Formation and Early Years (2002–2004)

In the spring of 2002, former schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King reconnected and began regular two-man jam sessions that led to writing songs. Isaac and Joe later added Zach Johnson on drums and Slade's younger brother Caleb on bass to the band. Caleb was the band's first (and only official) bass player but was eventually asked to leave. Caleb's departure from the band caused a rift in his relationship with Isaac and this rift later became the inspiration for "Over My Head (Cable Car)", which is about the brothers' waning relationship. Following this, Johnson eventually left the band as well to attend an art school in New York.

Ben Wysocki, a former band mate of Isaac Slade, joined as drummer and later, Dave Welsh, who was another former band mate of Slade and Wysocki, was added as lead guitarist to the band. The newly-formed band was named "The Fray". The members of the band first claimed that they found the name suitable because they frequently quarreled over the composition of the lyrics in their songs, but they have since stated they are usually on good terms while composing music and acknowledges contributions from all of its members.

The band released their first record, Movement EP in 2002. The next year, the band released Reason EP, which garnered the band local fame and acclaim.Westword, an alternative newsweekly, gave Reason EP a positive review, stating "The music is epic, no doubt, but it's played on a wholly human scale". Despite these reviews, the band struggled to launch a single; Denver radio station KTCL rejected eight of their songs before the band decided to submit a demo of "Cable Car". The song found airplay on a KTCL radio show highlighting local bands, and the radio station received a large number of requests for it soon thereafter. The band changed the name of the song to "Over My Head (Cable Car)", and as the song's airplay increased alongside their local following, the band was voted "Best New Band" by Westword in 2004. Epic Records A&R man Mike Flynn (who later co-produced their debut album) discovered the band through the article in Westword and soon after, Epic Records officially signed the band on December 17, 2004.

How to Save a Life (2005–2007)

The band's debut album" How to Save a Life was released on 13 September, 2005. "Over My Head (Cable Car)" was released as the first single from the album, and it soon became a top 40 hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in late 2005, peaking at #37. The single gained airplay nationally, entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the issue marked February 25, 2006. Fourteen weeks later, it reached its peak position at #8 on the Hot 100 chart. On the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart, the single reached the #2 position. Internationally, the song was a Top 25 hit in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. The song was the fifth-most downloaded single of 2006.

While "Over My Head (Cable Car)" was rising on the charts, the song "How to Save a Life" was first featured during a second season episode ("Superstition" aired March 19, 2006) of Grey's Anatomy, and then on a fifth season episode of Scrubs (aired April 25, 2006). Despite not having been originally released as a single, "How to Save a Life" entered the Hot 100 chart on the issue marked April 15, 2006. The song was released as the band's second single. On August 18, 2006, ABC announced that the song would be used for the main advertising promotion for the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy.

Only weeks after this promotion started, the song became The Fray's second Top 40 hit in the United States. The song peaked a number-three on the Hot 100 chart, surpassing the peak position of "Over My Head (Cable Car)". It became the joint seventh longest charting single of all time on the Hot 100 chart, tying with Santana's "Smooth", at 58 consecutive weeks. The song also topped the Adult Top 40 chart for 15 consecutive weeks. "How to Save a Life" was a major hit internationally, topping the singles chart in Ireland, Spain and Canada. The song also charted in the top five in Australia, Italy and Sweden and was the band's first hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at #4 on the UK Singles Chart.

"Look After You" was released as the third single from the album. It peaked at #59 on the Hot 100 chart, becoming the band's first single to miss the Top 40 while the fourth single, "All at Once" failed to crack the Hot 100 chart.[16] However, the success of "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and '"How to Save a Life" had already launched the band into the mainstream, while the album became a commercial success. How to Save a Life peaked at #15 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, and charted in the top ten in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK and was certified the best-selling digital album of all time, breaking the record held previously by Coldplay's X&Y.

While the album met with commercial success, critical reception from mainstream critics was mixed; Allmusic gave the album a modest review, but stated that the Fray "lacked originality" and the album itself lacked any "inspiration and excitement". Stylus Magazine gave the album a negative review, stating "The Fray, as a rule, are moribund, emotionally strained and uninvolving." Rolling Stone and Blender echoed many of these statements while giving the album three stars out of five. However, the album garnered acclaim from Christian music magazines; Jesus Freak Hideout gave the album a glowing review, stating "How to Save Life is nearly perfect" and gave the album a 4.5/5 star rating. HM Magazine, another American magazine devoted to Christian music also gave the album a positive review, rating it 4/5 stars.

To promote the album, The Fray began an extensive worldwide tour and released a live album, Live at the Electric Factory: Bootleg No. 1, on July 18, 2006. The concert was recorded on May 21, 2006 at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On September 19, they re-released How to Save a Life as a CD/DVD set with exclusive content including a documentary on the making of the album. On September 4, 2007, the band released another live album, Acoustic in Nashville: Bootleg No. 2, which was recorded in late 2006. The album could only be purchased with the original CD from Target but was made available on the iTunes Music Store on November 13, 2007. On October 16, 2007, the band re-released their 2003 EP, Reason. The band also released a live cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" as a 2006 Christmas single (it debuted and peaked on the Hot 100 chart at #50 on the strength of a large number of digital downloads) and worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for their 2007 summer tour.

The Fray (2008–2009)

The band finished recording their self-titled second album (The Fray) at the end of July 2008 for a February 3, 2009 release. The album was produced by Aaron Johnson and Mike Flynn, the same production duo from the band's debut album, and recorded by Warren Huart.[35] A documentary, Fair Fight, directed by Rod Blackhurst was included with the first 300,000 copies of the second album. The lead single from the album, "You Found Me" debuted online on December 9 2009, on VH1.com.and debuted at #28 on the Hot 100 chart, the band's highest debut on the chart to date. The song peaked at #7 on the chart, (making it the band's second highest charting single) and topped the Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart as well as the Australian Singles Chart, becoming the band's first song to reach number-one in Australia. It is also the band's third song to sell 2 million digital downloads in the United States, after "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and "How to Save a Life". Following the success of "You Found Me", the album, released on February 3, 2009, debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 179,000 copies in its first week of release.

"Never Say Never" was released as the second single from the album. The song was a modest hit in the United States; it peaked at #32 on the Hot 100 chart and at #10 on the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart while internationally, it failed to match the success of "You Found Me". The third single from the album, "Syndicate", released on 12 January 2010, failed to achieve any notable success even in the United States; it only managed to peak at #16 on the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks and at #40 on the Pop Songs chart, becoming the band's second single to miss the Hot 100 chart and the lowest charting single from the album.

Again, critical reception to the album was mixed. Rolling Stone termed the album as "nothing new" while Entertainment Weekly stated, "The Fray is all blah, all the time: more minor-key melodies and more dreary tempos." Allmusic, whilst giving the album a modestly positive review, echoed many of these statements, commenting that "the songcraft remains virtually unchanged" and termed the album as "How to Save a Life - Part 2." However, AbsolutePunk criticized the negative reviews, stating, "For what it's worth, the Denver quintet has released a charming, appealing record that would be far more praiseworthy if it didn't sound so much like its predecessor...it may be an album a lot like its predecessor, but that isn't exactly a bad thing." At Metacritic, a review aggregate website, the album holds a rating of 56/100 based on 9 professional reviews, meaning "mixed or average reviews".

Since The Fray (2009–present)

On February 13 2009, The Fray wrote a song called "Be the One". The song was written in the space of 24 hours when Q asked the band to write a love song for the occasion of Valentine's Day. The demo version of the song was released worldwide on the band's official website on 11 November 2009. The band also covered Kanye West's song "Heartless"[55] which charted at #79 on the Billboard Hot 100, while a video for the cover was released worldwide on iTunes on August 11, 2009. Both songs were included in the deluxe edition of the band's second album. "Heartless" was also included on the band's third live album, The Fray: Live from SoHo, which was released on April 7, 2009. On 10 November 2009, the band released the deluxe edition of The Fray which contained a second disc of never before released songs, including "Heartless".

The Fray also collaborated with Timbaland on his album, Shock Value II, which was released on December 8, 2009. The band was featured on the song "Undertow", which, despite not being released as a single, entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #100, the week ending November 28, 2009. On December 22, 2009, the band released an EP, Christmas as a free download from the band's official website. The EP contained five acoustic covers of popular christmas carols.

In an interview to MTV, guitarist Joe King announced that the band would begin studio sessions for the third album in the summer of 2010, and might release some new material by the end of 2010 or at the start of 2011.Source : Wikipedia