School of Rock - Friday 7/3 - Train/Meet Virginia

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Tonight, a band that has sold over 4 million records.  And no doubt much of that success is because of their fantastic lead singer.

The group started out in San Francisco with only two members, Patrick Monahan (lead vocals) and Rob Hotchkiss (guitar, vocals), who performed in coffee houses and local clubs. Monahan had previously been a member of a Led Zeppelin cover band before turning his attention to creating his own music.  The band members financed their self-titled debut, which cost them a total of $25,000 to produce. Columbia Records agreed to sign Train under Aware Records after hearing their first album. Their song "Free" saw significant airplay on mainstream rock radio, later being featured in the TV show Party of Five. Train then released the song "Meet Virginia" as a single. The song eventually became a top 20 pop hit. The success of "Meet Virginia" helped their album creep up to the top half of the Billboard 200 album chart.