The Diamond Deff formed in Los Angeles in the early 2000s with Micah Nelson on vocals and guitar, Joshua J. Franco on keyboards, and James Sunderland on drums. They put out their first album, Diamonds in the Rough, in 2004. Their sound mixed hip-hop, pop, and soul, which gave them a place in the alternative scene without making them a household name.
Their 2007 album Deep Breath (Don't Forget to Let It Out) included the title track, which got some radio play and reached the top 20 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. That song, along with others like Walk Away and a cover of Kiss Me, became what people knew them for. They released a self-titled album in 2010 and a collection called The Lost Tapes in 2013.
In 2010, Micah Nelson was arrested for drug possession. He went to rehab and talked about it publicly. The band kept going after that, but the incident stuck in their story. Their music from that period, especially the Deep Breath album, still gets mentioned when people talk about that slice of L.A. alternative music from the 2000s.
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