Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian pop rock band that has sold more than 15 million albums and won eight Juno Awards. The group began in Scarborough, Ontario in 1988 while Steven Page and Ed Robertson were counselors at a music camp. When Robertson’s band dissolved, he learned all of Page’s songs and the two began performing together at the camp. The duo originally came up with Barenaked Ladies as a one-time name for a charity gig, but then decided to keep it.

BNL continued performing, becoming known for creating songs on the spot based on song names as requested by the audience. When comedy troupe Corky and the Juice Pigs were impressed by BNL’s demo, they offered the duo an opening slot on a regional tour, then a national tour in 1989. For a hometown gig late that year, the duo invited camp friends Andy & Jim Creeggan to play percussion and bass and immediately realized “from the first note” it was the new sound they wanted. However, Andy Creeggan soon took a leave of absence and the band found drummer Tyler Stewart at the Waterloo Busker Festival to replace him.

Their rise to success began when songs from their demo tapes like “If I Had $1,000,000” and “Brian Wilson” began to receive radio play. Then an impromptu performance of “Be My Yoko Ono” inside Toronto’s Speaker’s Corner video booth aired on both CityTV and MuchMusic. However, it was when Toronto city officials decided BNL’s name was too offensive for their New Years Eve performance that they got massive national exposure, including the cover of The Toronto Star and mentions on national TV news outlets. Their self-released Yellow Tape sold 18,000 copies over the next month and would go on to be the first independent release to achieve platinum status (100,000 copies sold) in Canada. During these events, Andy Creeggan had returned and began mixing keyboards in with his (now-additional) percussion.

BNL won a $100,000 prize from CFNY-FM to produce their first album in 1991. Their cover of Bruce Cockburn’s “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” reached #16 on the Canada Singles Chart in early 1992, followed quickly by a new recording of “Be My Yoko Ono” that peaked at #77. Gordon topped the Canada Albums Chart for eight weeks that summer and its next single “Enid” hit #2 in October. Three more singles all reached the top 40.

The band’s next two albums collectively spawned five more top 30’s in Canada (including their first minor US hit “The Old Apartment”) but sales were somewhat modest in comparison. The multi-platinum Stunt followed and gave the band two chart-topping hits – the Grammy-nominated “One Week” on the US pop chart (ironically for one week) and “It’s All Been Done” on the Canadian Singles chart. Both songs also gave BNL their first overseas chart success. They traveled with Blues Traveler and Ben Harper on the US HORDE festival before releasing their last platinum-certified album Maroon, featuring their last internationally successful single “Pinch Me” in 2000, marking the end of the band’s peak era.

Since 2000, the band has released several albums (including a holiday song collection and children’s album) that continue to achieve chart success and moderate sales in North America. These albums have collectively landed BNL two more top 30 hits in Canada. In 2008, Page left the band after being arrested for cocaine possession, though he reunited with BNL for one performance – when the band was inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame at the 2018 Junos.