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If Emerson Hart's name wasn't a household word when he released his first solo album, 2007's Cigarettes and Gasoline, his voice and his songs were already familiar to millions of fans from his years as the leader of the group Tonic. Hart was born on July 21, 1969, in South Orange, NJ, where as a child he became close friends with Jeff Russo. Both Hart and Russo took up the guitar in their teens, and in 1993 the two decided to put together a band; enlisting bassist Dan Rothchild and drummer Kevin Shepard, they formed Tonic and hit the road for Los Angeles. In 1995, Tonic signed with A&M Records, and they released their first album, Lemon Parade, which mixed the band's muscular but tuneful alternative pop/rock with rooty accents. On the strength of the singles "Open Up Your Eyes," "If You Could Only See," and "Soldier's Daughter," Lemon Parade went platinum, and the band produced their 1999 follow-up, Sugar, with the help of Mark Endert and Nick Gatfield. Sugar was also Tonic's first alb...