John Mayer

John Clayton Mayer (born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he became interested in the instrument after watching Michael J. Fox perform in Back to the Future and receiving a rented guitar at age 13. A Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette sparked his passion for blues music, leading him to take lessons from local guitar shop owner Al Ferrante and explore artists such as Buddy Guy, B.B. King, and Otis Rush. During high school, he performed in local venues and played with the band Villanova Junction.

Mayer briefly enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in 1997 before relocating to Atlanta with fellow guitarist Clay Cook to form the short-lived duo Lo-Fi Masters. Following their separation, Mayer played local clubs and recorded his debut independent extended play, Inside Wants Out (1999). After performing at the 2000 South by Southwest festival, he signed with Aware Records, which partnered with Columbia Records to re-release his debut studio album, Room for Squares (2001). The album achieved critical and commercial success, featuring the single "Your Body Is a Wonderland," which won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. His second studio album, Heavier Things (2003), topped the Billboard 200 chart and featured the single "Daughters," which won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

Seeking to expand beyond acoustic pop into blues and rock, Mayer formed the John Mayer Trio in 2005 alongside bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, releasing the live album Try! He integrated these styles into his third studio album, Continuum (2006), which won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards and contained the award-winning single "Waiting on the World to Change." During this period, he also released the live concert projects Any Given Thursday (2003) and As/Is (2004), followed by his pop-oriented fourth studio album, Battle Studies (2009).

Following media controversies, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010. His fifth album, Born and Raised (2012), drew sound inspiration from 1970s Laurel Canyon pop music, though its release and tour were delayed by the discovery of a vocal cord granuloma. After undergoing medical recovery, he released Paradise Valley (2013), which incorporated country, folk, and Americana styles. He later released his seventh studio album, The Search for Everything (2017), framed around themes of a romantic break-up, and his eighth album, Sob Rock (2021), which was inspired by 1980s soft rock.

Outside of his solo discography, Mayer has produced and provided music for numerous artists spanning multiple genres, including Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Ed Sheeran, and Barbra Streisand. In 2015, he joined three former members of the Grateful Dead and two other musicians to form the band Dead & Company. Mayer has also pursued television hosting, comedy, and writing, authoring columns for magazines such as Esquire. A watch collector, he has contributed to Hodinkee, served on the jury at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, and was appointed Creative Conduit of Audemars Piguet in 2024. By 2014, he had sold over 20 million albums worldwide.