Sugar Ray: A Band To Be Remembered

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Sugar Ray band was a California-based band, founded in 1992. The band gained international-level fame when it released FLY, their 1997 hit. Earlier in 1992, they used to be called as Shrinky Dinks - a funky metal band.

The original members of the band were Rodney Sheppard, Stan Frazier and Murphy Karges. After recruiting Mark McGrath and Craig Bullock, they changed their name to Shrinky Dinx. Due to the lawsuit, they again changed their name and finally settled for Sugar Ray in 1993.

Music Career Of Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray released their debut studio album, Lemonades and Brownies on April 4, 1995. It did not gain much success but the band still managed to be on the bar.

Popularity

The band then released Floored on June 24, 1997, which was their second full-length album. It was produced by David Kahne. It was a very successful album and it incorporated mix of rap, punk rock, reggae, metal and funk.

A few popular ones of this album were Speed Home California, High Anxiety, American Pig, Right Direction, Anyone and Fly.

Best Selling Album

On January 12, 1999, Sugar Ray released their best-selling album called 14:59. It was appreciated for its diversified content and is still counted as their best work till date.

Its songs were mostly produced by David Kahne and some of the rock numbers of this album were Ode to the Lonely Hearted, Burning Dog, Even Though, Personal Space Invader and Abracadabra.

Sugar Ray: The Album

Sugar Ray released self-titled album, Sugar Ray on June 12, 2001. It was produced by Ralph Sall, Don Gilmore and David Kahne.

The album had 12 songs and some popular ones include-Answer the Phone, Under the Sun, Nothing, Stay On, Just A Little and Disasterpiece. It was received well in many countries and achieved positive reviews.

They released their fifth album called In the Pursuit of Leisure in summer 2003. It was not much of a success as compared to their previous work but managed to stay on average position.

The Downfall

After 6 years, Sugar Ray put forth a new album, Music for Cougars. It did not gain much of an audience and proved to be bigger flop than ‘In Pursuit of Leisure’.

After giving several hits, Sugar Ray hit the decline rapidly by the early 00’s and were not even able to sell a hundred thousand albums.

One of the most important members of the band, McGrath took us on the nostalgic tour through a telephone interview in which he talked about the Sugar Ray.

It sounded like a trip down to a memory lane for him. He also cleared a rumour of him being dead and how difficult time it was for him.

Written by - Somya Jain

Edited by - Keerthana Lakshmi