Gnarls Barkley is an American soul duo composed of the artists Brian Joseph Burton (known professionally as Danger Mouse) and Thomas DeCarlo Callaway (known professionally as Cee Lo Green). Their first studio album St. Elsewhere was released in 2006 along with its first single "Crazy". Both single and album were a major commercial success and have been noted for their large sales by download. The duo released their second album The Odd Couple in March 2008. Cee Lo first entered the scene as part of the Atlanta hip hop group Goodie Mob which had a large hand in the Dirty South movement of the 1990s. Cee Lo left the group after their third album in 1999 and started his solo career. That year he sang on "Do You Like the Way" along with Lauryn Hill on Santana's multi-platinum Supernatural album. Cee Lo has three solo albums as of November 2010.
Danger Mouse has produced albums for a number of hip hop and rock artists, including Gorillaz' Demon Days. He received international attention for his mash-up The Grey Album, which blended the a cappella edition of Jay-Z's The Black Album with samples from The Beatles' White Album.
The two men first met while Cee Lo was on a tour for which Danger Mouse happened to be the DJ. They became musical partners and worked together on the songs that would become the St. Elsewhere; prior to the release of that album they collaborated on the songs "What You Sittin' On?" for Lex Records in 2004, and "Benzie Box" from the Danger Doom album The Mouse and the Mask in 2005.