Five for Fighting

Five for Fighting is the stage name of U.S. singer-songwriter John Ondrasik. His 2000 album America Town went platinum in the U.S. largely due to the success of the song "Superman (It's Not Easy)" in late 2001. The 2004 album The Battle for Everything has also enjoyed chart success in the United States. Ondrasik has also released a DualDisc of his 2004 album which has one side containing The Battle for Everything in its entirety and the other side being a DVD containing bonus footage and the "100 Years" music video. Five for Fighting's fourth album, Two Lights, was released on August 1, 2006.

Early years

John Ondrasik was born in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. He grew up there in a musical family with his mother teaching him the piano from the age of two. As a teenager, he learned how to play the guitar as well and started to write music. While he also learned to sing opera briefly, he quickly decided that he would like to be a piano playing popular musician along the lines of Elton John and Billy Joel. He adopted the name "Five for Fighting" which is an expression in ice hockey when a player is sent from the rink by the referee for a five-minute major penalty for fighting. The name was used for the reason that it would be more memorable than his real name. Ondrasik went to college at UCLA and studied applied mathematics, continuing to pursue music in his spare time.

In 1997, his first album Message for Albert was released by EMI. After the success of America Town, Capitol Records re-released this debut album.

America Town

In 2000, Five for Fighting signed with Columbia Records and released America Town on September 26, 2000. At first, it made little impact until "Superman (It's Not Easy)" became an anthem after the September 11 attacks. Ondrasik would perform the song at The Concert for New York City in late 2001. In addition to its status as an anthem post September 11, 2001, Five for Fighting contributed a live performance version of their song "Superman" to the charity album Live in the X Lounge IV.

"Superman (It's Not Easy)" started climbing the charts reaching the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Adult Top 40. While America Town failed to make the top 50 of the Billboard 200 album charts, its consistent sales led to its going platinum. Superman (It's Not Easy) was also an international hit reaching number one on a composite adult international chart (based on performance in the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Australia). Second single Easy Tonight would make the top 20 of the world adult chart as well as going top 20 in New Zealand.

The Battle for Everything

Their third album The Battle for Everything debuted at number 20 on the Billboard 200 in February 2004. Its first single "100 Years" was another top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and again reached number one on the World Adult Top 40. It also was number one on a composite world airplay chart and top 10 on a composite world modern rock chart. (based on USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Canada and Australia).

The Five for Fighting song "100 Years" was used in an ubiquitous JP Morgan Chase commercial, an episode of Clubhouse on CBS, an episode of Smallville (TV series), and more recently in an episode of Scrubs. The song was also used in the last scenes of the final episode of JAG and in a retrospective during Katie Couric's last day on the Today show. In 2005, Five for Fighting was one of five artists asked to appear on ESPN's SportsCenter during a weeklong segment series on the connections between music and sports. Again, Ondrasik performed "100 Years," as film clips of athletes were shown to match the years that Ondrasik would name. (As Ondrasik sang about "being 45 for a moment," Michael Jordan was shown in his #45 jersey during his 1995 comeback.)

Subsequent single releases failed to capitalize on the success of "100 Years", with second single "The Devil in the Wishing Well" and third single "If God Made You" both failing to chart the Billboard Hot 100.

Two Lights

Ondrasik's fourth release "Two Lights" became his first career Top 10 album, debuting at #8 on the Billboard 200 in August 2006. Its lead single "The Riddle" became Ondrasik's third career Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #40 thanks to strong iTunes single sales and wide Adult Top 40 airplay.

The second single "World" is currently moving up the Adult Top 40 chart, entering the Top 20 in its third week on the chart this week.

Discography

Message for Albert (1997)
America Town (2000)
Acoustic Live (EP) (2004)
The Battle for Everything (2004)
2+2 Makes 5 (EP) (2004)
The Battle for Everything (DualDisc) (2006)
The Riddle (EP) (2006)
Two Lights (2006)

Singles

Year	Song	US Hot 100	US Adult Top 40	US AC Chart	Album
2001	"Superman (It's Not Easy)"	#14	#3	#2	America Town
2002	"Easy Tonight"	-	#18	-	America Town
2002	"America Town"	#108	-	#80	America Town
2004	"100 Years"	#28	#3	#1	The Battle for Everything
2004	"The Devil in the Wishing Well"	-	#23	-	The Battle for Everything
2005	"If God Made You"	-	-	#20	The Battle for Everything
2006	"The Riddle"	#40	#8	#5	Two Lights
2006	"World"	-	#18	-	Two Lights

Politics

Although Ondrasik has never publicly mentioned any of his political views, content within some of his music suggests that he may be conservative, or at least in fav.

 -  The song "Freedom Never Cries" supports American patiotism, War on Terror 
    and the need to protect freedom.  One the lines is "I never loved the soldier
    until there was a war."

 -  Although the lyrics of "World" simply talks of making the world a better place for people,  
    a section of the music video contains alternating scenes of an Iraqi woman casting her   
    ballot and a folded U.S. flag being placed on an American soldier's grave, suggesting 
    support for the War in Iraq.  Also, scene showing a the headline of newspaper 
    reading, ''North Korea Tests Nuclear Weapons'', warning of the threat that [[North  
    Korea]] poses to the world.

External links