Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Kelly Jones, bassist Richard Jones, drummer Javier Weyler and lead guitarist Adam Zindani. Both Joneses, although unrelated, grew up together in the village of Cwmaman, near Aberdare in South Wales, and in 1992, along with original drummer Stuart Cable, began writing music and performing in working men’s clubs as a teenage cover band. The trio were initially called Blind Faith, but after discovering that a band of that name in which Eric Clapton played had already existed, they renamed themselves Tragic Love Company, inspired by their favourite bands, Tragically Hip, Mother Love Bone and Bad Company. In March 1996 the band, as Tragic Love Company, played a gig at their local Coliseum Theatre with Catatonia and Pocket Devils, impressing John Brand, who signed a management deal with them afterwards. They changed their name to The Stereophonics, after the manufacturer of Cable's father's record player, and 2 months later were the first to be signed to newly formed record label V2 (created by Richard Branson). Upon signing, they dropped ‘The’ from their name and simply became Stereophonics.

In August 1997, Stereophonics’ debut studio album “Word Gets Around” was released, reaching number 6 on the UK Album chart, and 6 months later the band won the 1998 BRIT Award for “Best New Group”. This award prompted the single "Local Boy in the Photograph" to be re-released, it reached number 14 on the UK Singles chart, and “Word Gets Around” was certified gold in the UK. In November 1998, “The Bartender and the Thief”, the first single from follow up album “Performance & Cocktails”, went to number 3 on the UK Singles chart, and second single "Just Looking" got to number 4 in March 1999. The album was released in the same month, entering the UK Album chart at number 1, and achieving platinum certificatuion just 3 weeks after it’s release. 1998 also saw the release of the video and DVD, “Live at Cardiff Castle”, containing footage of a June performance in the Welsh capital, and in between their touring commitments, the band also found time to collaborate with Tom Jones on a cover of Randy Newman’s “Mama Told Me Not To Come”, which featured on Jones’s album “Reload”.

The band released their third album, ”Just Enough Education To Perform” in April 2001, with single “Have A Nice Day” reaching number 5 in the UK chart. To promote the album, Stereophonics played a 2 day festival entitled "A Day at the Races", held at Donington Park on the first day and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on the second, supported by Ash, Black Crowes and Proud Mary, with over 200,000 separate tickets sold in total. The performance was released on a DVD in 2002.

2003 saw the release of fourth album “You Gotta Go There to Come Back”, but the year also saw the sacking of drummer Stuart Cable, due to reported commitment issues (Cable missed several rehearsals and live concerts due to other work he was involved in). The Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman temporarily stood in for live performances until permanent replacement Javier Weyler was found.

Fifth studio album “Language. Sex. Violence. Other?” was released in March 2005, and lead single “Dakota” was Stereophonics’ first number 1 hit on the UK Singles chart, and the band’s first single to chart in the US, reaching number 34 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. Second single "Superman" peaked at number 13 in the UK, and third single "Devil" reached number 11. The following year the groups first live album “Live from Dakota” was released, a 2 disc compilation featuring 20 tracks spanning all 5 of the band's studio albums, capturing the best of their 2005 world tour – the songs aren’t from a single show on the tour, the band recorded every night, and then picked out the best version of each song individually. The album made number 13 on the UK Album chart.

“Pull the Pin”, Stereophonics’ sixth studio LP, was released in October 2007, and was their fifth consecutive album to reach number 1 on the UK Album chart. The single "My Friends" reached number 32 in the UK chart.

In late 2008, a greatest hits compilation, “Decade In The Sun: The Best Of Stereophonics” was released, containing e 2 new tracks, “My Own Worst Enemy” and “You're My Star”.

Away from Stereophonics, Kelly Jones released a solo album, "Only the Names Have Been Changed", in 2007, containing 10 tracks all named after women, and Javier Weyler also released a solo album in 2007 entitled “Lagrima” under the persona Capitan Melao (‘Capitan’ is Spanish for ‘captain’, and ‘Melao’ is Latin American slang for swing, rhythm or soul).