R5 (band)

**R5** is an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2009. The band consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist Ross Lynch, Riker Lynch, (bass/vocals) Rocky Lynch (lead guitar/vocals), Rydel Lynch (keyboard/vocals), and Ellington Ratliff (drums/vocals). Since releasing their debut album, *Louder*, on September 24, 2013, which peaked at #24 on the *Billboard* 200, they have toured across five continents. Their sophomore album, *Sometime Last Night*, was released on July 10, 2015, and debuted at #6 on the *Billboard* 200 in the US, and in the top 20 in five other countries. They have also released four EPs, ten singles, and a live DVD.

## Career

### 2009–11: Formation and *Ready Set Rock*

R5 is made up of brothers Riker Lynch, Rocky Lynch, Ross Lynch and their sister Rydel Lynch, all born and raised in Littleton, Colorado, and family friend Ellington Ratliff, who they met at a California dance studio called the Rage. About a year after meeting, they asked Ratliff to join the band. While living in Colorado, the Lynch children went to a performing arts school. They used to put on shows for their family and charged them at least a dollar to watch them perform in their basement. At age 16, Riker decided he wanted to move to L.A. to pursue an acting career. Their parents, Mark and Stormie, moved the entire family there in order to stay together. Shortly after the move, the siblings began appearing in commercials, while Rocky began teaching himself, Ross and Riker how to play guitar.

In mid-2009, R5 debuted their YouTube web series, *R5 TV*, documenting the band's day-to-day life. R5 released their first music video, for "Can't Get Enough of You" on September 4, 2010. The band self-released a five-track EP entitled *Ready Set Rock* on March 9, 2010, consisting of songs written primarily by Riker, Rocky, Rydel, vocal coach Mauli B, and band coach E-Vega, who produced the EP. During these early years they played sets throughout Southern California at venues, including the Orange County Fair, the San Diego County Fair, the San Diego IndieFest, the Knitting Factory, and Six Flags Magic Mountain.

### 2012–14: *Loud*, *Louder* and *Heart Made Up On You*

In March 2013, R5 embarked on a 50-date North American tour, and later that year they toured in Australia. On February 5, 2014, the band embarked on the first leg of its first world tour starting in Warsaw, Poland. They toured numerous countries in Europe including: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, France, England, Scotland, Ireland and Israel. The band also performed at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll and at the Radio Disney Music Awards. On April 24, 2014, the band appeared on Ryan Seacrest's popular KIIS-FM radio show, *On Air with Ryan Seacrest*, where it was announced that they would be the opening act at the Wango Tango Music Festival. The band released "One Last Dance", the final single from *Louder*, on May 30, 2014. On June 9, 2014, they released the music video for "Rock That Rock", a song written for Candymania's Ring Pop, featuring fan content.

Their third EP, *Heart Made Up on You*, was released on July 22, 2014, and consists of the songs "Heart Made Up On You," "Things Are Looking Up," "Easy Love," and "Stay With Me." The music video for "Heart Made Up on You" was released on August 1, 2014.

### 2015–present: *Sometime Last Night*

R5's second full-length album, *Sometime Last Night*, was released on July 10, 2015. Riker shared in interviews that their second album was "more mature," and that Ross was one of the key writers on the record. Ross stated that, earlier in the year, the band had an entire record finished and mastered, but they had second thoughts and scrapped it, feeling it was too similar to *Louder* and didn’t accurately reflect the direction they wanted to go in. The album was originally going to include all four songs from the *Heart Made Up on You* EP. The band rewrote the entire album, taking a bigger role in the album's composition, writing most of the songs on the album. Some of the bonus tracks from the deluxe edition of *Sometime Last Night* were tracks intended for the original album.

On November 15, 2014 the band released the album's lead single, "Smile", and performed the song at the American Music Awards pre-show. "Let's Not Be Alone Tonight", the second single, was released on February 13, 2015. On March 4, 2015, the group hosted an intimate "Hollywood Hang" at the Roxy in Los Angeles. On April 16, 2015, the band's concert movie, *R5: All Day, All Night*, was screened in select Regal cinemas for one night only. In the documentary, Rydel and Ratliff confirmed that they are in a relationship. "All Night" was released as the third single on June 2, along with the album's iTunes pre-order. On June 11, R5 made their late night debut, performing "All Night" on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*

On April 6, 2015, R5 announced the first leg of their Sometime Last Night Tour. Following the conclusion of their summer tour, R5 released *R5 Live: Sometime Last Night At the Greek Theatre*, a two-disc DVD set featuring 80-minutes of live music and exclusive behind-the-scenes content. They toured around Europe, Australia, Asia, North America and South America, and wrapped up the last show of the tour on March 17, 2016, in Sioux City, Iowa. Jacob Whitesides joined the band as opener for first leg of the US tour, Jack and Jack opened for them in Australia, and DJ Ryland joined the band for whole tour.

On June 30, 2015, "F.E.E.L. G.O.O.D." was released on iTunes as an instant grat track for pre-orders. On July 8, 2015, the music video for "All Night" was released. On October 17, 2015, R5 released a music video for "I Know You Got Away". The video was shot during the European leg of the Sometime Last Night Tour and was directed by Ross and edited by Rydel. On December 18, 2015, R5 premiered a music video for "Wild Hearts" on Live Nation TV. The video was directed by the band during their trip to Las Vegas for Rocky's 21st birthday.

In June 2016, R5 announced that they would headline Youth Music Zone in Kingston, Jamaica, on July 9, 2016. The band will be playing at Summer Sonic Festival in Japan on August 20, 2016. Other artists on the lineup include Underworld, Fergie and Weezer.

## Musical influences

The band has cited The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, INXS, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Prince and Queen as big musical influences. They have also mentioned more recent artists, including McFly, The Killers, Neon Trees, Walk the Moon, Maroon 5, Jack White, Bruno Mars and The Script.

## Members

Main article: List of R5 members

Current members
* Ross Lynch – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
* Riker Lynch – bass guitar, backing vocals
* Rocky Lynch – lead guitar, backing vocals
* Rydel Lynch – keyboards, backing vocals
* Ellington Ratliff – drums, percussion, backing vocals

## Discography

Main article: R5 discography

* *Louder* (2013)
* *Sometime Last Night* (2015)

## Concert tours

Main article: List of R5 concert tours ==Bibliography==