[5] After briefly using the name Polarbear, releasing the EP Starfighter Pilot (1997) and losing Morrison as a member, the band became Snow Patrol in 1997 and added Jonny Quinn to the lineup as drummer.

"Run", the record's biggest hit, saw the band rise to national fame as part of the post-Britpop movement.

Their next studio album, Eyes Open (2006), and its hit single "Chasing Cars"—reported in 2019 to be the most-played song of the 21st century on UK radio[6]—propelled the band to greater international fame.

Snow Patrol released their fifth studio album, A Hundred Million Suns, in 2008; their sixth, Fallen Empires, in 2011; their seventh, Wildness, in 2018; and their eighth, The Forest Is the Path, in 2024.

[7] Snow Patrol were formed in early 1994 by University of Dundee students Gary Lightbody, Mark McClelland, and Michael Morrison under the name Shrug.

[11] Jeepster had the same plan for Snow Patrol as the approach they had used with Belle & Sebastian, who became popular by word of mouth without heavy promotion.

[12] Snow Patrol's debut album, Songs for Polarbears, was released in 1998 after the band had moved to Glasgow,[13] where Lightbody was working at the Nice n Sleazy's Bar in Sauchiehall Street.

[15][16] In 1999, Snow Patrol won the "Phil Lynott Award for Best New Band" given by Irish music magazine Hot Press.

[12] After the failure of the second album, Snow Patrol began to realise that the label's relaxed attitude towards management and record promotion, which had initially attracted them, was perhaps holding them back.

The band's "low point" came when they played a concert to eighteen people at a strip club in High Wycombe.

[31][32] During Lightbody and McClelland's years at the University of Dundee, they had been noticed by Richard Smernicki, a senior student, and his brother Paul.

[34] Jim Chancellor, an A&R executive for Fiction, and fellow talent scout Alex Close,[35] approached Snow Patrol in Glasgow, listened to their demos, and judged them on "the quality of the songs", according to Lightbody.

[40] Snow Patrol played a short set in London that summer at the worldwide benefit concert Live 8.

Snow Patrol's version of John Lennon's "Isolation" was released on 10 December 2005 as part of the Amnesty International campaign Make Some Noise.

[42] The song was issued on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.

Snow Patrol also declared longtime touring keyboardist Tom Simpson an official member of the band.

[51][52] On 1 September 2007, Snow Patrol headlined a "homecoming" mini-festival in Lightbody and Jonny Quinn's home town of Bangor, County Down.

[53][54] Recording for the follow-up album to Eyes Open began in late 2006, with Jacknife Lee returning a third time for production.

[56] Singer Miriam Kaufmann toured with the band and sang backing vocals, most notably on "Set the Fire to the Third Bar", which had originally featured Martha Wainwright.

[57] The UK & Ireland Arena Tour ended on 23 March 2009, and the final show was played at the Odyssey in Belfast to a 9,000-strong crowd that included family and friends and the Northern Irish football squad.

[58] Snow Patrol visited South Africa to play dates at the Coca-Cola Zero Festival, supporting Oasis,[59] before beginning a European leg of the tour.

"Just Say Yes", a track written by Lightbody and earlier recorded by Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger and X Factor star Diana Vickers, was released as the lead single[62] on 2 November.

[76] Singer-songwriter Johnny McDaid, who had worked on the album as a guest musician and songwriter, joined the band on the subsequent tour and eventually become a full member of Snow Patrol.

[88][89][90] Wilson's decision to depart from Snow Patrol was said to have been due to his diminishing creative role and the feeling that his heart was no longer in the project.

[91] On 29 May 2024, Snow Patrol unveiled "The Beginning", the first single from their Fraser T. Smith-produced album, The Forest Is the Path, which was released on 13 September.

[95] On 30 July 2006, Snow Patrol appeared on the finale of the long-running weekly BBC music show Top of the Pops, performing "Chasing Cars".

After their performance, Simpson was arrested at RAF Northolt for missing a court date in Glasgow, having been charged with possession of cocaine.

[104][105] In 2009, Lightbody and Connolly donated plectrums and certificates to raise funds for the Music Beats Mines project, which aims to clear unexploded mines/landmines from conflict zones.

[106][107] Other musicians, such as Ozzy Osbourne, Bono, Michael Stipe, and Nikki Sixx, have expressed admiration for Snow Patrol.

[108][109][110] Terri Hooley, founder of the Good Vibrations label and a lifelong supporter of local Northern Irish music, has expressed pride in bands like Snow Patrol.