Glee Biography & Awards | Billboard.com

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Artist Info

Formed

2009 Hollywood, CA

Members

Lea Michele, Jenna Ushkowitz, Jonathan Groff, Matthew Morrison, Dianna Agron, Naya Rivera, Kevin McHale, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Jane Lynch, Mark Salling, Chris Colfer

Biography

When Glee aired its pilot episode in May 2009, the show only attracted a fraction of the viewers who tuned in for American Idol, shown on the same channel only one hour prior. The numbers looked bleak, but Billboard's singles charts told a different story one week later, when the Glee version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" became a surprise Top Five hit. Performed during the pilot by the castmates themselves, the song eventually sold over 500,000 downloads and paved the way for Glee's success as a television show and recording entity. Columbia Records became Glee's official music partner that spring, and the show continued spawning hit singles when it returned in September for the full run of its first season. Of course, it didn't hurt that many of the actors had previously cut their teeth on Broadway, including Lea Michele (the star of Spring Awakening) and Matthew Morrison (the original Link Larkin in Hairspray). Such experience helped boost the performances on the show, and Columbia began gathering some of Glee's best songs for a series of albums, beginning with Glee: The Music, Vol. 1 in November 2009. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide