John Clayton Mayer was born on October 16, 1977 at Bridgeport, Connecticut to Margaret and Richard Mayer. The middle child of three siblings, his two brothers are named Ben and Carl. He attended Fairfield Warde High School and Brien McMahon High school in Norwalk, Connecticut. For his junior year, he wanted something more in his life. Thus enrolling in the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High school where he was sent to Japan as an exchange student. There he learned about their culture and language.
As a child, Mayer wasn’t into music. He can play the clarinet but making a career was far from his mind. But watching Michael J. Fox perform “Johnny Be Goode” in the movie “Back to the Future”, he soon began to appreciate music. His next door neighbour lends him various jazz and blues tapes and one from Stevie Ray Vaughn which he began listening over and over. Soon enough, he was able to learn and play the guitar at the tender age of 13. By 16, John Mayer was performing at clubs. In his senior year, he joined a band called Villanova Junction. But he did not stay for long.
Mayer enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston after High school but dropped out after a year feeling that his classes no longer challenged him. He’d rather play and write music, not study them. He chose to cut his studies short and move to Atlanta, Georgia where he started playing at local clubs and started making demos and sending out copies. He was starting to build a fan base in Atlanta in clubs such as Eddie’s Attic.
John Mayer released his first EP in 1999 entitled, “Inside Wants Out”. A year later his breakthrough CD was released. “Room for Squares” featured smash hits including “No Such Thing” (which spawned from a conversation he had with his mom!). By 2000, John was signed with Columbia Records, which re-released “Room for Squares” and made him a multi-platinum artist.
In 2003, he won his first ever Grammy for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance” for his ever popular “Your Body is a Wonderland”. He also released his first concert DVD “Any Given Thursday” that same year. The concert was recorded at the Oak Amphitheatre in Birmingham, Alabama.
On September 9th 2003, he released his second much anticipated album called “Heavier Things” and on 2005, bagged him the “Song of the Year” Grammy for his song “Daughters” beating contenders such as Kanye West and Alicia Keys. He also won “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance” for the second time.
John Mayer has done a number of collaborations. Rubbing elbows with music big hits such as Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, BB King, and John Scofield. He was even lucky enough to tour with Herbie Hancock for a show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. To date, John Mayer is on of the most respected guitarists of our time and many musicians look up to him, old and young alike. He even gained respect from hip-hop artists like Kayne West. Everyone wants a piece of this incredible talent.
In the spring of 2004, he formed the John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, two of the most respected musicians in the industry, Jordan being a legendary producer and Palladino as one of the band members of The Who. The trio plays a combination of Rock and Blues music. They released their live album called TRY! in November 2005 and began touring in sold out concert venues around the country. The album includes songs such as “Vultures” and “Who Did You Think I Was?” which made a statement that this band is serious in their blues and rock roots. Though the trio is now defunct after announcing the end of their performance in the Tempe Music Festival in March 2006, their music will still be remembered as one of the best.
For his new album “Continuum”, Mayer promises a different approach to his music, and producer Steve Jordan adds it will still be in the lines of their trio style which combines signature pop, with the feel, sound and groove of blues music. Mayer’s album release is set on September 12th. His first single, “Waiting on the World to Change” debuted on his website on MySpace last July 11th. The song was the most downloadable single on iTunes that week and ranked number 25 in the Billboard Hot 100 Charts, proving that he still has it after a long hiatus from recording this album.”Continuum” was released in September 12, 2017.
John Mayer also enjoys blogging. A hobby he picked up after creating a profile page in MySpace. He updates this regularly and shares his thoughts to all his fans and enjoys promoting other artists he likes listening to. He also revamped his website and now it’s the flagship version. You can also see his latest posts in the blog section.
As of press time, John Mayer is touring the US and across the globe to promote his latest album and spreading the good music of Blues in his own point of view. The tour kicks off this year in January 25th in Jacksonville, Florida.