Their first single "Crazy" made UK chart history by being the first to go directly to number one based on downloads alone. This sent them to the top spot, days before the single was even available to buy.Gnarls Barkley has been respected as one the best (recent) Hip-Hoppers to come out of the United States with their influencial lyrics on their first album St. Elsewhere.
"Crazy" - which was their first single - debuted at #1 on the British pop charts on April 2, 2006. It was the first #1 UK single to be obtained solely through Internet downloads. The success of the single in the UK was due largely to its use in a promotional trailer for Radio 1 across all of the BBC TV channels prior to the single's release. 'Crazy' stayed at #1 for almost 9 weeks.
The buzz for "Crazy" helped generate a lot of press coverage of their debut album, St. Elsewhere, which was released on May 9, 2006.
The album is seen as a cross-over between hip-hop, rock and soul. Both artists have previously been known to have a quirky experimental side, moving between different genres of music.
Producer DJ Danger Mouse began his career doing remixes of indie rock artists like Neutral Milk Hotel and downbeat instrumental music under the 'Pelican City' alias. He later went on to emphasize more hip-hop production: most notably his The Grey Album, a remix of Black Album, with samples exclusively from The White Album; 2005's DANGERDOOM collaboration with MF DOOM; and, most recently, the double platinum Demon Days.
Gnarls Barkley singer Cee-Lo started out in the classic southern rap group Goodie Mob, but later developed a unique funk-inspired soulful style of singing which developed on his solo albums.
Their new album The Odd Couple was released March 18, 2008.
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From Wikipedia:Gnarls Barkley is an American musical group collaboration between multi-instrumentalist and producer Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) from New York, and rapper/vocalist Cee-Lo Green (Thomas Callaway), from Atlanta. Their first album, St. Elsewhere, was released in 2006; along with its first single, "Crazy", it was a major commercial success, and both album and single have been noted for their large sales by download. The duo released their second album, The Odd Couple, in March 2008.