Biography
Gavin DeGraw has maintained a close and abiding relationship with music for most of his life. Growing up in a musical family in the Catskill Mountains region of upstate New York, he was raised to regard music as part of the fabric of everyday life rather than a remote show business ideal. He began singing and playing piano at the age of eight; as a teenager, he experienced a personal epiphany when he discovered Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, whose combination of personal charm and emotional commitment struck a chord in the budding musician.After relocating to Manhattan in March 1998, Gavin almost immediately began making substantial career inroads, gradually and organically laying the groundwork for a musical career. "I kept having small successes," he recalls, "just things like applause from small audiences, or people saying they'd heard about me. Those tiny bits of recognition were fuel for me to continue, and made me feel like I was on the right track." In the spring of 2002, following a sold-out showcase at New York's Joe's Pub, Gavin signed signed with J Records and began work on Chariot with producer Mark Endert, whose extensive resume includes work with the likes of Fiona Apple, Tonic and Ours. Recorded far from DeGraw's East Village stomping grounds at Los Angeles' legendary Sunset Sound studio, the album finds Gavin fronting a solid, inventive studio band consisting of guitarist Michael Ward (Wallflowers, John Hiatt), drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and longtime DeGraw cohort Alvin Moody on bass. Since the debut of Chariot in July 2003, Gavin has built a rabid fan base through extensive touring and major national television appearances such as Good Morning America, Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Sharon Osbourne Show, Last Call With Carson Daly and many others. His songs have been featured in many television shows and feature films. Most notably his single, 'I Don?t Wanna Be' is the theme song for the hit series, One Tree Hill. Chariot debuted in the top ten on the Billboard?s Heatseekers chart and has since sold over 1,000,000 copies.
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