McClain (band)

In 2005, the sisters’ father had a friend over who was music executive. The music executive heard the sisters sing and encouraged director Rob Hardy to audition China for his 2005 feature film The Gospel. China was cast as the character Alexis and her sisters were in the supporting cast.[11] The sisters then became serious about a musical career and formed the girl group called the 3mcclaingirls.

They recorded their first song, "Silly Games". The song was produced by their father, Michael McClain, and written by their mother, Shontell McClain.[12] In 2006 China joined the main cast of Tyler Perry's House of Payne as Jazmine Payne and Sierra made guest appearances. In 2007 the group starred in the film Daddy's Little Girls as the James sisters.[10] In 2008 the group recorded the song "Daddy's Girl",[13] inspired by the movie, and released it exclusively on Myspace.[14] In 2008 the group began posting videos on their YouTube channel of themselves singing covers of songs.[15] They also continued pursuing their acting careers separately, making various appearances in films and on television.

The sisters originally planned to use the name III as their group name, the number representing the three McClain girls in the group, but that idea was scrapped.[16] They instead changed their group name to the McClain Sisters. That same year China landed her own show on the Disney Channel called A.N.T. Farm. On October 11, 2011, the A.N.T. Farm soundtrack was released on which the group released two songs: "Perfect Mistake" and "Electronic Apology."[17] The group had plans to release their debut album with the record label[16] but never did. In December the group performed their version of the song "Jingle Bell Rock" at the 2011 Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade.[18][19] In March 2012, the group signed with Hollywood Records.[20] On March 4, 2012 they were the opening act in Houston for Big Time Rush on their Better with U Tour.[21][22]

On March 11, 2012 they performed their new song called "Rise" at the Mall of America. The song was written by the sisters and produced by their father, Michael McClain, and was the lead promotional single for the Disneynature film Chimpanzee. The song was released on March 23, 2012. The music video premiered on March 25, 2012 during an episode of Austin & Ally. It was also a featured song for Disney's Friends for Change.[23] The music video later premiered online on March 26, 2012.[24]

On September 11, 2012, their single "The Great Divide" was released which was featured in the Disney film Secret of the Wings and on the film's soundtrack Disney Fairies: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust. On October 2, 2012, their version of "Jingle Bell Rock" was featured on the album Disney Channel Holiday Playlist.

On November 2, 2012, the McClain Sisters premiered their debut single "Go."[25] Lauryn and Sierra guest starred and performed the song, alongside China, on November 23, 2012 during the episode "chANTs of a lifetime" for A.N.T. Farm.

On March 5, 2013 the soundtrack album Shake It Up: I Love Dance was released for which the group performed their single "Sharp as a Razor."[26] In December of 2013, China announced on Twitter that A.N.T. Farm would be ending after its third season.[27] Shortly after this announcement, the McClain Sisters parted ways with Hollywood Records. After leaving the record label, the group changed their name from the McClain Sisters to simply McClain.[28][29][30] The group released an official lyric video for their single "He Loves Me" on YouTube on December 14, 2013.[31] The song then became available on iTunes on February 20, 2014. Later that year, McClain released a Christmas song called "The Holiday Song".

In 2015 the group released the song "Clip My Wings" which was featured in the film The Sparrows: The Nesting and on the film's soundtrack The Sparrows: Now & Then.[32][33][34] In 2016 the group released their last single "Feelin' Like" on their SoundCloud. McClain is now on hiatus and all three sisters are pursuing their acting careers.[35][4][2][3]

On June 25, 2020, it was announced that the group will return under the name Thriii. They will be one of the few performers to participate in Radio Disney Presents ARDYs Summer Playlist.[1]