John Mayer

John Clayton Mayer, born October 16, 1977, is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist whose records have moved from acoustic pop toward blues, rock, folk, country and soft rock. His breakthrough came with Room for Squares in 2001, a debut studio album that produced “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” winner of Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards. Its 2003 follow-up, Heavier Things, reached number one on the Billboard 200.

Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston before leaving for Atlanta in 1997 with guitarist Clay Cook. The pair formed the short-lived rock duo Lo-Fi Masters; after it split, Mayer played local clubs and built a small following. A performance at South by Southwest in 2000 led to his signing with Aware Records, a Columbia Records imprint. He had already released the EP Inside Wants Out in 1999.

In 2005, Mayer turned more directly toward the blues and rock that had first influenced him. He formed the John Mayer Trio and released its live album, Try!, that year, then followed with Continuum in 2006. Continuum was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards; “Waiting on the World to Change” also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Battle Studies, released in 2009, returned to pop.

After withdrawing from public life in 2010 following several controversial media incidents, Mayer drew on 1970s Laurel Canyon pop for Born and Raised. A granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the album’s release until May 2012 and forced the cancellation of its accompanying tour. It became his second album to top the Billboard 200. He recovered in January 2013 and released Paradise Valley that August, incorporating country, folk and Americana and reaching number two. The Search for Everything followed in 2017 as a loose concept album centered on a romantic break-up, while Sob Rock arrived in 2021 with an 1980s soft-rock influence.

Mayer has also produced and contributed music for artists including Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles and Barbra Streisand. In 2015, he joined three former members of the Grateful Dead and two other musicians in Dead & Company, one of several reunions involving surviving members of the band after Jerry Garcia’s death. Beyond music, he has worked in television, comedy and writing, including columns for Esquire, and has performed at charity benefits. Rolling Stone placed him at number 61 on its 2023 list of the 250 greatest guitarists of all time. By 2014, he had sold more than 20 million albums worldwide.