Tabitha's Secret was a band formed in March of 1993 in Orlando, Florida. It was originally comprised of lead singer Rob Thomas, John Goff and Jay Stanley on guitar, Brian Yale on bass, and Chris Smith playing drums. In September of 1993, Paul Doucette joined the band as a second percussionist, only to replace Chris Smith entirely a year later. Some of the band's most popular songs were "And Around," "Dear Joan," "Unkind," and "3 am".

In 1995, songwriter/producer and representative for Atlantic Records Matt Serletic approached the members of Tabitha's Secret concerning a long-term record deal. However, Serletic was more interested in helping Thomas find his voice than he was in the band Tabitha's Secret. Jay Stanley and John Goff were uninterested in a long-term record deal, believing it was better to sign for a one-record deal and evaluate the situation following this record's release. Thomas, however, felt the band should take the offer.

The fact that Stanley and Goff were resistant to sign, alongside pressure from the record company to drop the two guitar players, Thomas, Yale, and Doucette decided it was best to part ways with the other members of the band. Splitting the band landed Thomas, Yale, and Doucette a two-record deal with Atlantic Records. With their two guitar players gone, Atlantic introduced the trio to Adam Gaynor, a rhythm guitarist and Kyle Cook, a lead guitarist. The five now comprise matchbox twenty, a world-renowned band.

When Matchbox Twenty debuted its first album Yourself or Someone Like You, Jay Stanley sued for royalties, claiming he owned the rights to the song 3am which appeared on the newly released record. Stanley stated that he was paid for the original recording sessions of the song when it was performed by Tabitha's Secret (it's released on multiple albums by Tabitha's Secret). This lawsuit lasted five years and was settled in 2000.

Although the band never released any records while they were together, Jay Stanley released three albums after getting the rights to the recordings of Tabitha's Secret. He released a rough demo mix, "Don't Play With Matches" in 1998, to satisfy the hard-core fans and the "Live" record in 2000. Later, Stanley joined with Tony Miceli and engineer George Spatta to re-mix, re-master, and overdub the original recordings and put them into the album "Tabitha's Secret?" which was released in late 2001.

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