The Box (band) - Biography

Biography

The band was formed in 1981 by Jean-Marc Pisapia, an early member of Men Without Hats. He recruited guitarist Guy Florent and bassist Jean-Pierre Brie for the band, who were originally known as Checkpoint Charlie before settling on the name The Box.

The band's first single attracted the attention of Montreal radio station CKOI-FM, leading to a deal with Alert Records. Also that year, Pisapia's brother Guy joined the band on keyboards.

Their debut album, The Box, was released in 1984 and produced the hit singles "Must I Always Remember" and "Walk Away". Drummer Sylvain Coutu joined the band for its supporting tour, but was replaced by Pierre Taillefer before the band's next album. Florent also left the band, and was replaced by Claude Thibeault.

In 1985, The Box released All The Time, All The Time, All The Time. That album, which included backing vocals by Sass Jordan and Marie Carmen, produced the hit singles "My Dreams of You" and the band's most famous song, "L'Affaire Dumoutier (Say to Me)". The band won the 1985 Félix Award for group of the year, and were nominated for the Juno Award for most promising group.

1987's Closer Together was the band's most commercially successful album. Featuring the hit singles "Ordinary People", "Closer Together" and "Crying Out Loud for Love", the album was certified platinum. Backing vocals on the album were provided by Jordan and Martine St. Clair.

After touring for more than eighteen months, the band took six months off to recover before returning with 1990's The Pleasure and the Pain. That album was a commercial disappointment, and The Box disbanded in 1992 after releasing the greatest hits compilation A Decade of Box Music.

Pisapia released a solo album, John of Mark, in 1995. He subsequently revived The Box with a new lineup in 2002, issuing two new Box tracks (recorded in 1996 and 2002) on a new hits compilation, Always in Touch With You. This version of The Box was essentially Jean-Marc backed by session musicians, but the line-up soon coalesced into steady group. This iteration of The Box features a decidedly more prog-rock orientation than the original incarnation of the band.

In 2005 the band released Black Dog There, its first new album in fifteen years. This was followed up by the 2009 album D'Apres Le Horla De Maupassant, the first Box album sung entirely in French.