Country pop outfit formed in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada by school friends Brad Mates (b. Bradley Mates, 21 July 1978, Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada; vocals/guitar), Pat Allingham (b. 9 July 1978, Ill-A-La-Cross, Saskatchewan, Canada; fiddle), and Chris Hartman (b. 2 January 1978, Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada; keyboards). Originally called 12 Gauge, the trio added Jeff Loberg (bass) to the line-up and earned their musical spurs by touring Canada and recording two self-released albums. Along the way Danick Dupelle (b. 29 September 1973, Notre-Dame Perrot, Quebec, Canada; guitar/vocals) and Mike Melancon (b. Michel Melancon, 13 August 1978, Lac Des Ecurces, Quebec, Canada; drums) were added to the line-up and the band’s name was changed to Emerson Drive. The sextet’s hard work eventually paid off when they landed a recording contract with DreamWorks Records in 2001. Their self-titled debut album was a collection of inoffensive country pop material that garnered the band plenty of attention on country radio. ‘I Should Be Sleeping’ and ‘Fall Into Me’ broke into the country Top 5, with the latter also reaching the pop Top 40.
A string of personnel changes then ensued, with Loberg leaving in August 2002, Hartman in March 2003 and Allingham in June 2003. The trio’s replacements were David Pichette (b. 23 July 1977, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; fiddle), Patrick Bourque (b. 27 September 1977, Terrebone, Quebec, Canada, d. 25 September 2007, Montreal, Canada; bass) and Dale Wallace (b. 1 November 1969, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; keyboards/vocals). The new look sextet teamed up with former chart artist Richard Marx for their follow-up What If?, that strayed even further into AOR pop territory than its predecessor. Following the dissolution of DreamWorks, the band switched to the Nashville-based Midas Records label for 2006’s Countrified.
