Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol Members: Gary Lightbody, Paul Wilson, Jonny Quinn, Nathan Connolly, Tom Simpson
Home town: Bangor/Belfast/Glasgow
Career Highlights: IFPI Platinum Europe Award 2007, for Eyes Open, Four Ireland Music Awards 2007, including Best Live Act, Highest Charting Single: Run, number five, 2004, Chasing Cars, number six, 2006

Fast-becoming one of Britain’s national treasures, Snow Patrol, originally called Polar Bear, formed at Dundee University in 1995. The five lads put their first album out on the small-but-perfectly-formed label Jeepster, before even graduating from their courses.

They started getting loads of attention among students and indie music lovers, and soon the boys were all over MTV.

But it wasn’t until the band moved to Polydor and released the 2003 smash album Final Straw that they catapulted into superstardom. With a string of Top 10 hits, people began to take notice.

Their fate was sealed with the release of 2006’s Eyes Open album, that spawned the monster hit single Chasing Cars. The album became the year’s best-seller, shifting more than 1.5 million copies.

Bass player Paul Wilson said the band’s name came from a scarey encounter with Colorado police on a trip to the US. The band were caught trying to cut down a Christmas tree from a ski resort. A chase ensued but the band hid from the police in a cave for more than five hours and then got away. Meanwhile drummer Jonny Quinn got pneumonia!