The Black Keys

Hailing from Akron, Ohio, guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney had known each other as neighbors since childhood when they decided to make their musical debut as a duo in 2001. Their first album, The Big Come Up, was recorded in the drummer's garage in 2002. Before long, the garage-rock-influenced blues duo recorded a second album, Thickfreakness (#182 in the UK). The Black Keys see their song "Set You Free" used almost 300 times in TV shows and commercials. The Rubber Factory album benefits from this exposure, reaching #131 on the Billboard 200 in 2004. It was followed by Magic Potion, released by Nonesuch (No. 95). In 2007, the two men were approached by producer Danger Mouse, who was working on an Ike Turner record, to compose a few tracks. The project was aborted due to Turner's death, but the songs were used on their 2008 album Attack & Release(#14 in the U.S.). Brothers was released in 2010 (#3 in the U.S.). Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio under professional conditions this time, it marks a turning point for the band, thanks in particular to the single "Tighten Up" (#87). After a tour cut short due to exhaustion, the musicians reunited to record El Camino in 2011 (#2 in the U.S.), driven by the title track "Lonely Boy" (#64). The Danger Mouse-produced album explores a wide range of musical styles, from rockabilly and surf rock to soul and blues. The band continues its collaboration with Danger Mouse for Turn Blue in 2013 (#1 in the U.S.). The two musicians then take time out to pursue parallel projects, until 2018. They reunite to record Let's Rock (#4 in the U.S.). In 2021, the band returned, this time with a record of country blues covers, Delta Kream (#6 in the USA). This was followed barely a year later by Dropout Boogie (#8 in the U.S., #5 in the U.K.), which featured ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons on the track "Good Love". In January 2024, the band returns with two new singles, "Beautiful People (Stay High)" and "I Forgot to Be Your Lover" , taken from the twelfth opus Ohio Players, which also welcomes the track "Paper Crown", recorded with Beck and Juicy J. The tour that follows is cancelled again after controversy over the organizer's funding from a cryptocurrency fund. Back in the studio, the duo concocts the pop-rock-tinged album No Rain, No Flowers (2025).