Blessid Union of Souls (sometimes abbreviated to Blessid Union or BUOS) is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in 1990 by friends Jeff Pence and Eliot Sloan.

The band's first album, Home, had some success due to its lead single, "I Believe". The song popularized the band with local-area DJs and became the group's most successful song. Their second album, Blessid Union of Souls, did not reach the same level of success as Home, but the band's third album, Walking Off the Buzz, spawned the hit single "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me for Me)".

History Blessid Union of Souls formed in 1990 with guitarist Jeff Pence (Morrow, Ohio), vocalist/pianist Eliot Sloan (Cincinnati, Ohio), keyboardist C.P. Roth (who had been in Ozzy Osbourne's touring band), and drummer Eddie Hedges. Sloan and Hedges had previously played together in a band in the 1980s called The Movies (not to be confused with the British pub rock band of the same name). The band's name originated from an episode of the TV series M*A*S*H.

The band was heavily influenced by the cowpunk scene that was burgeoning around the time it formed.

The band released its debut album, Home, in March 1995. Later that year, the album was certified gold by the RIAA. The album's most popular song was the aforementioned "I Believe", with reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 2 on the magazine's Mainstream Top 40 chart.

The band released its second album, Blessid Union of Souls, in 1997. This album was not as popular as Home but contained the Top 40 hit "I Wanna Be There" as well as "Light in Your Eyes".

The band's third album, Walking Off the Buzz, was released in 1999. This album was moderately popular due to "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me for Me)", a single from the album that reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top ten on both the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart (No. 8).

The band released Blessid Union of Souls: The Singles, a greatest hits album, in 2001. Roth and Hedges left the band in 2002 and were replaced by Kyle Robinson, and then by Shaun Schaefer on drums and Bryan Billhimer on guitar.Blessid Union of Souls biography on Yahoo! Music

In 2003, the band released Blessid Union of Souls: Play Ball, an album about the Cincinnati Reds. The title track was used to promote the team in their first season in Great American Ballpark. This album did not receive much attention outside of Cincinnati. In 2006, Jeff Pence headed a project in which the band contributed two tracks for Clutch Hits, a CD that featured a variety of artists who contributed songs about the Cincinnati Reds.

The band's fourth studio album, Perception, was released in 2005. Its fifth studio album, Close to the Edge, was released on September 16, 2008, on Torque Records.

The band's debut Contemporary Christian album, The Mission Field, was released on Salvation Road Records through Sony/Provident in March 2011. The first single, "The Only Song", reached No. 32 on the Nielsen BDS Christian AC chart. The video for "The Only Song" was also added to the Gospel Music Channel & JCTV. The second single, "Pray for You", was released on July 15, 2011.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of its debut album, the band released Home 25, a limited-edition vinyl album that included vintage live versions of Home classics and Home-era demo recordings, in 2021.

Discography Studio albums Title Album details Peak positions US US Heat Home Release date: March 21, 1995 Label: EMI 78 1 Blessid Union of Souls Release date: May 20, 1997 Label: Capitol 127 — Walking Off the Buzz Release date: April 27, 1999 Label: V2 143 — Perception Release date: May 10, 2005 Label: Ultrax — — Close to the Edge Release date: September 16, 2008 Label: Torque — — The Mission Field Release date: March 1, 2011 Label: Salvation Road — — Home 25 Release date: January 15, 2021 Label: Wisconsin Music — —

Compilation albums Title Album details Peak positions US Blessid Union of Souls: The Singles Release date: February 27, 2001 Label: V2 178 Almost Acoustic (Volume 1) Release date: October 30, 2007 Label: Alert Entertainment — Playlist: The Very Best of Blessid Union of Souls Release date: 2015 Label: Sony Music Entertainment —

Singles Year Single Peak chart positions Album US US Top40 Main. US Adult Pop US Adult Cont. AUSaustralian-charts.com - Blessid Union Of Souls CANResults - RPM - Library and Archives Canada (search) - Blessid Union of Souls *For "Believe": Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada - Top Singles - Volume 61, No. 22, July 03 1995 *For "Let Me Be the One": Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada - Top Singles - Volume 62, No. 17, November 27 1995 *For "Oh Virginia": Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada - Top Singles - Volume 63, No. 11, April 29 1996 *For "All Along": Top Singles - Volume 64, No. 2, August 26 1996 *For "I Wanna Be There": Top Singles - Volume 65, No. 21, July 28 1997 *For "Hey Leonardo": Top Singles - Volume 69, No. 19, August 23, 1999 GER NLdutchcharts.nl - Blessid Union Of Souls NZNew Zealand charts - Blessid Union Of Souls UKBlessid Union Of Souls - The Official Charts Company 1995 "I Believe" 8 2 24 5 18 6 56 — 7 29 Home "Let Me Be the One" 29 14 24 24 — 48 — — — 74 1996 "Oh Virginia" — 23 27 30 — 16 — — — — "All Along" 70 26 — 27 — 58 — — — — 1997 "I Wanna Be There" 39 22 25 — — 19 — — — — Blessid Union of Souls 1998 "Light in Your Eyes" 48 25 29 16 — — — — — — 1999 "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me for Me)" 33 8 16 — 17 7 — 73 44 — Walking Off the Buzz "Standing at the Edge of the Earth" — 35 — — — — — — — — "Rev It Up (Nascar Rocks)" — — — — — — — — — — Non-album single / Blessid Union of Souls: The Singles 2000 "That's the Girl I've Been Telling You About" — — — — 100 — — — — — Walking Off the Buzz 2001 "Storybook Life" — — — — — — — — — — Blessid Union of Souls: The Singles 2008 "Could've Been with You" — — — — — — — — — — Close to the Edge 2011 "The Only Song" — — — — — — — — — — The Mission Field "—" denotes releases that did not chart

They also performed a track in Pokémon: The First Movie titled "Brother My Brother" and the main theme for Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls titled "It's Alright".

Music videos Year Video Director 1995 "I Believe" Michael Salomon 1997 "I Wanna Be There" Bill Fishman 1999 "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me for Me)" Geoff Moore 2011 "The Only Song" Matt Rozzell

References

External links Band website