bio(s) via Wikipedia.org

Michael Dean Roland is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known for being the rhythm guitarist of the band Collective Soul, an alternative rock band fronted by his brother Ed. He is also part of the rock duo Magnets & Ghosts alongside Ryan Potesta.

Collective Soul is an American rock band originally from Stockbridge, Georgia. Now based in Atlanta, the group consists of the brothers Ed (lead vocalist) and Dean Roland (rhythm guitarist), Will Turpin (bassist), Johnny Rabb (drummer), and Jesse Triplett (lead guitarist). Formed in 1992, the original lineup consisted of the Roland brothers, bassist David Neal, guitarist Ross Childress, and drummer Shane Evans. Collective Soul released their Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid album on the independent label Rising Storm Records in 1993. The band went from obscurity to popularity that year after the album’s lead single “Shine” received regional radio play. Around the same time, Turpin replaced Neal on bass. The album was then re-released in 1994 by the major label Atlantic Records; thus, “Shine” became a national hit as it peaked at No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock and No. 4 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart.

Collective Soul released a self-titled album in March 1995. Considered by Ed Roland to be the band’s “true debut album”, Collective Soul spent 76 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and went triple-platinum, becoming the band’s highest-selling album. The singles “December”, “The World I Know”, and “Where the River Flows” each reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. About two years later, Collective Soul released Disciplined Breakdown. Although not as successful in sales as their previous two albums, Disciplined Breakdown contained two No. 1 Mainstream Rock chart hits with “Precious Declaration” and “Listen”. The band released a fourth studio album, Dosage, in 1999. The album’s first single, “Heavy”, spent a then record-breaking 15 weeks on the top spot of the Mainstream Rock chart.

The band released Blender in 2000. It was the final album with their most well-known lineup as lead guitarist Childress left the band in 2001. Collective Soul established their own label, El Music Group (which was later renamed to Fuzze-Flex Records), prior to releasing Youth in 2004. Original drummer Evans then departed from the band at the end of 2005. Collective Soul released five additional albums between 2005 and 2023: Afterwords (2007), Rabbit (2009), See What You Started by Continuing (2015), Blood (2019), and Vibrating (2022). The band then released their first double album in 2024, Here to Eternity.

Learn about their documentary HERE and at CollectiveSoul.com