Barenaked Ladies (often abbreviated BNL or occasionally BnL) is a Juno-winning and Grammy-nominated Canadian alternative rock band. The band is composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, Tyler Stewart, and formerly Andy Creeggan and Steven Page. They formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburb of Toronto. They are best known for their hit singles, "One Week", "The Old Apartment", "Pinch Me", "If I Had $1000000" and "Brian Wilson" and for their light-hearted, comedic performance style. The band's trademarks at live shows are humorous banter between songs and improvised raps/songs, both of which are staples at virtually every concert.

On February 24, 2009, lead singer Steven Page announced he is leaving the band to pursue solo projects, "including theatrical opportunities." The remaining members will continue recording together as Barenaked Ladies.

Indie origins

Barenaked Ladies began as the duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page. The two went to school together since Robertson was in grade four (Page was a grade ahead) at Churchill Heights Public School, but were not friends until they ran into each other at a Harvey's restaurant following a Peter Gabriel concert. Each interested to find that the other liked Gabriel, they began talking and found they had many of the same tastes. The two became friends, and bonded further when they were both counsellors at Scarborough Schools Music Camp. They would play songs together, and Steve was impressed by Ed's ability to harmonize. When Page had an extra ticket to a Bob Dylan concert that no one wanted, he ran into Robertson at a party. The two attended the concert at Exhibition Stadium (most likely on August 29, 1988 ). Bored by the show, the two turned to amusing each other, pretending they were rock critics, inventing histories and comments about the Dylan band. They also made up various band names; one of which was "Barenaked Ladies".

Early Canadian success

The full band's first release of note was the 1991 Yellow Tape. It was a demo tape originally created for the band's performance at South by Southwest and was the first recording to feature all five members. They spent between $2000 and $3000 on it, and sent a copy to all the labels in Canada; they were refused by all of them. The band turned to selling them off the stage, and wound up selling a lot of them. Word of mouth spread, and people began asking for the tape in local stores. The stores began asking the band for copies of the tape, and the demo tape became a commercial release. Sales began to snowball based simply on word of mouth and their live shows, and the tape became the first indie release by any band to achieve platinum status (100,000 copies) in Canada.