Barenaked Ladies

Music group

Jim Creeggan

• Born: February 12, 1970
• Place of Birth: Toronto, Ontario

Ed Robertson

• Born: October 25, 1970
• Place of Birth: Scarborough, Ontario

Kevin Hearn

• Born: July 3, 1969
• Place of Birth: Grimsby, Ontario

Tyler Stewart

• Born: September 21, 1967
• Place of Birth: Scarborough, Ontario

• Ed Robertson
• Singer and guitarist

• Jim Creeggan
• Bassist and singer

• Kevin Hearn
• Keyboardist and singer

• Tyler Stewart
• Drummer and singer

Ed Robertson

Occupation: Singer and guitarist

Tyler Stewart

Occupation: Singer and percussionist

Jim Creeggan

Occupation: Singer, bassist, and guitarist

Kevin Hearn

Occupation: Singer, keyboardist, and guitarist

Contribution: Barenaked Ladies (BNL), a multiplatinum pop and alternative rock band from Canada, was formed in 1988 by Ed Robertson and Steven Page. Known for weird and witty lyrics and live improvisations, BNL earned a loyal following that continued despite the departure of founding member Steven Page in 2009. Following Page’s departure, the band continued to perform as a four-member group and released its thirteenth studio album in 2021.

Early Years

Barenaked Ladies was formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, by singer-songwriters Robertson and Page. Childhood friends from the suburbs of Toronto, the two decided to team up after playing together at a summer music camp run by the Scarborough Board of Education.

The duo made its initial appearance as BNL on October 1, 1988, at the Harvest Food Bank benefit in Toronto; one year later, the band recorded their first demo tape. During BNL’s early years, Robertson and Page combined original material with cover songs by artists such as Madonna, the Proclaimers, and the Talking Heads. By 1990, bassist Jim Creeggan and his brother, keyboardist Andy Creeggan, had joined the group. Drummer Tyler Stewart, whom the others met while playing at a music festival, joined soon after.

Rise to Fame

In 1991, BNL, then consisting of Robertson, Page, Stewart, and the Creeggan brothers, recorded a five-song indie tape titled The Yellow Tape. Distributed solely by friends and family, the tape was a tremendous success, selling eighty-three thousand copies and garnering airtime on national radio.

On July 1, 1992, the group’s first album, Gordon, was released. It featured the hit singles “Enid,” “What a Good Boy,” “If I Had $1,000,000,” and “Brian Wilson.” Receiving worldwide acclaim, the album reached number one on the Canadian charts, where it remained for eight consecutive weeks, and sold eighty thousand copies within twenty-four hours of its release. The album also went multiplatinum in the United States. BNL’s next full length album, Maybe You Should Drive (1994), reached number three on the Canadian charts.

In 1995, soon after the release of the second album, Andy Creeggan left the band to study musical composition at McGill University in Montreal. He was replaced by keyboardist Kevin Hearn.

The success of the band’s first two albums was difficult to follow, and subsequent albums and songs released by BNL met with mixed reactions. During this period, however, the group expanded their fan base in the United States with the releases of Born on a Pirate Ship (1996) and the live album Rock Spectacle (1996). While considered moderate hits in their native Canada, the albums spawned several important singles on the US charts.

In 1998, the group scored another hit with the song “One Week,” which topped the Billboard singles chart. By July 1998, the group’s album Stunt, which featured the hit single “One Week,” sold four million copies in North America. BNL’s next album, Maroon (2000), was less successful but still sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. In 2007, the band composed and recorded the theme music for what was to become the hit television sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The following year, BNL released an album of children’s songs called Snacktime. It had previously released a holiday-themed album, Barenaked for the Holidays, in 2004.

In July 2008, the band received negative publicity after Page was arrested on felony drug charges. The charges were subsequently reduced to a misdemeanor, and in lieu of serving jail time, Page was required to seek drug treatment. One month later, in August 2008, Robertson and three others were involved in a small plane crash in Bancroft, Ontario. Robertson, who is a licensed pilot, was flying the plane.

A Foursome Once More

In February 2009, after more than twenty years with BNL, Page left the group to pursue solo projects. He parted relatively amicably with the band he helped to found, and was not replaced.

In March 2010, BNL released All in Good Time, its first album as a four-member outfit. Following Page’s departure, keyboardist Hearn and bassist Creeggan took a greater role in singing and songwriting; Hearn served as lead vocalist on three of the album’s songs and Creeggan was the vocalist on two. Although critics’ reactions to All in Good Time were mixed, it was popular nonetheless, placing well on record charts both in the United States and in Canada.

The foursome’s next new-music album, Grinning Streak, was released in June 2013 and peaked at tenth on the Billboard 200 chart. (BNL’s 2011 and 2012 albums, Hits from Yesterday & the Day Before and Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One Before!, were both compilations of previous recordings.) As music critics noted, both All in Good Time and Grinning Streak depart somewhat from the group’s signature lightheartedness, instead foregrounding a more thoughtful, sometimes melancholic mood.

The band remained prolific throughout the late 2010s, releasing another album of new songs called Silverball in 2015, and a live album from their US tour with the Violent Femmes and Colin Hay from Men at Work called BNL Rocks Red Rocks in 2016. The band then embarked on another US tour with the classic a capella group from New York, the Persuasions, among other musicians. The tour inspired further collaboration between BNL and the Persuasions, resulting in an album titled Ladies and Gentlemen: Barenaked Ladies and the Persuasions, released in 2017. The album included covers of songs by both groups of musicians. Later that year, BNL released yet another album of new music called Fake Nudes. In 2021, the album Detour de Force was released to positive reviews. Their fourteenth studio album, In Flight, was released in September 2023. The band followed up the album, which featured singles "Lovin' Life" and "One Night", with a sixth month US tour that began in May 2024.

Notable Achievements

BNL has been nominated for two Grammy Awards, won numerous Juno Awards, and received two Billboard Music Awards. In 2000, the group won the World Music Award for the world’s best-selling Canadian artist/group. They were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

Bibliography

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"Barenaked Ladies." Canadian Music Hall of Fame, 2018, canadianmusichalloffame.ca/inductee/barenakedladies/. Accessed 16 Dec. 2021.

“Barenaked Ladies—All in Good Time.” Rev. of All in Good Time, by Barenaked Ladies. Chart Attack. Chart Magazine, 1 Apr. 2010. Web. 30 July 2013.

Bateman, Jeff, and Laura Stanley. “Barenaked Ladies.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 23 Mar. 2018, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/barenaked-ladies-emc. Accessed 16 Dec. 2021.

“Biography.” Barenaked Ladies. Barenaked Ladies, 2013. Web. 30 July 2013.

Gentile, Petrina. “Driving Solo: Steven Page and His Prius.” Globe and Mail. Globe and Mail Inc., 23 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 July 2013.

Myers, Paul. Barenaked Ladies: Public Stunts, Private Stories. New York: Fireside, 2003. Print.

“Page, Barenaked Ladies Part Ways.” CBC News. CBC, 25 Feb. 2009. Web. 30 July 2013.

Patch, Nick. “This Is Me Two Decades Later: Barenaked Ladies Wax Nostalgic as Gordon Turns 20.” National Post. Postmedia Network Inc., 1 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 July 2013.