Hard rock musician Keith Wallen was born in Shady Spring, West Virginia, on February 24, 1980. He formed his first band, Copper, in 2000, while attending the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The group released three albums during its eight-year existence and scored a pair of Top 50 modern rock hits with "By Now" and "Turn," both of which were released on 2003's The Fragile Fall. Following Copper's breakup in 2008, Keith Wallen joined the alt-rock group Adelitas Way, appearing on 2009's Adelitas Way and 2011's Home School Valedictorian. The latter record was a hit on Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart, where it charted at Number 4. Keith Wallen left Adelitas Way in 2013 and joined the platinum-selling rock band Breaking Benjamin in 2014. He also launched a parallel solo career that same year with Allies, an acoustic EP whose piano-driven arrangements stood in stark contrast to Breaking Benjamin's amplified rock & roll. Keith Wallen continued releasing solo material during the rest of the decade, while also serving as Breaking Benjamin's rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist on albums like 2015's Dark Before Dawn (which peaked at Number 1 on the Billboard 200) 2018's Ember, and 2020's Aurora. He enjoyed Billboard-certified chart success with both projects and earned his first Top 40 hit as a solo artist with "Dream Away," which climbed the Mainstream Rock Songs chart in 2021.
