Viola Beach

For the community in Canada, see Viola Beach, Alberta.

Viola Beach
Viola Beach in 2016
Viola Beach in 2016
Background information
OriginWarrington, England
Genres
Years active2013–2016
Labels
Past members
  • Kris Leonard
  • River Reeves
  • Tomas Lowe
  • Jack Dakin
  • Frankie Coulson
  • Jonny Gibson

Viola Beach were an English indie rock group formed in Warrington in 2013.[1] The band's final line-up consisted of Kris Leonard (vocals, guitar), River Reeves (guitar), Tomas Lowe (bass), and Jack Dakin (drums). All four, along with their manager Craig Tarry, were killed during their first overseas tour when their car fell from a bridge in the Swedish city of Södertälje on 13 February 2016.[2][3][4][5] Founding members Frankie Coulson (guitar) and Jonny Gibson (bass) left in 2015 to focus on their studies, and are thus the last surviving members of the band.

In the week following the crash, their single "Boys That Sing" entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 80 and their previous single "Swings & Waterslides" entered at No. 11 following a public campaign to boost sales.[6] In the same week, "Swings & Waterslides" also entered at No. 3 on the sales-only chart (which excludes streaming data) and "Boys That Sing" entered at No. 27 on the same chart.[7] On 29 July 2016, the self-titled album was posthumously released.[8][9] It reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart on 5 August 2016.[10]

  1. ^ "Viola Beach die in car crash in Sweden". BBC News. BBC. 14 February 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Guardian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbcnews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference nme was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference 9net was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Viola Beach single Swings & Waterslides enters top 20". BBC News. 19 February 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  7. ^ "Official Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Officialcharts.com. 19 February 2016. Archived from the original on 10 March 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Viola Beach set for posthumous number one". BBC News. August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  9. ^ "Viola Beach debut album posthumously released". The Guardian. 29 July 2016. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference no1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).