When the boys' father resigned from the church and divorced his wife in 1997, the boys relocated to Nashville and embraced the rock music and lifestyle they had previously been denied. Except for a five-year period when they settled in Jackson, Tennessee, the Followill's childhoods were spent driving through the south in a purple 1988 Oldsmobile, decamping for a week or two wherever Leon was scheduled to preach." They were either home-schooled or enrolled in small parochial schools at this time. According to Rolling Stone magazine, "While Leon preached at churches and tent revivals throughout the Deep South, the boys attended services and were occasionally enlisted to bang on some drums. Juliet, Tennessee, while Nathan and Matthew were born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The three Followill brothers spent much of their youth traveling around the Southern United States with their father, Ivan "Leon" Followill, a traveling Pentecostal Church preacher and their mother, Betty-Ann, who taught them when they were not in school.
The singles Sex on Fire, Use Somebody and Notion peaked at number one on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, while the album itself was their first ever platinum-selling album in the US. After the release of Only by the Night in 2008 they finally achieved chart success in their native United States.
Their third album Because of the Times also reached the number one spot. 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 peaking in the top five of the UK Albums Chart.
The band's early music was an upbeat blend of southern rock and blues influences but the band has gradually expanded their sound to include a variety of genres, including alternative rock. Each member of the family group is known by their middle name (second given name) as opposed to their first given name. Kings of Leon is an American rock band that formed in Nashville, Tennessee, United States in 1999, consisting of brothers Anthony "Caleb" Followill (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Ivan "Nathan" Followill (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Michael "Jared" Followill (bass guitar, backing vocals), with their cousin Cameron "Matthew" Followill (lead guitar, backing vocals).