After the release of Only by the Night in September 2008 they finally achieved chart success in their native United States. Their third album Because of the Times also reached the #1 spot. Kings of Leon achieved initial success in the United Kingdom with nine Top 40 singles, two BRIT Awards in 2008, and all three of the band's albums at the time peaking in the top five of the UK Albums Chart. The band's early music was an upbeat blend of southern rock and blues influences but the band has gradually expanded their sound to include a variety of genres and a more alternative sound. Each member of the family group is known by his middle name (second given name) as opposed to his first given name.
Their exclusive “ancientry” makes fans in Europe as well as across the sea listen attentively to sounding and texts of their works and the audience at concerts – peer into faces of musicians, who perform devotedly before it on the stage.Kings of Leon is an American rock band that formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 1999, consisting of brothers Anthony Caleb Followill (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Ivan Nathan Followill (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Michael Jared Followill (bass guitar, backing vocals), with their cousin Cameron Matthew Followill (lead guitar, backing vocals). ‘What else could do four young boys without an education, who spent their childhood in strict rules and restrictions?’ they say, believing sincerely that music is the only matter, which can combine a hobby and profession that brings a profit. The brothers do not treat themselves as stars. The Followills really think (perhaps, not without reason) that they were lucky to rise to a good old rock-n-roll when the public suddenly showed interest to it. Their debut album reached number three on the British chart and sold over 80 thousand copies.
They were called “the aliens from the past” for their image and selected music style. In spite of the fact that the quartet’s playing was, as they say, a little bit “raw”, people predicted them a big future.
They were compared with similar (and not much) bands from other cities and states. Mass media became interested in the young quartet. It was released due to producer Ethan Johns, who contributed to signing a contract between Kings Of Leon and label RCA. It is quite obvious that their first album Youth & Young Manhood, recorded in 2003, was based on Writings. Their folk rock sounded softly and naturally, and the brothers' developed imagination became a perfect creative support for writing new songs. The boys drew the inspiration for their songs from their childhood, filled with faith, from bible myths and legends, and adventures they had, traveling in USA. That was the high time to launch a music career. At the moment of the band’s creation, its youngest member, who quickly mastered bass-guitar playing skills, was already 17. Years spent out of civilization and the boys’ bad music background were a source of their problems but the guys did not give up. One can not say that everything was going well. “We will play not worse than they!” the guys decided and got into stride enthusiastically. The first band, which impressed the Followills, was White Spripe. It must be noted that four guys never liked pop music and they found their icons among rock bands. At that time, being free of strict religious rules, the guys first discovered a vicious but such a striking world of music and TV. In 1998, the situation cardinally changed when the head of the family was degraded from the priesthood and began to lead a sedentary life. Moreover, the boys were not familiar with sounding of the modern music and they could hardly imagine what the television was… In a word, the guys were very far from the harmful influence of mass media that completely answered the family’s religion. Before this, they together with their family headed by their father, Pentecostalist, traveled in the country, preaching and nothing doing with the show business world. Here three brothers Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill first knew what the western civilization was when they were teenagers. The history of Kings Of Leon starts with a small town Mumford situated in Tennessee, USA.