Hanson is an American pop rock band formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma by brothers Isaac (real name Clarke Isaac Hanson), Taylor (real name Jordan Taylor Hanson) and Zac (real name Zachary Walker Hanson). They are best known for their 1997 hit song "MMMBop" from their major label debut album "Middle of Nowhere".

The band was originally called "The Hanson Brothers". The three young boys sang a cappella and recorded songs like "Rockin' Robin", "Splish Splash" and "Johnny B. Goode", as well as their own material. Their first performance as a professional group took place in 1992 at the Mayfest Arts Festival in Tulsa.

The band recorded two independent albums in their hometown of Tulsa, "Boomerang" (recorded in autumn 1994, released in 1995) and "MMMBop" (released in 1996). The latter featured the original version of the song "MMMBop", which would later become the runaway single on their debut commercial record Middle of Nowhere. The boys then found themselves at the South By Southwest music festival for unsigned musicians in Austin, Texas.

They soon became a worldwide sensation with the release of their first major-label album, "Middle of Nowhere". The album was released in the U.S. on May 6, 1997 and was declared 'Hanson Day' in Tulsa by Oklahoma's then-governor Frank Keating.

Hanson also launched MOE (which stood for Middle of Everywhere), a fan club magazine that ran for 12 issues. Following its cancellation, several fans created HTP (Hanson Tribute Project) Magazine in the same fashion as MOE until it was discontinued in the summer of 2005.

The band's "Underneath Acoustic" tour occurred during the Summer and Fall of 2003. The tour was composed of acoustic versions of songs from their then-forthcoming release, Underneath. The tour culminated on November 5, 2003, with a performance at the prestigious Carnegie Hall.

The album entitled "Underneath" was released on April 20, 2004, and debuted at no 1 on Billboard Independent Album Chart and  no 25 on the Billboard 200 album chart, making Underneath one of the most successful independent albums of all time.

In autumn 2005, Hanson toured the U.S. and played at certain Canadian venues to support their recently released live album, The Best of Hanson: "Live & Electric". As well during the autumn of 2005, Hanson toured many countries in South America and Europe, and performed their first ever electric shows in Australia during their highly successful "Live and Electric" tour. In July 2006, the band recorded with a school choir in Soweto, South Africa to create the song "Great Divide", which was released exclusively to iTunes in December 2006 with all proceeds going towards research and prevention of AIDS in Africa.

Their second album with 3CG Records, "The Walk" was released in the U.S., Mexico and Canada on July 24, and was released in Japan on February 21 and in the UK on April 30. The band has said that this album is rather different to Underneath. The Japanese version of the album features two bonus tracks, while the American version features three.

www.hanson.net