b. 16 October 1977, Connecticut, USA. Mayer grew up in Connecticut, learning to play guitar at the age of 13 and graduating to performing at local blues bars. He briefly attended Berklee College Of Music before choosing to strike out in a folk duo. After the rapid demise of this act, Mayer relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where he soon became a regular at songwriters’ hangouts such as Eddie’s Attic. In 1999, he self-released his debut album Inside Wants Out, a predominantly acoustic collection of his own material. Many of these songs were rerecorded for Room For Squares, including ‘Back To You’, ‘No Such Thing’, the brilliantly ironic ‘My Stupid Mouth’ and ‘Neon’. (Note: This album was reissued in 2002 and charted at 22 on Billboard). Mayer’s melodic folk rock drew unfair comparisons to the highly popular Dave Matthews Band, and as a result he was approached by several major labels. He signed a recording contract with the Columbia Records offshoot Aware and began work on his second album with producer John Alagía. Mayer was joined on this full-band recording by David LaBruyere (bass) and Nir Zidkiyahu (drums). Room For Squares proved to be a sleeper hit, and was re-released on the back of Mayer’s national tour and the radio success of the single ‘No Such Thing’. The assured quality of this album, both lyrically and musically indicated an artist of considerable talent and promise. A live CD and DVD, Any Given Thursday, consolidated Mayer’s growing popularity, and the artist enjoyed further commercial success when the follow-up studio album, Heavier Things, debuted at the top of the US charts in September 2003. It confirmed that Mayer was no passing fancy and is now a major force in the new age of the singer-songwriter genre. At the Grammys in 2005 he won the best song award for ‘Daughters’, an evocative song about parenthood.
Mayer, still a young man, seems to have both maturity and great humour in his songs. Both Eric Clapton and John Scofield have already recognised his talent as a guitarist. In particular, Mayer’s lead vocal on ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’ as part of Scofield’s tribute to Ray Charles (2005’s That’s What I Say) was of particular note, in addition to the fine guitar duel with Scofield on the same track. He also guested on recordings by B.B. King, Herbie Hancock and Buddy Guy; such is Mayer’s position with his peers.
The artist debuted the John Mayer Trio in 2005, featuring Pino Palladino (bass) and Steve Jordan (drums). Continuum combined his familiar songwriting skills together with his more mature Jimi Hendrix -inspired guitar playing. As he steps up a notch he may lose some of his younger female fans on the way, but he will pick up some older guitar afficionados at the same time. Do not be fooled, this artist is not just a good looking singer-songwriter who the girls love. He is a remarkable talent and he is now letting us hear where he wants to go in the course of his own musical development.
