Boa Artistfacts

Boa song list

Boa Artistfacts

1993-
Jasmine RodgersVocals, guitars1993-
Steve RodgersGuitars1993-2005
Alex CairdBass1993-
Paul TurrellKeyboards1993-2001
Ben HendersonGuitars, saxophone1993-2000
Lee SullivanDrums1994-
Ed HertenDrums1993-1994
Boa are a London alternative rock band whose brooding blend of rock, trip-hop, and folk earned them a dedicated following in the late 1990s. Fronted by Jasmine Rodgers, the group built their sound around heavy rhythms, layered guitars, and atmospheric synthesizers. Their signature 1998 track "Duvet" outlived the band's initial run, finding a massive new audience on TikTok decades later.
Jasmine Rodgers and her brother Steve, Boa's original guitarist, are the children of rock royalty: their father is Paul Rodgers, the legendary vocalist for Free and Bad Company, and their mother is a Japanese poet. Jasmine credits her father as her earliest musical influence.
Despite her pedigree, Jasmine didn't set out to be a singer. Steve and his bandmates were rehearsing upstairs in the family home while she played guitar downstairs. Bassist Alex Caird eventually walked down and asked, "We need a singer, do you want to sing?" Jasmine told The Daily Illini, "I was like, 'I mean, okay, sure.' And that's it."
Jasmine was just turning 16 when the group formed, making her the youngest member by a wide margin. Balancing band life at that age inspired her to explore other paths, leading to a zoology degree alongside music.
The name Boa came out of pure band banter. "It was silliness that somehow turned into something serious," Jasmine told Epigram.

Among the rejected options were "Sharon" and "fried chaffinch." Boa won out in the end, partly because, as Jasmine put it, "I love snakes anyway."
The band's early days had plenty of humbling moments. During one World Cup tournament, they tried to bribe friends into coming to a show by putting a TV in the pub, planning to play during the interval. As soon as half-time hit and the band took the stage, every single friend walked out. Jasmine says the memory still keeps her grounded whenever Boa play major venues today.
Asked which song from Boa's catalog she connects with most, Jasmine pointed to "Fool" from their 2001 album Twilight. The track deals with the struggles of identity, something that hit close to home while growing up between English and Japanese cultures. "That's never not going to be a question for anybody," she noted.
After "Duvet" unexpectedly blew up on TikTok in 2021, the band reunited to test the waters. Getting back into a room together proved effortless: "We just started jamming and it just worked."

They teased their return in August 2023 with a video cover of Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On." In October 2024, Boa released Whiplash, their first new album in nearly two decades.

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