Tabitha's Secret began touring Orlando's club circuit in 1993. Jay Stanley, John Goff, and
Rob Thomas were the leading members.
Brian Yale and
Paul Doucette joined a year later. The adult alternative pop/rock outfit had the opportunity to get closer to a record deal after meeting producer
Matt Serletic in Miami. Nevertheless, they started falling apart in 1995 when
Thomas,
Yale, and
Doucette decided to go on their own, debuting as
Matchbox Twenty with
Yourself or Someone Like You in the fall of 1996. In 1998, Goff and Stanley released Don't Play with Matches, an album of the original quintet's demos, among them the original version of the
Matchbox Twenty hit "3 A.M." They followed with an archival live album in 2000 and a remixed version of Don't Play with Matches, called Tabitha's Secret?, in 2001. ~ Drago Bonacich