Foster the People

*Mark Foster: (vocals, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitar, programming, percussion),
*Cubbie Fink: (bass and backing vocals)
*Mark Pontius: (drums, extra percussion)

Mark Foster began his music career by moving in with his uncle in Los Angeles. Foster’s attempts at a music career fell flat and he spent several years waiting tables at restaurants. He spent most of his time trying to network at parties in the Hollywood Hills. During this time, Foster had a serious drug addiction and nearly died several times. Foster remained in Los Angeles after landing a job as a commercial jingle writer for Mophonics in 2008. Foster had trouble playing music by himself with just a laptop (which he used for various electronica recordings) and needed to find a band to help contribute to his vision. Pontius joined the group after leaving another band and Fink had lost his job because of the economic recession and joined as the group’s bassist. Initially, the group was called “Foster & The People’ but fans thought the name sounded like ‘Foster The People’ which meant something nurturing or heartfelt. The group’s initial success came after Foster released the single ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ on his website. The song went viral and was used in several advertising campaigns. In March 2010, the band performed at South by Southwest music festival. In May 2010, the band was signed to the Columbia imprint Startime International in a multi-album deal. The band’s debut album, ‘Torches’ was released on May 23, 2011. In order to promote the album, the band performed on several late night talks shows as well as a memorable performance on Saturday Night Live that featured a special guest appearance by saxophonist Kenny G. Several of the bands song have been licensed and used for other media usage including television programs such as HBO’s Entourage and Gossip Girl, a Nissan car commercial and the Fifa 2012 video game.

You can listen to a sample of ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ from their latest album in our media player below.

Thanks to http://www.wikipedia.org for some biographical information.

Image source: http://www.latimes.com/

[audio:https://boobnewb.com/blog/audio/FosterThePeople_ArtistSpotlight.mp3]

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