Alberta's NICKELBACK's climb from formation in 1996 by the Kroeger brothers, Chad on vocals and guitar along with bassist Mike, to scoring the number one position on the American Billboard Modern Rock charts has been rapid. According to reports the band name came from Mike Kroeger's day job at a coffee shop and the mantra like manner in which he doled out change stating to customers "Here's your nickel back".

The group came together when the Kroeger siblings, inclusive of drummer Brandon Kroeger, pulled together with guitarist Ryan Peake relocating from their hometown of Hanna to the more cosmopolitan Vancouver.

A debut self financed EP 'Hesher' (apparently so titled after a friend's habit of remarking "Hey, sure") quickly arrived in February of the same year with the full length 'Curb' arriving prior to the year's close. By this juncture Mitch Guidon had taken the drum stool position but he in turn would make way for Ryan Vikedal. Even as a self sufficient unit NICKELBACK were making waves with their track 'Fly' utilised in the movie 'Horsey' and the band being nominated for 'Album Of The Year' in the independent category in the Pacific Music Industry Awards.

The band would soon be picked up by the powers that be and EMI snapped up the band for Canada. The 1999 album 'The State' proved a steady seller and by September demand for the band was such the album was re-issued with different artwork. (It would be re-issued again in March 2000 for American consumption by Roadrunner Records with a further variant on the album sleeve design). Live promotion included no less than 200 gigs which included valuable support slots to CREED, 3 DOORS DOWN and FUEL.

2001 saw the band touting a third album, 'Silver Side Up' produced by the well known figure of Rick Parasher. The record contained a reworked version of the 'Curb' era song 'Just Four' subtly retitled 'Just For'. Released in September the record very nearly took the coveted number one spot on the Billboard album charts in fact debuting at no. 2. Compensation came from Canada though as NICKELBACK landed a Juno award for 'Best New Group'. As 2002 broke 'Silver Side Up' surpassed the three million sales mark in America and charted strong worldwide. Not everything would go according to plan, the band were actually forced offstage by a barrage of missiles at the Portuguese 'Ilha do Ermal' in August. A throat infection would also affect Chad Kroeger's singing ability to such a degree that the last week of US dates was postponed.

It would also be discovered that Kroeger had been in discussions with erstwhile ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist JERRY CANTRELL, PANTERA guitarist Dimebag Darrell and DEFAULT frontman Dallas Smith in regard to setting up a proposed band union. Kroeger would also guest on the October 2002 album from Latin guitar great SANTANA, laying down vocals to the track 'Why Don't You & I'. During mid December it would be revealed that Kroeger had teamed up with PANTERA guitarist Dimebag Darrell and KID ROCK to record a cover version of ELTON JOHN's raucous 70s hit 'Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)'. This track would surface on the soundtrack to the action movie 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'.

In March of 2003 'Silver Side Up' turned quintuple-platinum, having shifted over five million units since its release in September of 2001.

A new album, 'The Long Road', was slated for September. Preceded by a global hit single, 'Someday', the album debuted at no. 6 on the Billboard charts, selling just over 200,000 copies in its first week of sale. In December the NICKELBACK track 'Feelin' Way Too Damn Good' would be nominated in the 'Best Hard Rock Performance' category for the 47th annual Grammy Awards.

In February 2005 NICKELBACK announced the addition of 3 DOORS DOWN drummer Daniel Adair to the band. New album recordings, entitled 'All The Right Reasons', would see a newsworthy tribute to murdered PANTERA / DAMAGEPLAN guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott in the track 'Side Of A Bullet', composed shortly after the guitarist was killed while performing onstage with DAMAGEPLAN in Columbus, Ohio. Not only did Chad Kroeger's lyrics deal directly with the loss of his friend but Dimebag's brother Vinnie donated unused guitar solo recordings, from the PANTERA albums 'Vulgar Display Of Power' and 'Far Beyond Driven' for use as the song's solo. 'All The Right Reasons' sold just under 325,000 copies in its first week of sale to debut at position no. 1 on the Billboard US album chart. Canadian gigs throughout January and February of 2006 saw DANKO JONES as support, preceding March US concerts backed by CHEVELLE. The band then opened for BON JOVI's arena dates in Europe throughout the summer.

In July 2008 NICKELBACK signed with Live Nation.