<P> The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and blues influences, but it has gradually expanded throughout the years to include a variety of genres and a more alternative, arena rock sound . Kings of Leon achieved initial success in the United Kingdom with nine Top 40 singles, two BRIT Awards in 2008, and all three of the band's albums at the time peaked in the top five of the UK Albums Chart . Their third album, Because of the Times, also reached the number one spot . After the release of Only by the Night in September 2008 the band achieved chart success in the United States . The singles "Sex on Fire", "Use Somebody", and "Notion" all peaked at number one on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart . The album was their first Platinum - selling album in the United States, and was also the best - selling album of 2008 in Australia, being certified platinum nine times . The band's fifth album, Come Around Sundown, was released on October 18, 2010 . Their sixth album, Mechanical Bull, was released on September 24, 2013 . The seventh studio album, WALLS, was released on October 14, 2016 . The group has 12 Grammy Award nominations, including 4 wins . </P> <P> The three Followill brothers (Matthew is their cousin) grew up in Oklahoma and Tennessee with their father, Ivan Leon Followill, a United Pentecostal Church preacher, and their mother, Betty - Ann . Matthew and Nathan were born in Oklahoma, and Jared and Caleb were born in and around Memphis, Tennessee . Jared attended Mount Juliet High School, while Matthew was born and raised in Mississippi . According to Rolling Stone magazine, "While Ivan preached at churches and tent revivals throughout Oklahoma and the Deep South, the boys attended services and were occasionally enlisted to bang on some drums". They were either home - schooled by their mother, or enrolled in small parochial schools at this time . Except for a five - year period when they settled in Jackson, Tennessee, the Followills' childhoods were spent driving through the southern United States in a purple 1988 Oldsmobile, camping for a week or two wherever Ivan was scheduled to preach . </P> <P> When the boys' father resigned from preaching and their parents divorced in 1997, Nathan and Caleb relocated to outside Nashville and originally embraced country music . While there, they met songwriter Angelo Petraglia, who helped the siblings hone their songwriting skills and introduced them to the musical influences of Thin Lizzy, The Rolling Stones and The Clash in particular . Their youngest brother, Jared, who had briefly attended public school, was more influenced by the music of the Pixies and The Velvet Underground . When he and their cousin Matthew also moved to Nashville in 1999, Kings of Leon was formed . They named the band after their grandfather Leon, who died in January 2014 . </P> <P> By 2002, Nathan and Caleb had received interest from a number of music labels and eventually signed with RCA Records, which initially insisted on putting a band together for the two of them . In an interview with Billboard, however, Nathan outlined how they told RCA, "We don't want to be Evan and Jaron . We're going to buy our little brother a bass, he's a freshman in high school . Caleb will teach himself the guitar, Matthew played guitar when he was 10 and I'll play the drums . They said,' All right, we'll come down in one month and see you guys ."' Later in the interview Caleb admitted to the brothers "kidnapping" their cousin Matthew from his hometown in Mississippi for him to join the band . They told his mother that he was only going to be staying for a week but never allowed him to return home . "We locked ourselves in the basement with an ounce of marijuana and literally spent a month down there . My mom would bring us food down", added Nathan . "And at the end of that month the label people came and we had "Molly's Chambers", "California Waiting", "Wicker Chair", and "Holy Roller Novocaine". </P>

Where did the kings of leon get their name