Leave a Whisper is the debut album by Shinedown

Shinedown

Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed in 2001 and founded by members Brent Smith , Brad Stewart , Jasin Todd , and Barry Kerch . A few line-up changes followed, and the band's current line-up consists of Smith and Kerch, the band's only two remaining original...

, a hard rock band from Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

. The album was released on May 27, 2003, faring well due to the success of the singles "Fly from the Inside" and "45". Leave a Whisper paved the way for Shinedown's successful second album, Us and Them, and was re-released on June 15, 2004 to incorporate the cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...

 "Simple Man", as well as "Burning Bright (Sanford Mix)" and "45 (Acoustic)". The album's singles also fared well, "Fly from the Inside" reaching number 5, "45" reaching number 3, "Simple Man" reaching number 5, and "Burning Bright" reaching number 2 on the US Mainstream Rock list. Leave a Whisper is Shinedown's second best-selling album and has been certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States.

Track listing

The final three tracks only appear on the enhanced edition, released June 15, 2004. This re-release was prompted due to the popularity of their Simple Man cover.
Available as a download only, on July 7, 2009 Shinedown released a deluxe edition of Leave a Whisper, featuring demo material and unused tracks from the recording sessions.

Personnel

• Brent Smith
  Brent Smith
  Brent Smith is the lead vocalist and singer-songwriter of the band Shinedown. His biggest influences as a singer are Otis Redding, Billie Holiday, and Chris Cornell.-Personal life:...
  
    - vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Jasin Todd  - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  s, lap steel, theremin
  Theremin
  The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
  
  , sitar
  Sitar
  The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
  
  
• Brad Stewart
  Brad Stewart
  Brad Stewart is a professional musician best known for his work with hard rock band Shinedown. However, he now plays in Amaru, Society Red, Fuel, and Burn Season-Shinedown:Brad was the second member to join Shinedown after vocalist Brent Smith...
  
   - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Barry Kerch
  Barry Kerch
  Barry Kerch is a professional musician who currently plays the drums in the hard rock band Shinedown. Along with lead vocalist Brent Smith, he is the only remaining original member of the band.-Personal life:...
  
    - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , and percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  
• Bob Marlette
  Bob Marlette
  Bob Marlette is an American record producer, recording engineer, mixer, keyboarder and songwriter.-Musician:Bob Marlette started out as a session musician and the first album he appeared on was Al Stewart's 24 Carrots...
  
    - Producer
• Tony Battaglia - Engineering, Mixing, Producer

Additional musician

• Steven Marshall - Additional guitar on "45"

Leave a Whisper was produced by Atlantic Recording Company. All of the songs on the album were partially written by Brent Smith, with the exception of "Simple Man", which was written by Ronnie Van Zant

Ronnie Van Zant

Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Van Zant was an American lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and a founding member of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd...

 and Gary Rossington

Gary Rossington

Gary Robert Rossington is a founding member of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He plays lead and rhythm guitar. He is also a founding member of The Rossington-Collins Band along with former Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmate, the late Allen Collins...

. Others who helped write the album include, but are not limited to, Bob Marlette, Jasin Todd, Brad Stewart, Rick Beato, and Tony Battaglia.

Chart positions

Album

Chart positions	US sales	RIAA certification	International sales
US
53	1,255,292	Platinum	1,500,000+

Singles

Year	Song	US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	US Alt.	US Main.
2003	"Fly from the Inside Fly from the Inside "Fly from the Inside" is the first song and lead single Shinedown's debut album Leave a Whisper. The song performed fairly well on the charts, reaching #5 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the band's first hit single, and is still a very popular song that remains in the setlist at... "	—	34	5
	"45 45 (song) "45" is a song by the alternative rock band Shinedown. The song was released on July 13, 2003, on the album Leave a Whisper. Following the album's release, "45" became a popular single. An acoustic cover of "45" was featured on the album's re-release on June 15, 2004.Brent Smith has stated in an... "	—	12	3
2004	"Simple Man"	—	40	5
	"Burning Bright Burning Bright (song) "Burning Bright" is the fourth single from the post-grunge band Shinedown's debut album Leave a Whisper. A new mix of the song was featured on the re-release of Leave a Whisper, titled the "Sanford" mix. It also marks as Shinedown's sixth most successful single to date, reaching number two on the... "	107*	22	2

• Burning Bright reached #7 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.