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Star Spotlight
If you don't know the Jonas Brothers, you will hear about them soon. These three teens—Kevin, 17, Joseph, 16, and Nicholas, 13, are already blowing up on TRL, and they're sure to launch into the stratosphere when their debut album comes out later this month. Packed with tight, catchy lyrics, hot hooks, and strong vocals, this album will put the Jonas Brothers into the big time. We got an exclusive interview with Joseph and Kevin (Nicholas was home sick that day), and we're sharing it with you. Read on!
Q & A
Q:
You wrote many of the songs on this album. That's unusual for a new group.
Kevin: Nicholas was working on his career because he had a solo album with Columbia Records at the time. We wrote a song together called "Please be Mine." We still play it today in every concert or set we play.
Q:
Have you appeared in a lot of Broadway shows?
Joseph: I did one Broadway show called La Bohéme with Baz Luhrmann. That was really cool! Nick is the Broadway king and he has been [performing] since he was seven or eight. It is pretty amazing. He has done four Broadway shows—Les Misérables, Beauty and the Beast, Annie Get Your Gun, and The Christmas Carol. I saw him doing all the shows and I said "I want to do a Broadway show!"
Q:
Did you always know that you wanted to do something in music?
Joseph: I think I always wanted to make people laugh. I thought that it was my job to be a comedian all day. When I was singing around the house my dad would say, "Joe, you have a great voice. You should sing."
Q:
We heard that you started playing guitar when you found a book called Teach Yourself How To Play the Guitar. Is that true?
Kevin: I actually faked sick that next day so I could stay home and continue learning. Nick plays drums. We both play guitar and piano so we do that in our set, which is really cool. My parents are always teaching me new things. We have a piano and guitars in the house.
Q:
You have described your writing process as a triangle. Explain.
Kevin: We stand in a triangle and we will play with some chords on a guitar. Then, we will go over it with some melodies. Nicholas will try, Joseph will try, then I will try, and we continue growing. We got really good at it.
Q:
How did you get the idea for the song "Mandy"?
Joseph: It was [based on] a family friend that we grew up with. It was also about my ex-girlfriend.
Kevin: She is really cool. We grew up with her, but she was actually Nicholas's best friend.
Q:
Mandy learned sign language from your mom. Does your mom teach sign language?
Kevin: Yeah. Mandy and two other girls are part of this group called "Signs of Love." They play music, write songs, communicate in sign language, dance and everything. They went to nationals for it and they ended up winning second in the nation for the sign language group. My mom works with them. She loves sign language.
Q:
How does Mandy feel about the song?
Joseph: Oh, she loves it! She is really cool. We actually got to spend a weekend with her. We all went to Pennsylvania with her family and our family.
Q:
Where do you get the ideas for your lyrics?
Joseph: Sometimes it is about either what is going on in my life right now, or how we are feeling that day. A lot of the songs can be really happy when we are having a great time, but some songs will be very sad.
Q:
What does music mean to you?
Joseph: Music is my life, it is very special. You have music as a kind of feeling. There are songs when you are happy and there are songs when you are sad.
Kevin: For me, it is just life in general. When you walk outside, you start hearing beats everywhere you go. Everything becomes a song and that is really how our life has become. I kind of like it that we are traveling and playing all the time. We are doing shows here and there. It is great and it makes us feel wonderful to do it.
Q:
You are brothers so you know each other really well. There must be times when you have differences. How do you work them out?
Joseph: We're brothers and we are always going to have some quarrels. Nick always gets upset if I wear his socks. It is really funny.
Kevin: We usually get along. We know we can't just get upset at each other and hold grudges against each other while we are on stage. It's not going to work.
Q:
What is your all-time most embarrassing moment?
Kevin: When I was little, my dad was trying to teach me how to pump gas. We were on the road traveling and I put the nozzle down a little bit and the spray got in my eyes. I freaked out and ran screaming to the bathroom in the gas station. I remember I was knocking things over. It was embarrassing.
Joseph: I think anyone would have done that.
Kevin: But that is pretty much the only story I have.
Joseph: I don't get embarrassed really easily, and I usually try to make the best out of the situation.
Q:
If you could create a flavor of ice cream, what would you call it and what would you put in it?
Joseph: I would put in chocolate ice cream with a little bit of peanut butter and marshmallows. It would be like a Twix bar.
Kevin: My favorite ice cream is rocky road because chocolate and marshmallows are my favorite. I would add cookie dough to it and a little bit of hot syrup.
Joseph: I would invent ice cream that never melts.
—Interview by Marie Morreale
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The Jonas Brothers
(Photo: Courtesy of Columbia Records)
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STAR STATS
Star Calendar
May 30
It's About Time, featuring the hits "Mandy," "6 Minutes," and "Time For Me To Fly," comes out.
Star Stats
JOSEPH
Birth Date: August 15, 1989
Birthplace: Casa Grande, Arizona
Favorite Color: blue
Favorite Food: chicken cutlet sandwich
Favorite Song: "Only Hope" by Switchfoot
Favorite Musicians: Copeland and Switchfoot
Favorite Actors: Jim Carey and Natalie Portman
Favorite Movie: Dumb and Dumber
Favorite Sport: Wiffle Ball
KEVIN
Birth Date: November 5, 1987
Birthplace: Teaneck, New Jersey
Favorite Color: green
Favorite Food: sushi
Favorite Song: "3x5" by John Mayer
Favorite Musician: John Mayer
Favorite Actors: James Dean and Rachel McAdams
Favorite Movie: About A Boy
Favorite TV Shows: Close to Home
Favorite Sport: pole-vaulting
NICHOLAS
Birth Date: September 16, 1992
Birthplace: Dallas, Texas
Favorite Color: blue
Favorite Food: steak
Favorite Song: "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder
Favorite Musicians: Switchfoot
Favorite Actors: Matt Long and Keri Lynn Pratt
Favorite Movie: Finding Neverland
Favorite TV Shows: Lost and Sports Center on ESPN
Favorite Sports: baseball and tennis
Sports Team: New York Yankees
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