John Mayer is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer.
Let’s find out some fun facts about him!
1. John Clayton Mayer was born October 16, 1977 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
2. His parents are Richard (a high-school principal) and Margaret Mayer (a middle-school English teacher).
3. He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben.
4. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism.
5. As a middle school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they often played Nintendo together after school.
6. He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).
7. After watching Michael J. Fox’s guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument. When he turned 13, his father rented one for him.
8. A neighbour gave Mayer a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which cultivated Mayer’s love of blues music.
9. According to Mayer, his fascination with Vaughan started a “genealogical hunt” that led him to other blues guitarists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush and Lightnin’ Hopkins.
10. Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar-shop owner, Al Ferrante, and soon became consumed.
11. His singular focus concerned his parents, and they twice took him to see a psychiatrist, who determined him to be healthy.
12. Mayer says that his parents’ contentious marriage led him to “disappear and create my own world I could believe in”.
13. After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school.
14. In addition to performing solo, he was a member of a band called Villanova Junction (named for a Jimi Hendrix song) with Tim Procaccini, Joe Beleznay and Rich Wolf.
15. When Mayer was seventeen, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, “That was the moment the songwriter in me was born”, and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital.
16. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and says he feared having to enter a mental institution. He continues to manage such episodes with anti-anxiety medication.
17. He moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook.
18. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters.
19. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs—refining his skills and gaining a following.
20. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest Festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and then Columbia Records, which released his first EP, Inside Wants Out. His following two full-length albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—did well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status.
21. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for the single “Your Body Is a Wonderland”.
22. Though Mayer started his career mainly performing acoustic rock, he began moving towards the blues genre that had originally influenced him as a musician.
23. By 2005, he was collaborating with blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton.
24. Forming the John Mayer Trio, he released a live album in 2005 called Try!, and his third studio album Continuum in 2006. Both albums received wide critical acclaim, and Continuum earned Mayer a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album.
25. He also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Waiting on the World to Change”. That album was followed by Battle Studies in 2009, a return to pop, with a number-one grossing tour.
26. After having several controversial incidents with the media, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010 and began work on a follow-up album, called Born and Raised, that would draw inspiration from the 1970s pop music of Laurel Canyon.
27. However, the discovery of a granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the release of the album until May 2012, and ultimately forced him to cancel the planned tour. Even so, the album enjoyed a generally favorable reception, though was less commercially successful than his previous work.
28. After extensive treatments for his vocal problems—and a two-year hiatus—Mayer began performing as a singer again in January 2013, and that year released the album, Paradise Valley.
29. The album is named for where he lives in Montana and features country music influences. By 2014, he had sold a total of over 20 million albums worldwide.
30. After developing an interest in the Grateful Dead and connecting with Bob Weir, Mayer formed Dead & Company with three former Grateful Dead musicians.
31. After two well-received tours in the fall of 2015 and summer of 2016, the band has already committed to another tour for the summer of 2017.
32. Mayer’s secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing; he has authored columns for magazines such as Esquire.
33. He supports various causes and has performed at charity benefits. He is a watch aficionado (with a collection he values in the “tens of millions” of dollars), and has been on the jury at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
34. He currently lives in Montana.
35. His latest song is “Love on the Weekend”.
36. Mayer has never married, but has been romantically involved with Jennifer Love Hewitt,Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, Jennifer Aniston, Katy Perry, and singer Taylor Swift.
37. In 2002, Mayer created the “Back to You” Fund, a nonprofit organization that focuses on fundraising in the areas of health care, education, the arts and talent development.
38. He had issues with schooling – Once he discovered his love for guitar,John Mayer began to have significant problems at school. After getting sent to the Dean’s Office, he explained that he wasn’t purposely being rude to the teachers and faculty. He was frustrated that he shouldn’t be in school, but rather playing guitar.
39. He has Jewish roots – Richard, his father, is Jewish, and John Mayer has stated numerous times that he relates to Judaism. He also practices Krav Maga, which is a hand to hand combat method that was developed in Israel.
40. He’s unembarrassed about his love of Miley Cyrus – Claiming that “The Climb” is one of the best pop songs, John Mayer has met Cyrus and attended her concert.
Brigitte Diane says
MONTANA. also. The heart thing in GA interests me