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John Mayer

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For other people named John Mayer, see John Mayer (disambiguation).
John Mayer

John Clayton Mayer (born on October 16, 1977) is an American Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist. Originally from the state of Connecticut, he briefly attended the Berklee College of Music before moving to the south, Atlanta, Georgia, in 1998 where he refined his skills and began gaining a following. After originally performing mainly acoustic rock, in 2005 he made a transition towards the blues genre with both the formation of the John Mayer Trio and his latest studio release Continuum, which was released on September 12, 2006. Mayer has been nominated for five Grammys for the 49th Grammy Awards, including Album of The Year.

Mayer's other interests include stand-up comedy and writing; he has written articles for several magazines, most notably for Esquire.

Early life

Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Mayer grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, the second of three sons. [1] There, he became friends with future tennis star James Blake.[2] Mayer attended Fairfield High School (now Fairfield Warde High School) for his freshman, sophomore, and senior year, but attended Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk, Connecticut for his junior year, where he was enrolled in the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School. Then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, it is a magnet program for students in Fairfield County wanting to learn Japanese.

Mayer listened to pop music, but it was not until the age of thirteen that his inspiration for playing the guitar began, after his father rented one for him.[3] [4] On Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Mayer confessed that he had unsuccessfully played the clarinet for a while in grammar school, progressively being demoted a chair position.

Generally, it was believed that Mayer's father, a Bridgeport High School principal, had given him a confiscated tape player that contained an album by Stevie Ray Vaughan. However, Mayer, in an 2006 interview on the New Zealand show Close Up said the cassette was given to him by a neighbor, sparking Mayer's love of the blues.[5] After two years of practice, he started playing at blues bars and other venues in the area.[4] While in high school, he was in a band called Villanova Junction with Joe Beleznay, Tim Procaccini, and Rich Wolf.[6]

When Mayer was seventeen, he was suddenly stricken with a cardiac arrhythmia that sent him to the hospital for a weekend. The trauma of the incident sparked his songwriting, and he penned his first lyrics the night he got home. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from crippling panic attacks and even now he keeps Xanax (an anti-anxiety drug) with him, just in case.[7]

Career

After playing the guitar for several years, Mayer enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of nineteen.[1] After a semester or two, he chose to cut his studies short in favor of a move to Atlanta, Georgia. With his friend and bandmate, Clay Cook, he began his career in earnest there, quickly making a name for the two-man band, LoFi Masters. They frequented the local coffeehouse and club circuit in venues like Eddie's Attic.[4] After the band LoFi Masters split, Mayer began his solo career. With the help of local producer/engineer Glenn Matullo, Mayer recorded the independent EP Inside Wants Out. Cook is also cited as the co-writer of many of the songs from the album, most notably, the ballad "Comfortable."

Mainstream success

The EP ultimately contributed to Mayer being signed to Columbia Records, and two years later, in 2001, he released his first major-label album, Room for Squares. This "debut" included several of the songs that had been previously released. By 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing," "Your Body Is A Wonderland," and, ultimately, "Why Georgia." In 2003, he won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for the 2002 release of "Your Body Is a Wonderland." In his acceptance speech he said "This is soon. I'll try to live up to it."[This quote needs a citation]

In 2003, Mayer released the follow-up album, Heavier Things. This album also brought critical and commercial success. The first single from this album, "Bigger Than My Body," was thought by some to be Mayer's attempt to demonstrate that he was not just a one-trick pony, i.e., that "Your Body Is A Wonderland" did not define him. Although the album did top the charts for a time, it ultimately did not sell as well as Room for Squares. However, Mayer's most successful single to date, "Daughters," yielded Mayer a Grammy for Song of the Year in 2005. For this award, he beat contenders Alicia Keys and Kanye West. He dedicated the award to his grandmother, Annie Hoffman, who died in May 2004. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, beating Elvis Costello, Prince, and Seal for the Award.

Change in musical direction

In 2004, Mayer worked with hip hop artist and producer Kanye West, appearing both on rapper Common's song "Go!" and being included initially on West's album Late Registration, but their collaboration Bittersweet remains unreleased. Due to these collaborations, Mayer has received praise from rap heavyweights like Jay-Z and Nelly. He's also mentioned in a 2006 episode of the Canadian version of TRL that he had worked in the studio with rapper T.I. When asked about his presence in the hip hop community, he said that, "It's not music out there right now. That's why, to me, hip-hop is where rock used to be."[8]

It was around this time that Mayer began hinting a change in his musical interests, announcing that he was "closing up shop on acoustic sensitivity."[8] In 2005, he began a string of collaborations with various blues artists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and jazz artist John Scofield. He also toured with legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, which included a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

Although Mayer has maintained a reputation for being a sensitive, meticulous singer-songwriter, he is also an accomplished guitarist influenced by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, and B.B. King. Mayer has worked with many important and provocative blues musicians, including Clapton (Back Home, Crossroads Guitar Festival), Guy (Bring 'Em In), Scofield (That's What I Say) and King (80).

John Mayer Trio

Main article: John Mayer Trio

In the spring of that year, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, both of whom he had met through previous studio sessions. The trio played a combination of blues and rock music. In November 2005, they released a live album called Try! The first single, "Who Did You Think I Was?," lyrically underscores Mayer's decision to move away from acoustic pop music. In October 2005, the Trio opened for The Rolling Stones during a sold-out club tour of their own.

The John Mayer Trio took a break in mid-2006.[9] John declared at the end of their performance at the Tempe Music Festival in March of 2006, "This is Steve Jordan, that's Pino Palladino, and I'm John Mayer. And for a few more minutes, we are the John Mayer Trio." On September 12, however, he announced plans for the Trio to begin work on a studio album.[10]

Continuum

Main article: Continuum
Cover art for the single "Waiting on the World to Change," the first from the Continuum album.

Mayer's latest album, entitled Continuum, was released on September 12, 2006. It was produced by Mayer himself, along with John Mayer Trio drummer and session veteran Steve Jordan. Mayer suggested the album was intended to combine his signature pop music with the feel, sound, groove and sensibilities of the blues. In that vein, two of the tracks from his trio release Try! — the funky "Vultures" and the blues centrepiece "Gravity" — also were included on Continuum.

The first single from Continuum was "Waiting on the World to Change," which debuted on The Ron and Fez Show and is currently available on his website and MySpace site to listen to for free. The song was the third most downloaded song of the week on the iTunes Music Store following its release on July 11, 2006, and debuted at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. On August 23, 2006, Mayer debuted the entire album on the Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, giving commentary on each and every track. A subsequent version was released the next day on the Clear Channel Music website as a streaming sneak preview. On September 22, 2006, Mayer appeared on CSI, playing live (albeit abridged) versions of "Waiting on the World to Change" and another track from Continuum, "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room."

On December 7, 2006, the 2007 Grammy nominees were announced. Mayer has been nominated for four Grammys including the prestigious Album of the Year. John Mayer Trio also received a nomination for their album Try!.

On January 9, 2007, Mayer performed Gravity and Waiting on the World to Change at Apple's MacWorld San Francisco.

The Next Album

On December 3, 2006, on Mayer's official website, he announced he had begun writing new material. No release dates have been made available.[11] It is possible that this is another album for his band, John Mayer Trio, as he has confirmed that the trio will record a studio album "before long" in his "Continuum Superblog."[10] This belief is perpetuated by the fact that Trio member Steve Jordan can be seen playing the drums in Mayer's first blog entry from 2007[12], however Jordan and Mayer were in pre-production of Continuum well before the John Mayer Trio began, having met when Mayer performed with Buddy Guy on "I've Got Dreams To Remember", which Jordan played on and produced. In the entry, Mayer indicates that he's in the studio, writing and recording music in a sort of a blend of Jazz (citing Elvin Jones as the kind of Jazz he's referring to) and Pop (presumably referring to the kind of Pop that Mayer himself is known for), noting that his intent is now to produce what he calls "Modern Music". As yet, Mayer hasn't officially indicated whether the album being created will be a John Mayer album, a John Mayer Trio album or another project altogether.

Touring

John allows audio taping at most live performances, and he also allows for the non-commercial trading of those recordings. [13] He does this to give fans the opportunity to recreate the live experience, and to encourage fan interaction.[14] Trading recordings helped John become better known in the early stages of his career.

To date, Mayer has toured with many groups, including Maroon 5,[15] Guster, Counting Crows,[16] The Wallflowers, Teitur, and Sheryl Crow. Crow and Mayer, who both had recently appeared on the Cars Soundtrack together, co-headlined a tour that ran from August to October 2006, before each artist continued their respective solo tours[17]. Mayer and Crow traded numerous on-stage shenanigans during their last week touring together, as documented on Mayer's blog. [18]. Mayer recently finished promoting Continuum in Europe with his band, where he commenced his tour in Holland the day after his 29th birthday, the release date for Continuum.

Beyond this, Mayer played at the Desert Rhythm Festival in Dubai on October 26, 2006, headlining a line up that included Khaled, Elvis Crespo, Karen Zoid, Mustafa Sandal & Wayne Wonder. Before moving east to tour in Australia, New Zealand and Japan, where he performed his last show of this leg on November 9, 2006. He will come home and begin re-touring the U.S. after the new year.

Other endeavors

In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer.[19] The guitar was limited to a run of only 404. This acoustic was followed by the release of a signature Stratocaster electric guitar by Fender guitars in 2005—three different models in total. Unlike the Martin, two of Mayer's Signature Fender Stratocasters are not limited edition models, and can be found at many Fender dealers. The third Stratocaster, finished in Charcoal Frost metallic paint with racing stripe, was limited to only 100 guitars. Fender has recently started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer strats. The new olympic white with mint green pickguard and cream plastics is replacing the shoreline gold model.

In January 2004, Mayer joined Steve Jobs as Jobs introduced GarageBand to much fanfare at the San Francisco Macworld Expo. Jobs had his "good friend" John Mayer record some guitar and keyboard licks into the program.[20]

In the June 1, 2004, issue of Esquire, Mayer began a column called "Music Lessons with John Mayer." Each article features a lesson (some more scholarly than others) and his take on various topics, both personal and of popular interest. In the August 2005 issue he invited readers to create music for orphaned lyrics he had written.[21] The winner was Tim Fagan of L.A., as announced in the January issue.[22]

Mayer appeared in a one-shot half-hour comedy special on VH1, entitled John Mayer Has a TV Show (2004). He spent most of the program poking fun at his own image, suggesting that Richard Marx had written many of his songs and anonymously visiting the parking lot outside one of his concerts. (Mayer wore a bear suit and mispronounced his last name.) Among his remarks: "True or False: 'Your Body Is a Wonderland' was written for a guy."

Personal life

Mayer has a number of tattoos. These include: "Home" and "Life" on the back of his left and right arms, respectively (after the song from the Heavier Things album), "SRV" (for his idol Stevie Ray Vaughan), "77" (his year of birth) on his left pectoralis major, and a koi fish on his right deltoid. In 2003, he got a tattoo of three squares on his right forearm, which sparked a lot of questions. Mayer explains that he likes getting tattoos, but not having too many, so he will fill the three squares in gradually.[23] As of 2007, two are filled.

Although he never has actually been tested for the condition (in which an objective verification is done by a medical professional) John experiences music → color synesthesia. It is a neurological condition in which a person's senses consistently overlap, for instance, "hearing colors" which he mentioned in a Rolling Stone interview.

Mayer is an avid collector of watches, and owns timepieces costing into the tens of thousands of dollars.[citation needed] Mayer also has a extensive collection of sneakers, estimated (in 2006) at over 200 pairs.[7][24]

Mayer dated Jennifer Love Hewitt briefly in 2002.[25] In a comedy routine in May 2006, he joked they never consummated their relationship; he later apologized to her for the raunchy routine.[26] Despite rumors, Mayer never dated Heidi Klum in 2003[23]. Though there have been many rumours that Mayer is in a relationship with Jessica Simpson, none has been confirmed, however Mayer and Simpson both attended Christina Aguilera's New Years Eve 2007 party together [27] and reports indicate that the two were very publicly affectionate.

John resides in a suburb of Los Angeles with his roommate and sound engineer, Chad Franscoviak[7]. He also has an apartment in New York City and a townhouse in Atlanta, Georgia.

Selected events

File:That's Enough John Mayer.jpg
Family Guy

The TV comedy Family Guy referenced John Mayer in an episode in the fourth season (#407). The character Chris Griffin spray-paints the phrase "That's enough, John Mayer" on a wall at the request of his sentient pimple (Mayer allegedly contacted the producers of the show after the episode had aired to tell them he loved the joke).[citation needed]

Mayer also appeared on Chappelle's Show in an episode from the second season (#203). In the skit, he traveled to different locations to see if he and Dave Chappelle could make white people dance to different types of music. They succeed in enciting a group into slow dancing at an office, creating a mosh pit at a posh restaurant, and escaping from two cops on the street by making them dance as well (one was a black cop who was "from the suburbs").

Mayer appeared at the Pennsbury High School prom on May 14, 2004, in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia. He played a three-song set that included "No Such Thing," "Clarity," and "Your Body Is A Wonderland". It was his only prom appearance ever, as he did not attend his own. A book called Wonderland by writer Michael Bamberger chronicles the high school's senior class president, a huge Mayer fan, and his school's quest for the ultimate prom. Mayer has discussed the event on numerous radio shows, including Opie & Anthony. Rolling Stone magazine covered Mayer's prom performance,[28] as did many national media outlets.

Brad Paisley covered John Mayer's song "Why Georgia," with Mayer on a episode of CMT Crossroads that first aired May 14, 2004.[29]

Mayer is apparently a fan of XM Satellite Radio's Ron and Fez and Opie and Anthony shows. He has appeared on both shows multiple times over the summer of 2006. Mayer stopped in unannounced to the Ron and Fez Show on June 14 to premiere his latest single, then appeared on Opie and Anthony on July 26 to promote his album and comment about his experiences in standup comedy. On August 18th, Mayer sat in as a third mic with Ron and Fez again, this time with Anthony Cumia also sitting in for a short period. He has also called in to the shows several times to discuss music, sometimes anonymously, especially after an incident where he unintentionally (and hilariously) played the "Do you know who I am?" card on Ron and Fez.[30]

Mayer was honored with the Hal David Starlight Award (previously the Starlight Award) at the 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.[31]

In the CSI Season 7 premiere, "Built To Kill," (aired Sept. 21 and 28, 2006), Mayer appears on stage in a bar, and plays "Waiting on the World to Change" and "Slow Dancing In A Burning Room." The latter is also playing as the intro to the second episode.

On TV in 2006 John Mayer appeared in a Volkswagen commercial playing a First Act guitar in a for VW's newest feature: plugging your guitar into your automobile and playing through the stereo.

On November 15, 2006, John performed "Waiting On The World To Change" live on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He also performed "Waiting On The World To Change" on November 21, 2006 at the American Music Awards. On November 23, 2006 he made his third Thanksgiving performance on The Late Show With David Letterman, performing "I'm Gonna Find Another You".

Solo discography

Main article: John Mayer discography

Albums

  • Inside Wants Out, Indie release date: September 24, 1999, major label release: August 2, 2002, EP, US chart peak position: #22
  • Room for Squares, release date: September 18, 2001, US chart peak position: #8, USA: 4x Platinum
  • Any Given Thursday, release date: February 11, 2003, Live album, US chart peak position: #17, USA: Platinum
  • Heavier Things, release date: September 9, 2003, studio album, US chart peak position: #1, USA: 2x Platinum
  • As/Is, release date: October 19, 2004, live album
  • Continuum, release date: September 12, 2006, Studio album, US chart peak position: #2, USA: Platinum
  • The Village Sessions, release date: December 12, 2006, EP

Singles

Year Song Peak chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Top 40 Airplay US Adult
Contemporary 		US Adult Top 40 US Digital
2002 "No Such Thing" - 8 11 5 - Room For Squares
"Your Body Is A Wonderland" 18 15 17 3 13 Room For Squares
2003 "Why Georgia" 102* - - 8 - Room For Squares
2004 "Bigger Than My Body" 33 21 27 4 19 Heavier Things
"Clarity" 125* - - 13 - Heavier Things
"Daughters" 19 19 2 1 10 Heavier Things
2005 "Who Did You Think I Was" 92 - - - 38 Try! (John Mayer Trio album)
2006 "Waiting On The World To Change" 20 18 13 2 7 Continuum
"Gravity" Continuum

Selected collaborations

  • "Bliss" (2002) – Alice Peacock
  • "Not Myself" (2003) – ‘’How to Deal’’ (motion picture soundtrack)
  • "City Love" (2003) – Eric Clapton's ‘’Crossroads Guitar Festival’’
  • "Heart So Heavy" (2005) – ‘’Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now’’ (with Aaron Neville)
  • "Go" (2005) – Common's ‘’Be’’
  • "I've Got Dreams To Remember" (2005) – Bring 'Em In Duet with Buddy Guy
  • "I Don't Need No Doctor" (2005) – That's What I Say: John Scofield Plays the Music of Ray Charles John Scofield
  • "Streetcorner Symphony" (2005) – Rob Thomas's ‘’Something to Be’’
  • "You Can Make It If You Try" (2005) – Sly & The Family Stone's ‘’Different Strokes By Different Folks’’
  • "Piece of My Heart" (2005) – Eric Clapton's ‘’Back Home’’ (Mayer contributes lead guitar)
  • "Hummingbird" (2005) – B.B. King's ‘’80’’
  • "Stitched Up" (2005) – Herbie Hancock's ‘’Possibilities’’
  • "Baby Hold On" (2006) – Dixie Chicks' ‘’Taking the Long Way’’ (Mayer contributes guitar)
  • "I Hope" (2006) – Dixie Chicks' ‘’Taking the Long Way’’ (Mayer contributes guitar)
  • "(Get your kicks on) Route 66" (2006) – ‘’Cars: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’’
  • "Hard to thrill" (2006) - JJ Cale and Eric Clapton - "The road to Escondido"
  • "Bittersweet" (2007) - Kanye West's ‘’Graduation’’ (Mayer contributes vocals with Keyshia Cole)
  • "Layin' Da Trap" (2007) - T.I.'s ‘’T.I. vs T.I.P.’’ (Mayer contributes vocals)

Notes

  1. ^ a b Ruth Shaut (ELLE)(2006)."Blues Brother" J-mayer.org (accessed August 3, 2006)
  2. ^ http://www.fhmus.com/articles-2064.asp
  3. ^ He was inspired by the Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) guitar performance in Back to The Future.[citation needed]
  4. ^ a b c (2005). "Men Of The Week: Entertainment - John Mayer" AskMen.com (accessed April 12, 2006)
  5. ^ (2006) "Mon Nov 6: Telecom; Spam Attack; John Mayer" TVNZ online (accessed December 6, 2006)
  6. ^ Wallace, William (2005). "Joe Beleznay wants to be the ball" TweedMag.com (accessed October 30, 2006)
  7. ^ a b c Hiatt, Brian (2006). "My Big Mouth Strikes Again" Rolling Stone magazine (accessed September 18, 2006)
  8. ^ a b Moss, Corey (2005) "John Mayer Plans To 'Close Up Shop On Acoustic Sensitive'" MTV.com (accessed April 12, 2006)
  9. ^ http://www.relix.com/cgi-bin/content_details.cgi?id=1787
  10. ^ a b Mayer, John (2006). "THE CONTINUUM SUPER BLOG" JohnMayer.com Blog (accessed December 12, 2006)
  11. ^ Mayer, John (2006). "THE NEXT TRANSMISSION" JohnMayer.com (accessed December 11, 2006)
  12. ^ Mayer blogs his Return to the studio in 2007
  13. ^ Mayer, John (2005). "John's Live Recording Policy" www.thejmtp.com (accessed April 12, 2006)
  14. ^ (2005).PoliciesLocal 83: Listener's Union (accessed April 13, 2006)
  15. ^ Dansby, Andrew (2004). "Mayer, Maroon 5 Hit the Road" Rolling Stone (accessed April 12, 2006)
  16. ^ Dansby, Andrew (2003). "Mayer, Crows to Tour " Rolling Stone (accessed April 12, 2006)
  17. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002688980
  18. ^ http://www.johnmayer.com/blog/john/200610
  19. ^ (2003). [http://namm.harmony-central.com/SNAMM03/Content/Martin/PR/OM-28-John-Mayer.html " 13, 2006)
  20. ^ http://arstechnica.com/reviews/apps/garageband.ars
  21. ^ Mayer, John (2005). "The Giveaway: John Mayer's Songwriting Contest" Esquire magazine (accessed April 12, 2006)
  22. ^ Mayer, John (2006). "Tim Fagan Is A Winner" Esquire magazine (accessed April 12, 2006)
  23. ^ a b Collis, Clark (2003). "Dear Superstar: John Mayer" Blender.com (accessed November 2, 2006)
  24. ^ Mayer, John (2006). "Perks" JohnMayer.com/blog (accessed January 4, 2007)
  25. ^ http://www.askmen.com/men/entertainment_100/140c_john_mayer.html
  26. ^ (2006). "Mayer Apologises To Hewitt" ContactMusic.com (accessed January 5, 2006)
  27. ^ "Simpson, Mayer Ring In New Year Together"
  28. ^ Mar, Alex, et al (2004). "Mayer Booted From School" RollingStone.com (accessed December 11, 2006)
  29. ^ "Brad Paisley and John Mayer Hit a Crossroads" RCALabelGroup.com (accessed August 8, 2006)
  30. ^ (2006)"Whip 'Em Out Wednesday" foundrymusic.com (accessed August 8, 2006)
  31. ^ (2006). John Mayer SongWritersHallofFame.org (accessed September 29, 2006)
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