Stephen Speaks is an American

acoustic rock Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the ad ...

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

band project of singer-songwriter Rockwell Ryan Ripperger. The band was initially founded by Ripperger and

TJ McCloud TJ McCloud (born August 26, 1980) is an American indie and folk singer-songwriter and missionary. Early career Born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1980, he lived in Perry, Oklahoma until 1990, then moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where ...

in 1999 as a duo. Stephen Speaks released its first full-length album ''No More Doubt'' independently in September 2001. The album did well, spreading through college campuses and the newly formed Internet sharing service,

Napster Napster was an American proprietary peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application primarily associated with digital audio file distribution. Founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, the platform originally launched on June 1, 1999. Audio shared ...

. Through word of mouth, the singles "Out of My League" and "Passenger Seat" were picked up internationally and both songs went to No. 1 on Filipino radio stations in early 2003, breaking all previous pop music records for that country. ''No More Doubt'' was then picked up for distribution by

Warner Music Philippines Warner Music Philippines (WMP) is a record label in the Philippines. It is a regional branch of the multinational music conglomerate Warner Music Group. Founded in 1977, the company gained its self-distributed status and has since began relea ...

and went platinum within ten days of its release in that country. In January 2018, the single ''Walk On'', from Stephen Speaks' fourth scheduled studio album, ''Alive To Fight'', was released.

History

Stephen Speaks' first studio album, ''No More Doubt'', was recorded in 2000. Upon release in 2001, ''Passenger Seat'' and ''Out of My League'' received significant airplay atop Filipino pop radio stations. ''No More Doubt'' was released in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

on February 4, 2003, through

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

and Rippley Records, and declared platinum ten days later on February 14, 2003. Stephen Speaks' second album was recorded in Ripperger's home studio in 2003. ''The Leaving Song'' featured

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-nominated artist

Ryan Tedder Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, and lead vocalist for the pop rock band OneRepublic, while also serving as a prolific cont ...

on vocals. Ripperger briefly performed under his real name "Rockwell Ryan" before reverting to Stephen Speaks in 2004 after McCloud departed to focus on his solo career. Ripperger usually performs along with his brother Dain Samuelson who plays percussion for him. In 2005, Ripperger digitally produced ''One More Day'' for exclusive release on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. Ripperger worked with producer

Chad Copelin Chad Copelin is an American producer, audio engineer, musician, and songwriter from Norman, Oklahoma. Copelin got his start playing in local bands and majoring in music composition and after three years of school, left to collaborate with various ...

to release ''Symptoms of Love'' on January 7, 2008. In December 2010, Stephen Speaks released ''Christmas With Friends 2'' for free on the band's website. The album featured vocalists Lindsey Sandella, Ben Kilgore, Noelle Kilgore, Julia Frej, and Jay Lashley, and guitarists Jesse Aycock, Jeff Coleman, Matt Cox, and Ben Mosier. Stephen Speaks' third studio album, ''Age of the Underdog'', was recorded in the summer of 2010 with producer and drummer Brady Blade. The album was released in 2011 alongside a documentary of the recordings.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''No More Doubt'' (2001) * ''Symptoms of Love'' (2008) * ''Age of the Underdog'' (2011) * ''Alive To Fight'' (2018 exp.)

Extended plays

* ''Doubting Thomas'' (1999) * ''No More Doubt'' (2000) * ''One More Day'' (2003)

Compilations

* ''Christmas With Friends'' (2009) * ''Christmas With Friends 2'' (2010) * ''Christmas With Friends 3'' (2011)

Members

;Former member *

(vocals, guitar)

Touring/session members

;Current *Dain Samuelson (percussion) ;Former *Amber Sturges (vocals) *Blake Howard (bass guitar) *Blake Farmer (drums)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Musical groups from Oklahoma American indie pop groups American pop rock music groups American post-grunge musical groups