Current Members:

Ed Roland
Dean Roland
Joel Kosche
Will Turpin
Ryan Hoyle

Former Members

Ross Childress
Shane Evans

Collective Soul is an American Post-grunge/Rock band from Stockbridge, Georgia.They have been enjoying popularity on alternative rock and mainstream rock radio. Seven of their singles reached the #1 position on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Trackschart. Their music is characterized by heavy guitar riffs and catchy melodies. Their lyrics are generally spiritual and thought provoking in nature.

Prior to forming Collective Soul, Ed Roland studied songwriting/composing and guitar at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Ed began working at "Real 2 Reel Studios" in Atlanta during the 1980s and early 1990s. The studio is owned by Will Turpin's father. Ed did production and engineering work for local Atlanta artists. He also recorded his own demos and his independent solo album "Ed-E Roland" in 1991. Ed had been in garage bands and did some performing of his own. He had a pre-Collective Soul band in the late 80's/early 90's called "Marching Two-Step" which also included Shane Evans; they were a legitimate band for about 3 years.

Around 1992, Ed started shifting focus and was trying to secure contracts and deals for songwriting and publishing. However, as he was doing this and submitting his demos to labels, he was finding rejection. That would change in 1993 when his song "Shine" from the Rising Storm label release of "Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid" became an underground hit on a legendary College radio station in Orlando. It was around this time that Ed brought along Shane Evans, his brother Dean Roland, Will Turpin and Ross Childress. This would become the official line-up.

Collective Soul exploded out of their hometown of Stockbridge, Georgia onto the national consciousness with 1994’s double-platinum Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid. The album, a collection of Ed Roland's early demos, was highlighted by the #1 hit song "Shine". The band was invited to perform at the Woodstock 1994 festival.

The group’s self-titled second album arrived the following year, and more than lived up to the promise of the debut, scoring RIAA triple platinum and logging a 76-week run on the Billboard 200. Collective Soul offered a remarkable quartet of singles – "December," "Where The River Flows," and "The World I Know" – all rose to the #1 spot on the nation’s rock chart and "Gel" peaked at #2. "Smashing Young Man" also wound up a top ten hit on the Mainstream Rock charts. They would go onto to gain heavy rotation on MTV and Much Music.

Released in 1997, Disciplined Breakdown did not sell as well as the band's previous records but eventually went platinum, while Collective Soul’s chart-topping streak continued: Both "Precious Declaration" and "Listen" went on to hit #1 on the rock charts. The band’s fourth album, 1999’s platinum-certified and critically acclaimed Dosage saw Collective Soul further its run as rock radio superstars. The group released its fifth studio album, Blender in 2000.

In 2001, Collective Soul released their greatest hits compilation, 7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits 1994-2001, which featured the new tracks "Next Homecoming" and "Energy."

In November 2004, they released their long-awaited sixth studio album, Youth, on their own independent label, El Music Group. The original drummer Shane Evans left the band during this period. Session/studio drummer Ryan Hoyle has been the drummer during touring, and is credited with playing on eight of the 11 songs on "Youth". Later, Hoyle was officially named as the band's official drummer on the official Collective Soul website.

Collective Soul performed two shows with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra on April 23 and 24, 2005. A DVD and CD of the performances, entitled Home: A Live Concert Recording With The Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra was released in February 2006.
Collective Soul's seventh studio album, Afterwords was released on August 28, 2007.