After the glory, there was still unfinished business for Rob Thomas.
The Grammy winning-singer songwriter has sold millions of albums as the frontman and creative force of his band Matchbox Twenty, won enthusiastic fans worldwide and earned the respect of an all-star group of his peers, the legendary Carlos Santana among them, who sought his collaborative talents.
In 2001, the artist became the youngest member inducted into the South Carolina Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, whose enshrinees already included James Brown, Dizzy Gillespie and Minnie Pearl.
Still, Thomas needed more.
He wanted to find out whom he really was inside. He knew what he did not want: "Just to be one thing; nobody wants to be just one thing," he says in an interview.
So he embarked on a very personal artistic journey, away from his band, away from what might be expected of him, trying to find, as he described it, "Something to Be."
That sentiment is both the title of his debut solo album, already platinum for a million copies sold, and the theme for his quest.
"I only had two goals, to do something that sounded completely different from MatchboxTwenty (MB20, he likes to call it) and to make a record that was as diverse as possible. I think I've done that," he says.
Given his track record, there was little doubt that he could or would.
His only pre-conceived idea, he says, was that he did not want just to make a Matchbox record with different musicians. He is already in a great rock band, he reasons, so that would be redundant and it wouldn’t have been using his time to do something creative and new.
What people perhaps did not understand, he suggests, was that, though he had been doing this for so long at such a high level, he still had no idea what he was capable of doing.
He needed to find out, if only for himself, if he could step out of the security of his own band, or a collaborative experience, and prove it on his own.
The reviews seem to be saying that he is indeed his own man.
Fans will have opportunity to make that decision for themselves as Thomas takes his solo show on the road for the first time.
His repertoire can be expected to touch on career highlights as well as an emphasis on material on his new CD.
Atlantic Records says that Thomas’s debut solo album made chart history upon its release in April. The set entered the Billboard 200 album chart at number one, the first time, says Atlantic records, that a male artist from a rock or pop group has debuted at number one with their first solo album since Billboard introduced the chart 50 years ago.
In addition, "Something To Be" is the first album released exclusively as a DualDisc (CD and DVD combination) to hit number one, propelled by the singles, the number one charting "Lonely No More" and "This Is How A Heart Breaks." Both were simultaneously ranked in the top ten on the national Hot Adult Contemporary/Adult Top 40 charts.
"Lonely No More" had a record-breaking 10-week run in the number one spot at Hot Adult Contemporary. On the international front, "Lonely No More" has hit number one in 15 countries.
All very nice, Thomas implies, but he plans to be here for the long haul.
"Hopefully I'm somewhere in the middle, or maybe even just in the first quarter of my career. I started this out with my definition of success being to do this as a career, to still be doing it 20, 30 years later," he says.
"I never imagined being able to achieve this level of success, but it's never been about any one particular goal, just to still be doing it years from now and people still listening."
To that end, he has had an impressive role model in Carlos Santana.
It was Thomas’ soulful vocals and songwriting that helped propel Carlos Santana to the most magical season of his career in 1999.
Thomas was honored with three Grammy awards for "Smooth," his chart-topping collaboration with Carlos. The track earned Thomas "Song of the Year" honors; the "Record of the Year" Grammy (along with Carlos, producer Matt Serletic, and engineer/mixer David Thoener); and "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals," which he shared with Carlos.
It was the second-highest tally of the 42nd Annual Grammy awards, following Carlos with eight.
It was a real honor to be part of the Santana project, Thomas says. "Carlos had a giant parade going on and I got to be part of it," he recalls.
It all was a happy accident he explains, helped by the fact that Matchbox Twenty had planned a break at the time that Thomas was invited to record with Santana.
"Carlos does everything for the right reasons. He plays music because he loves it. Celebrity hasn’t changed that," he says. "He says you play music for a reason and you know where your talent comes from. You should go out and be of service to that talent you were given."
Thomas has applied that philosophy to work with Matchbox Twenty and now to his solo undertaking.
"I think music is in a great place right now. Sometimes you can't tell just by listening to the radio or watching MTV," he says.
"The truth is that there is always a wealth of great singers, songwriters, artists, out there and, thanks to the Internet, we can go out and find them on our own. You can't let the scene be defined by what comes to you, you have to find it sometimes."
The journey to find himself began for Thomas on a military base in West Germany where he was born. Much of his youth was spent in South Carolina and Florida. He cites music as having been the only constant in his life while growing up.
"When I started writing music, it helped me to figure out who I was, so I know it gave me my identity in alot of ways," Thomas says. "Being successful has given me freedom to travel and experience new things, so it's helped me evolve. Before I started writing, it was always a great way to escape."
The music of Al Green, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello and Elton John was part of his personal soundtrack.
Eventually, Thomas’ way with words brought invitations to work, not only with Santana, but also with Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, Bernie Taupin and Marc Anthony.
Santana honored him with this compliment: "I love Rob Thomas’ tone of voice. His heart and his voice are one. I feel his heart through his voice."
And Willie Nelson added: "I’m not worried at all about the future of music as long as there’s guys like Rob Thomas. The future is secure."
It's always surreal when someone you admire wants to work with you, Thomas says. "I think it certainly gives me a sense of confidence, but more importantly, I've learned something from everyone I've worked with. I always walk away a more well-rounded writer than I was when I started."
His record label says that combining all of his projects, Thomas has contributed to the sales of over 75 million records. He has received 13 BMI Awards, including both songwriter and song of the year, and he was named Billboard’s "Songwriter of the Year" two consecutive years.
He is philosophical about the creative process.
"I don't think that you're responsible for the songs you write," he says. "It's like tuning in to a frequency that's in the air and hearing a song that doesn't exist yet. I just keep hoping that I don't stop hearing the songs."
Thomas sees himself first and foremost as a songwriter, one who, he explains, "hopefully puts more thought into the emotional content of a song than worrying about what genre it speaks to, or how cool and hip it makes me sound."
In 2004, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented the artist with its first-ever "Starlight Award," created to recognize a songwriter in the early years of his or her career who is already making a lasting impact.
Those songs that have kept attention on Matchbox Twenty include such hits as "Push," "3AM," "If You’re Gone, "Bent," "Real World," "Back 2 Good," "Mad Season," "Disease," "Unwell" and "Bright Lights."
Atlantic likes to point out that the group has earned the distinction of having had more number one hits and spending more weeks at number one on both the national Modern Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts than any other artist in history.
Thomas is confident that his new solo experience will return him to Matchbox a stronger artist.
"I think working on my own record has given me a confidence that I couldn't find as part of a unit," he says. "I know that Paul, our drummer, making a record made him more confident as well. In a band you rely so much on the other guys, or girls, that you don't know what you're capable of on your own."
Listeners should be beneficiaries of that growth too.
"I just want to write songs that people relate to their life in some way," Thomas says. "The songs that I grew up with are magical to me. It's amazing to think that my songs are that to someone else."