Barenaked Ladies consists of Ed Robertson (lead vocals, guitars), Jim Creeggan (backing vocals, electric and double bass, guitars), Kevin Hearn (backing vocals, keyboards/organ, accordian, guitars), Steven Page (lead vocals, guitars), Tyler Stewart (backing vocals, drums).
Barenaked Ladies (often abbreviated BNL) is a Canadian alternative rock band currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Steven Page, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart, and formerly Andy Creeggan. They formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.
The band formed out of happenstance when guitarist Ed Robertson agreed to perform with his Rush cover band, Three Guys From Barrie, in a battle of the bands for the Second Harvest food bank at Nathan Phillips Square. Ed's band broke up and he forgot about the gig. When he received a phone call asking him to confirm the gig, he replied that the name of the band had changed to 'Barenaked Ladies' (one of a number of names he and friend Steven Page had randomly made up shortly before, while bored at a Bob Dylan concert at Exhibition Stadium). He then called his friend Steve, asking if he wanted to do the gig. They arranged three rehearsals and missed them all. They played the show, but instead of competing, they played while the other bands set up, playing every song they could think of that they both knew. The show went well and they were invited to open a show for another well-known local band.
The band's first tape, Buck Naked, released in 1989, was recorded in basements and bedrooms, and featured only Steve and Ed. One night, they invited their friends, percussionist Andy and bassist Jim Creeggan, to play with them. They enjoyed the experience and invited the brothers to join the band. Barenaked Lunch (also known as the Pink Tape) was released in 1990, and featured two new band members. Unfortunately, the tape was mastered incorrectly and played too fast. As there were very few copies made of both early tapes, copies are now extremely rare.
While Andy was on a trip to Ecuador in 1990, the band was lacking a percussionist. While playing at a buskers' festival, they met drummer Tyler Stewart, who took over the position. While Andy was gone the band gained some attention when they were winners at the 1990 YTV Achievement Awards. They gained further attention when they squeezed into a small " Speaker's Corner" video booth, operated by CityTV in Toronto, and performed "Be My Yoko Ono." After the song was aired on television it quickly became popular with viewers, and noticeably increased the Barenaked Ladies fan-base. Andy returned to find Tyler having taken over the percussion role. This caused some concern for Andy. He moved more towards keyboards, though he still played percussion (usually congas) on some songs.
