Wheatus
American rock band
Wheatus is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1995. Their 2000 single, "Teenage Dirtbag" and 2001 cover version of Erasure's "A Little Respect" charted worldwide. Their self-titled album was certified platinum in the United Kingdom.
History
1995–2002: Formation and Wheatus
Wheatus was formed in 1995 by Brendan Bernard Brown, who plays guitar and sings, on the Lower East Side of New York City. Brown began by writing a few songs and subsequently enlisted his brother Peter on drums, Rich Liegey on bass and backing vocals, and Philip A. Jimenez on various percussion instruments, keyboards, harmonica, samples, and special effects. The band derives its name from the nickname "wedus" given to the Brown brothers by their father when they were children. In 1999, they hired New York producer Ray Maiello, who booked them at New York's Luna Lounge for regular appearances. Maiello distributed the group's self-produced debut album, including to major record labels and to A&R executive Kevin Patrick from Columbia Records. Maiello then arranged for Patrick to see the band play at the Mercury Lounge, and Patrick subsequently signed Wheatus to a multi-album deal, with Maiello as the band's manager. Their self-titled debut album was released on August 15, 2000, and spawned their first and most successful hit, "Teenage Dirtbag", which charted at No.
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This entry incorporates text from “Wheatus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.