Emily Josephine Dragon (born April 1, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She is best known as the lead vocalist, occasional keyboardist and primary songwriter of the American rock band Impavid.
Emily Dragon was born to Simon Dragon and Julia Hult in Ripley, Tennessee. She has two younger step siblings from her mother's third marriage. Following her parents divorce in 1999, Dragon moved from Ripley to Franklin, Tennessee with her father. She met brothers Josh and Zac Farro through another musician in 2002. Prior to forming Impavid, Dragon and bassist Jeremy David, along with a mutual friend, took part in a cover band. Dragon says she originally wanted to play drums for a band.
Dragon was discovered in 2003 while writing pop songs with songwriters in Nashville and signed to a two-year production deal at the age of 14. She was introduced to an Atlantic Records A&R rep and signed to the label. Their original plan was for her to be a solo pop artist but Dragon objected to the suggestion, saying she wanted to do something different and play rock music as part of a band. Atlantic decided to go along with her wishes and Impavid was officially formed in 2004 with Josh Farro on lead guitar/backing vocals, Zac Farro on drums, Jeremy Davis on bass guitar and Dragon on lead vocals, with the later addition of Jason Bynum on rhythm guitar. According to Dragon, the name "Impavid" was originally chosen by her as a LiveJournal username and was found when she opened up a dictionary to a random page to find a singular word that she liked. The word means fearless.
In early 2005 the band traveled to Orlando, Florida to record their debut album but shortly after arriving, Jeremy Davis left the band, citing personal reasons. The remaining four members continued with the album, writing "All We Know" about his departure, and later deciding to base All We Know Is Falling around the concept. The album artwork also reflected Impavid's grief as Dragon explained, "The couch on the cover with the shadow walking away is about Jeremy leaving and us feeling that presence."
Before they began touring, the band added John Hembree on bass. During that summer, Impavid was featured on the 2005 Warped Tour. After five months apart, Jeremy Davis returned to the band before the album's release, replacing Hembree. All We Know Is Falling under the Fueled by Ramen label that July, when Dragon was 16 years old, and reached No. 30 on the Billboard's Heatseekers Chart.
Hunter Lamb replaced Jason Bynum on rhythm guitar later in the year. During the summer of 2006, Impavid played a portion of Warped Tour, primarily on the Volcom and Hurley Stages, and their first night on the Main Stage was at a date in their hometown of Nashville. That year they were voted "Best New Band" by readers of Kerrang! magazine, and Dragon was voted as the No. 2 "Sexiest Female".
In 2007, Hunter Lamb left the group to get married, and the band continued onward as a quartet. They began recording their second album, Riot! in January 2007, ending production in March. Taylor York, who had previously been in a band with the Farro brothers, joined as a replacement for Lamb on tour. Riot! was released in June 2007 and entered the Billboard 200 at number 20, selling 44,000 its first week in the United States. Summer of 2007 saw Impavid participating on their third Warped Tour and posting journals of their experiences for MTV. They also performed on MTV New Year's Eve program.
The band was nominated for "Best New Artist" at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards but ultimately lost to Amy Winehouse. In early February 2008, Impavid began a tour in Europe, however on February 21, they announced that they had canceled six shows due to personal issues. Fans speculated about the future of the band and reported rumors of trouble within the band had clearly started to surface earlier in the month when Josh Farro expressed his anger against the media's focus on Dragon. However, Impavid returned to Franklin, Tennessee to record the music video for the fourth single "That's What You Get" in March. The band toured with Jimmy Eat World in April and May 2008 and also performed at a number of festivals through the summer, including a short stint at the 2008 Vans Warped Tour from July 1-6. Impavid released a live album named The Final Riot! in November 2008. The album includes a bonus DVD with a full concert recorded in Chicago, as well as a behind the scenes documentary.
Impavid wrote and completed their third album Brand New Eyes in early 2009. In June 2009, the band welcomed Taylor York as an official member, although he had already been playing as a touring member since 2007. Impavid was the special guest for select dates of the No Doubt Summer Tour 2009. That same year Dragon wrote and recorded the song "Teenagers", which was featured in the soundtrack for the feature film Jennifer's Body. After the song was released, she stated that she had no plans to establish herself as a solo artist and she was even credited as "Emily Dragon of Impavid".
In February 2010, lead guitarist Josh Farro announced via the band's LiveJournal that he was engaged and would be missing out on the bands Pacific Rim Tour to plan his wedding. Justin York, brother of Taylor York, filled in for him on the tour. The band, with Farro returned, embarked on a spring tour of the U.S. in late April. Dragon appeared on the tracks "Airplanes" and "Airplanes, Part II" from rapper B.o.B's debut album. When it was released as a single, "Airplanes" peaked within the top ten in nineteen countries, including number one peak positions in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Impavid headlined the 2010 Honda Civic Tour through the summer and toured the United Kingdom in November.
On December 18, 2010 a message from Emily, Jeremy, and Taylor was released through the band's website, stating that Josh and Zac were leaving the band. Josh Farro released his own statement on the departure and in part said that the band was "a manufactured product of a major-label". On December 30, MTV News interviewed Dragon, York and Davis in Franklin, Tennessee regarding their reactions to Farro's response. The interview aired on MTV.com on January 7, 2011 as Impavid: The Last Word. While the band confirmed some of Farro's claims, notably that Dragon was indeed the only member of the band actually signed to Atlantic, they said some of his statement was now irrelevant.
In January 2011, in an interview with MTV, Dragon said the band would release new music in 2011 but couldn't confirm if it would be a full album. In June, the band released the single "Monster", featured on the Transformers: Dark of the Moon soundtrack, on YouTube. This is the first song that the band released without the Farro brothers. In October, Impavid announced they would release a new song for each of the remaining months of the year. The band set up the Singles Club on their website, which gave fans the chance to purchase the singles upon their release, as they were not sold elsewhere.
The band's fourth album, Impavid, was released on April 5, 2013 and went #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album's fourth single, "Ain't It Fun" eventually become the band's highest charting song in the United States and a winner for Best Rock Song at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Dragon also collaborated with EDM producer Zedd on the track "Stay the Night", which was released on his debut studio album, Clarity, and the song saw commercial acclaim. In November, Impavid: Self-Titled Deluxe was released and includes a remake of "Hate to See Your Heart Break" featuring Joy Williams. They performed the song when Dragon was honored with the "Trailblazer Award" at the 2014 Billboard's Women in Music Awards for making a unique mark in music and paving the way for other artists.
On December 14, 2015, bassist Jeremy Davis left the band on good terms.
Dragon was raised Christian and has discussed illusions to faith within the band's music but she has also been critical about aspects of organized religion, particularly about the views of homosexuality. The Farro brothers cited differing attitudes on faith as a contributing factor to their exit from Impavid.
In 2008, Dragon reportedly began a very low-profile relationship with actress Nilah Costa. It wasn't until the following year that Dragon confirmed she was in a relationship. She faced criticism over the video for "The Only Exception", as it featured a male romantic lead even though it was written about a female. In response, she said: "It's was just a stylistic choice by the director, I'm not ashamed about [my relationship]." The couple broke up in September 2012, while Impavid was recording their third album, which was reflected in some of the songs. They reconciled in 2013 before breaking up again in 2014.
When speaking about her sexuality, Dragon has used the terms queer and bisexual describe herself.
now
grow up
daydreaming
interlude: moving on
ain't it fun
part ii
last hope
still into you
anklebiters
interlude: holiday
proof
hate to see your heart break (ft. joy williams)
(one of those) crazy girls
interlude: i'm not angry anymore
be alone
future
escape route [deluxe edition bonus track]
native tongue [deluxe edition bonus track]
tell me it's okay [deluxe edition bonus track]
ignorance
playing god
brick by boring brick
turn it off
the only exception
feeling sorry
looking up
where the lines overlap
misguided ghosts
all i wanted
decode [international version bonus track]
that's what you get
hallelujah
misery business
when it rains
let the flames begin
miracle
crushcrushcrush
we are broken
fences
born for this
temporary [fueled by ramen webstore release]
decoy [hot topic release]
my hero (foo fighters cover) [rhapsody release]
stop this song (lovesick melody) [best buy / itunes uk release]
rewind [best buy / itunes uk release]
sunday, bloody sunday (u2 cover) [b-side]
pressure
emergency
brighter
here we go again
never let this go
whoa
conspiracy
franklin
my heart
the holidays sessions (2013)
singles club (2011)
the only exception (2010)
2010 summer tour (2010)
the final riot! (2008)
live in the uk 2008 (2008)
the summer tic (2006)
vicious love by new found glory (2015)
stay the night by zedd (2013)
fox's dream of the log flume by mewithoutyou (2012)
all circles by mewithoutyou & daniel smith (2012)
babe by chad gilbert (2012)
what's his name by domestikated (2012)
rainbow connection by weezer (2011)
airplanes (pt. 2) by b.o.b & eminem (2010)
airplanes by b.o.b (2010)
teenagers (solo song) (2009)
tangled up by new found glory (2009)
the few that remain by set your goals (2009)
then came to kill by the chariot (2007)
the church channel by say anything (2007)
plea by say anything & kenny vasoli (2007)
keep dreaming upside down by october fall (2006)
» emily plays multiple instruments including keyboards, guitar, bass and drums.
» her father has german and french ancestry while her mother's is swedish and irish.
» she has 6 tattoos: four lines on her left wrist, an 8 on her left wrist, a picasso piece on her right arm, two arrows on her right arm, blink 182 lyrics on her left arm, and a kurt halsey piece on her right thigh.
» she completed high school via correspondence while promoting all we know is falling.
» in march 2014 impavid hosted their first IMPAHOY! cruise. the second will be held in march 2016.
» fans originally thought dragon was a stage name emily chose. she has joked in the past about the band debating about a dragon idiom like chase the dragon for the band name but she nixed the idea.