The Fray was formed in 2002 in Denver, Colorado. Lead singer Isaac Slade
and guitarist Joe King knew each other from Faith Christian Academy. They
decided to get together for a weekly jamming session where they would
write songs and play music. Drummer Ben Wysocki played at his church’s
worship team with guitarist Dave Welsh. The two of them joined the band
the next year. The Fray does not consider themselves a Christian band,
though all of the members are Christians. They used to write songs with
overtly Christian lyrics, but noticed people outside the church did not
understand them. They had a different vocabulary. So they changed their
approach.
In 2002 they released an independant EP called Movement. That was followed by an EP called Reason in 2003. They begain sending songs to a local radio station.
In 2004 The Fray was signed by Epic Records and their first album, How to
Save a Life, was released in 2005. In 2006 they released a version of Happy Christmas, and a live CD called Acoustic in Nashville. In 2007 thier album had gone double platinum and they were nominated for two Grammy Awards. That first album also became the most downloaded album ever, a title previously held by Coldplay’s X&Y. In early 2009, The Fray released their self-titled and most recent album.