Everclear is the Northwestern grunge-punk style band that was formed by guitarist and vocalist Art Alexakis. The leader of the group brought together bassist and vocalist Craig Montoya and drummer Greg Eklund to finish off the lineup for the band. Art Alexakis was born on April 12, 1962 in West Los Angeles, California. He was brought up in a lower-middle-class single parent household, his father leaving during his childhood. He was heavily impacted by the drug-associated deaths of his brother George, as well as his girlfriend. He eventually managed to conquer his own drug habit, after a near-fatal cocaine overdose prompted him to quit drugs on the spot.Alexakis founded Everclear in Portland, Oregon in 1992. The band's first album to become a hit was the 1995 release Sparkle and Fade which gave the band wider recognition in the music world, drawing in greater numbers of fans. The album peaked at number one on Billboard's Heatseekers and at 25 on The Billboard 200. In 1998 the band was named Modern Rock Artist of the year by Billboard Magazine, propelling them even further into stardom. While this was going on Alexakis was becoming more and more active in the political arena, he had already been acting as a reporter at political conventions for MTV. He then began campaigning with presidential tickets and testifying about child support laws in front of Congress.The fame and prestige of Everclear continued to grow as the world crossed over into the new millennium, but in 2003 Alexakis decided to go out on his own embarking on a short solo tour in 2003. Following this tour he expanded the group to include bassist Sam Hudson, guitarist Dave French, drummer Brett Snyder and keyboardist Josh Crawley. The most recent album, The Vegas Years was released on April 15, 2008.