbia Records dropped the band. Luckily Hollywood Records, a subsidiary of Disney, were there to snap them up. Disney put the boys to work recording a version of Poor Unfortunate Souls for a special edition of the Little Mermaid soundtrack, they put out a Pirates of the Caribbean track, and they performed the theme tune to the Disney cartoon American Dragon: Jake Long.

S.O.S. SPELLS SUCCESS

Disney knows a thing or two about success, so when they released the Jonas Brothers second album, The Jonas Brothers, it was a worldwide hit, cracking the top ten of the UK and US charts. S.O.S., their first single in Europe, provided the brothers with their first truly global hit. It sold two million copies, and three well-mannered boys who could really rock were on their way.

The Dickensian street urchin look thankfully didnt last.

20052007

IN THE BEGINNING

The band were very briefly called Sons of Jonas.

Nick released his first album when he was 12. His debut single was called Dear God.

Joe made his Broadway debut in Baz Luhrmanns production of La Bohme in 2002the same year Nick was in the musical Beauty and the Beast.

When the first Jonas Brothers album came out, Nick was 13, Joe was 16, and Kevin was 17.

Kevin starred in a number of TV commercials when he was a kid, including one for E-Brain, a weird electronic companiona bit like a lo-fi Alexa.

The Jonas Brothers were so talented and driven that it was simply a matter of time before they would get their big break...

Kevin described early Jo Bro sound as Music on Red Bull.

Ambitious from the start, the Jonas Brothers released three different videos with one continuing story for their debut single, Mandy.

Upon release, Mandy became the number one requested video on the MTV show TRL