Name	Jason Mraz
Landscape	yes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Jason Thomas Mraz
Born	June 23, 1977Mechanicsville, VirginiaUnited States
Died
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, mandolin, Mandola, ukulele, keyboards
Voice type	Tenor
Genre	Pop rock, alternative, blue-eyed soul
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1999–present
Label	Elektra Records (2002–2005)Atlantic Records (2005—present)
Associated acts	Tristan Prettyman, Bushwalla
Url

Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter, born and raised in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Mraz's stylistic influences include reggae, pop, rock, folk, jazz, bossa nova and hip hop.

Mraz released his debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which contained the hit single "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)", in 2002, but it was not until the release of his second album, Mr. A-Z that Mraz achieved commercial success. The album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and sold over 100,000 copies in the US. In 2008, Mraz released his third studio album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and was a commercial success worldwide, peaking in the top ten of many international charts.

Mraz's international breakthrough came with the release of the first single from the album, "I'm Yours". The single peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Mraz his first top ten single. The song was on the Hot 100 for 76 weeks, beating the previous record of 69 weeks held by LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live". The song was a huge commercial success in the US, receiving a 5x platinum certification from the RIAA for sales of over five million. The song was successful internationally, topping the charts in New Zealand and Norway and peaking in the top ten of multiple international charts.

Early life

Jason Mraz was born and raised in Mechanicsville, Virginia. He is of Czech descent through his grandfather, who moved to the United States from Austria-Hungary in 1915. His surname is Czech for "frost"

Mraz attended Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville. As a teenager, Mraz participated in local theater with SPARC (School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community). He played Joseph in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

After graduating from high school in 1995, Mraz attended The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, for a short time, studying musical theater. He dropped out of the school after taking up the guitar and focusing more on songwriting, and began performing at the world famous Java Joes for money. He then briefly returned to Virginia before moving to San Diego, California.

Music career

Waiting For My Rocket to Come (2002-2003)

In 2002, Mraz released his first major-label debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come. The album was a relative commercial success, peaking at number 55 on the Billboard Hot 200 and at number two on the Top Heatseekers Chart. The lead single from the album, "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" was co-written by music production team The Matrix and it was Mraz's first top 20 single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 15.

Mraz's friend and former roommate Billy "Bushwalla" Galewood collaborated on the album, co-writing "Curbside Prophet" and the album's third single, and "I'll Do Anything".

Touring and Mr. A–Z (2003-2008)

Mraz opened for Tracy Chapman in March 2003 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In July 2005, Mraz opened for Alanis Morissette during her Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Tour. On July 26, 2005, he released his second major-label album, Mr. A–Z, for Atlantic Records. It entered the Billboard 200 album chart at number 4. In December, the album earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, while its producer, the prolific Steve Lillywhite, received a nomination for Producer of the Year.

Mraz began his long-running tour in support of Mr. A–Z at the San Diego Music Awards on September 12. The tour featured a variety of opening acts, including Bushwalla and Tristan Prettyman, with whom he had co-written the duet "Shy That Way" in 2002. Mraz and Prettyman dated, ending their relationship in 2006. They also co-wrote the song "All I Want For Christmas is Us". In November 2005, Mraz opened for the Rolling Stones on five dates during their 2005–2006 world tour. Also in 2005, Mraz was one of many singers featured in the fall advertisement campaign for The Gap entitled "Favorites". The music-themed campaign also featured other singers including Tristan Prettyman, Michelle Branch, Joss Stone, Keith Urban, Alanis Morissette, Brandon Boyd, and Michelle Williams. In December 2005, Mraz released the first part of his ongoing podcast.

in Ledyard, Connecticut on May 17, 2006.]] In Stockholm, Sweden 2008]]

In March 2006, Mraz also performed for the first time at a sold-out performance in Singapore with Toca Rivera as part of the annual Mosaic Music Festival. In May 2006, Mraz toured mostly small venues and music festivals in the U.S., along with a few shows in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The tour included a May 6, 2006 acoustic show with P.O.D., Better Than Ezra, Live, and The Presidents of the United States of America. Mraz was featured as a headlining guest of St. Louis's annual Fair St. Louis and performed a free concert at the base of the Arch on July 1, 2006. During this time, Mraz was also the opening act at several dates for Rob Thomas' Something to Be Tour.

In December 2006, , the live, online-only album recorded during the Songs for Friends Tour, was released. Selections for Friends features Jason's favorite songs from the Schubas Tavern and Villa Montalvo shows he played in July 2006. Jason Mraz began 2007 by debuting his new single "The Beauty in Ugly", an earlier track penned by Mraz entitled "Plain Jane" that he rewrote for the ABC television program Ugly Betty. The song was featured as a part of ABC's "Be Ugly in '07" campaign. He has since released a song in Spanish entitled "La Nueva Belleza (The New Beauty)".

In 2007, American Idol contestant Chris Richardson performed "Geek in the Pink", which subsequently garnered the song mass recognition and increased downloads at the American iTunes Store. "Geek in the Pink" peaked at #22 on the U.S. iTunes Store on March 10, 2007, but it was ineligible for the site's Hot 100. The tape-recording of bootlegs during Mraz's shows is explicitly supported by him and his management.

We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. (2008-2009)

Mraz released his third studio album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. on May 13, 2008. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 200, giving Mraz his highest charting album to date. Following the success of lead single, "I'm Yours", the album broke into the top ten of many international music charts and charted in the top three in Australia and the US.

The first single, "I'm Yours", reached #1 on AAA radio charts in the US. The single was a B-side to Mr A-Z, and was made famous by recordings from his live shows. In September 2008, the song became Mraz's first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #6. As of October 14, 2008, the album has been certified Gold by the RIAA, selling in excess of 500,000 copies in the US. The song was a commercial success worldwide, peaking in the top ten of multiple European charts and topping the charts in New Zealand for six weeks. In 2008, Mraz launched his single "I'm Yours" at the music industry-only event titled Sunset Sessions. Exactly one year later, Jason was nominated for a Grammy on the single.

Mraz and his song "I'm Yours" were nominated for Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 2009 51st Grammy Awards. The album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical in 2009. On January 31, 2009, Mraz was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing "I'm Yours" and "Lucky", the latter with Colbie Caillat. "Lucky" peaked on the Hot 100 at 48.

With "Make It Mine" and "Lucky", Mraz won two awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, respectively, at the 2010 52nd Grammy Awards.

Fourth studio album (2009–present)

In early 2009, a song titled "Try Try Try" was leaked out into the internet. New songs have been performed in his recent concerts, some of which have been uploaded onto YouTube. Earlier this year, Jason Mraz spent time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil working with Milton Nascimento. Mraz also recently met and worked with Willie Nelson, whose 'style' is fondly referenced in one of Mraz's early hits "Curbside Prophet."

In November 2009, Mraz posted on his Myspace page plans for a new album to be recorded starting in December, stating "In 2 weeks time I will enter the studio and begin recording the next album. Only a handful of songs are written and slated but the momentum of love is with me. Every day new verses get added on. The songs are coming together piece by piece. The process is unlike any of the other records before this. It's like I'm being gifted the album without having to do the work. I'm creating that in 6 months the project will be complete and then we'll hit the road again with new sounds and new musicians."

Mraz has recently returned from London, England where he was working with a London Studio for his new album with producer Martin Terefe. Christina Perri has also recently tweeted about making a 'masterpiece' with Mraz. Jason also got a chance to work with British singer-songwriter Dido on his upcoming album.

Mraz recently contributed vocals for The Grooveline Horns' eponymous EP on the track "Ffun", a cover of the Con Funk Shun song, released March 2, 2010.

In August 2010, Mraz had a Q&A; interview with Spin magazine. In the interview, he stated the current possible titles for his fourth album are Peace Canoe or The Love Album.

On September 13, 2010, Mraz was featured on the single "Love, Love, Love" by Hope.

On September 28, 2010, Mraz announced the upcoming release of the new "Life Is Good" EP consisting of recordings from his concerts from Maine to the Life is Good Festival in Canton, Massachusetts which will include live recordings of "Coyotes" and multiple new songs, "San Disco Reggaefornia", "Up", "What Mama Say", and "The Freedom Song". The EP was released on October 5, 2010. On the same tour, Mraz also showcased other new songs, such as "Thinking About You", "Love Looks Like" and "In Your Hands".

From Boxing Day 2010, the official website was updated with a series of images, the first seemingly a sequence of blocks separated by points to indicate a date, and the second image containing a rectangle, circle, triangle and a square, which appear to spell out the word "love". This image is also trademarked, which suggests an imminent announcement on the fourth album, and this would also match one of the working titles for the album "The Love Album".

Personal life

Mraz lives a health-conscious lifestyle and enjoys eating mostly raw vegan foods. He owns an avocado farm in Oceanside in Northern San Diego County near Fallbrook. Jason Mraz is an active supporter of several charities including VH1's Save The Music Foundation, MusiCares, Free the Children, Life Rolls On and SPARC. He has been named the 2010 SIMA Humanitarian of the Year. He also received the Clean Water Award in 2010 from the Surfrider Foundation.

Mraz is now engaged to singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman. On December 23, 2010, Mraz posted on his Twitter "SHE SAID YES." Immediately after his post, Prettyman tweeted "For Once, I Am Speechless..... i did good! holy crap! man of my dreams!!! for the rest of my life!!!"

Discography

;Studio albums

Notes

External links

Jason Mraz collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Playlist: Jason Mraz – Nightline 07/17/09 – Reggae to rock, Mraz reveals his musical influences.

Concert Photos: Jason Mraz – 09/17/2010, 09/18/2010 – Jason Mraz opens for Dave Matthews Band for two sold out shows at Chicago's Wrigley Field.

Category:1977 births Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American male singers Category:American people of Czech descent Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American vegans Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Living people Category:Musical groups from San Diego, California Category:Musicians from Virginia Category:People from Richmond, Virginia

Name	Colbie Caillat
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Colbie Marie Caillat
Born	Newbury Park, California
Origin	Malibu, California, United States
Genre	Pop, Acoustic, Country pop, Folk rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist
Years active	2007–present
Instrument	Vocal, guitar, ukulele, piano
Voice type	Contralto
Label	Universal Republic Records
Associated acts	Juanes, Jason Mraz, Taylor Swift, Jason Reeves, John Mayer, Justin Young, Tim Fagan
Url	www.colbiecaillat.com

Colbie Marie Caillat (; born May 28, 1985) is an American pop singer-songwriter and guitarist from Malibu, California. She debuted in 2007 with Coco, which included hit singles "Bubbly", "Realize", and "The Little Things". In 2008, she recorded a duet with Jason Mraz, "Lucky", which won a Grammy. Caillat released her second album, Breakthrough, in August 2009.

On December 2, 2009, Breakthrough was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards. She was also nominated twice for Best Pop Collaboration, for her featured vocals on Mraz's "Lucky" and her background vocals and writing on Taylor Swift's "Breathe", and was part of the group that won Album of the Year for her background vocals and writing on Swift's Fearless. The combined US sales of her first two albums is about 2.5 million with 4 million sold worldwide, and ten million singles in US. In 2010 she performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway in honour of 2010 Nobel Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo

Biography

Caillat was born in Newbury Park, California, and grew up in Malibu, California. Her father, Ken Caillat, co-produced Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (1977) and Tusk (1979) albums. Producer Mikal Blue hired a teenaged Caillat to sing on background techno music to be used for fashion shows. Caillat began writing songs with Blue in 2004.

Music career

2007–2008: Coco

The popularity of Caillat's MySpace profile led her to become the number-one unsigned singer in her genre for four consecutive months. Her debut single was "Bubbly" and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Pop 100. "Bubbly" also reached #58 in the UK Singles Chart in September 2008 after 11 months in the chart. Two other singles followed, "Realize" (#20, Hot 100) and "The Little Things" (#94, Pop 100).

In May 2008, Caillat recorded a duet with Jason Mraz, called "Lucky," on his album, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things. The same month, Caillat recorded a cover of the song "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid for Disney's DisneyMania 6 CD. After touring with The Goo Goo Dolls and Lifehouse in 2007, she was the supporting act for John Mayer on his 2008 Summer Tour.

In August 2008, Caillat released a song and video for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics called "Somethin' Special" and released another music video for her song "The Little Things" for the U.S. market. Caillat also sings on "You" by Schiller and appears in the music video. Colbie has been involved in the soundtrack of the movie Imagine That; she and Mikal Blue cover the George Harrison song "Here Comes the Sun". She is also featured in Colombian singer Juanes album La vida... es un ratico (en vivo) in the song "Hoy Me Voy".

In October 2008, the song "Midnight Bottle" was included in the soundtrack of Brazilian soap opera "Três Irmãs", and despite not being released as a single yet, the song has received a lot of airplay in Brazil. She also participated in the role of herself on this soap opera. Caillat provided background vocals and co-wrote with Taylor Swift, for Swift's song called "Breathe", on her album, Fearless, which was released November 11, 2008. Caillat released a French version of "The Little Things" ("Ces petits riens") as a single.

2009–2010: Breakthrough

Caillat's second album, entitled Breakthrough, was released on August 21, 2009, in Germany; August 24 in the rest of Europe; and a day after that in the US. Most of the album was co-written by Jason Reeves, an American songwriter signed to Warner Bros. Records and features world-renowned guitarist David Becker on two tracks. Becker has worked with the singer's father Ken on several of his own recordings. The first single from Breakthrough, "Fallin' for You", was released on June 29, 2009. On August 4, 2009, the album was made available to pre-order through iTunes with the bonus song "Hold Your Head High". This configuration also comes with a reggae version of "Begin Again". During "Breakthrough" Colbie had writer's block so she enlisted her friends, Kara DioGuardi, Jason Reeves and they went to Hawaii for three weeks, rented a beach house and wrote songs about love, relationships and breakups. Caillat released two Christmas songs for the 2009 holiday season, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Merry Christmas, Baby." She and collaborator Stacy Blue (who co-wrote Caillat's 2007 holiday single "Mistletoe") are also planning to write some new Christmas songs. Archie Comics released an issue with her as guest star.

Caillat told Broken Records Magazine in Volume 1 Issue 3 that she "is so honored to be recognized as BMI's songwriter of the year and it is an amazing accomplishment that I never expected! Getting to travel the world and play my songs has to be one of the best jobs in the world."

The second single, "I Never Told You," was released February 16, 2010.

According to her official website, Caillat is currently writing and recording songs for her third studio album. Her father Ken Caillat is again at the producing helm for part of the recording, and guitarist David Becker is also on board.

In June 2010, Caillat recorded a song for Levi's Pioneer's Sessions, a remake of Blondie's song, "Maria." The track is available as a free download from the official site.

In July 2010, Caillat performed God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch at the 2010 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. She is currently dating Justin Kawika Young, the guitarist and other vocalist in her band, who helped inspire her upcoming third album. In the same article, a song titled "Shadow" was confirmed to be on her upcoming album.

In September 2010, Caillat performed the national anthem in the season opener game of the National Football League in New Orleans and a Monday Night Football game in Chicago.

In December 2010, Caillat performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway.

Present–2011: Third Studio Album

On September 12, 2010 at her Pechanga Resort & Casino concert, Caillat announced her upcoming album is being recorded and will be released in February 2011. She also played 5 songs from the upcoming album for the first time in public. The songs, and their stories she described behind them, are as follows:

"I Do" – Caillat said it is supposed to be sort of a joke but it is hard to explain and it is about marriage.

"Dream Life" – Caillat said that her friends always talk about this dream life they wish they had where they spend their days by the pool drinking cocktails.

"Shadow" – Caillat explained that this song was about and directed toward a friend of hers who has been with the same guy for a year and he refuses to call her his girlfriend so the song is about what she should say to him.

"Before I Let You Go" – Caillat said she wrote this when she was angry at someone and it is about how they should change their ways before they are out of her life.

"Let's Make It Rain" – Caillat said she wrote this last summer, 2009 and it is about doing what you want and not caring what other people think.

"What If" – Originally featured in the movie "Letters to Juliet," Caillat described the song as "about day dreaming about being in love."

Recently Caillat did a music video for "25 Days Of Christmas" for the ABC channel. She mentioned it is likely that the song will be on her new album.

It has been reported by several news outlets that the album would be titled "Swing" but Caillat has reiterated that she has not reached a final decision yet. In an interview on Artisan News, it was revealed that the first single for the album will be out in January and is "I Do".

On January 10, 2011, Caillat performed "Bubbly" at the Detroit Auto Show at the Mercedez-Benz Press Event.

Discography

Coco (2007)

Breakthrough (2009)

TBN (2011)

Tours

2008: John Mayer 2008 Summer Tour

2008: Coco Summer Tour

2008: Coco World Tour

2009/2010: Breakthrough World Tour

Awards and nominations

Name	Colbie Caillat
Awards	4
Nominations	11

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Caillat has won two awards from four nominations, including Album of the Year, she featured artist.

|- |rowspan="4"|2010 |Fearless |Album of the Year | |- |rowspan="1"|Breakthrough |Best Pop Vocal Album | |- |"Lucky" |rowspan="2"|Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals | |- |"Breathe" |

Others awards and nominations

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;" |- bgcolor="#B0C4DE" align="center" ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Year ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Result ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Award ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Category ! style="background-color: #BCBCBC"|Nominated Work |- |rowspan="3"| 2008 || || American Music Awards || T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist|| General |- | |rowspan="2"| Teen Choice Awards ||Choice Breakthrough Artist ||General |- | || Choice Love Song ||"Bubbly" |- |rowspan="3"| 2009 || |rowspan="2"| BMI Pop Awards ||Songwriter of the Year ||Colbie Caillat |- | || Song of The Year ||"Bubbly" |- | |rowspan="1"| Teen Choice Awards ||Choice Music: Hook Up ||"Lucky" |- |rowspan="6"| 2010 |- | ||People's Choice Awards||Favorite Music Collaboration ||"Lucky" |- | |rowspan="4"| Grammy Award || Best Pop Vocal Album ||Breakthrough |- | || Album of the Year || Fearless (featured artist) |- | || Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ||"Lucky" (with Jason Mraz) |- | || Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ||"Breathe" (with Taylor Swift) |- |}

Colbie Caillat made a guest star appearance on the popular webseries "Crash Coarse to Stardom" with the band Bascom Hill.

April 28 – May 2, 2011, from Tampa to Cozumel, Mexico, Caillat and other artists like Train and Lifehouse will be performing on the VH1 Best Cruise Ever.

References

External links

Colbie Caillat at Universal Republic

French Website

Colbie Caillat on the cover of the March 19th, 2008 issue of iProng Magazine

Colbie Caillat cover story in the January 2009 issue of International Musician

AOL Sessions Performance & Interview

Category:1985 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American child singers Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American folk guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:American musicians of French descent Category:American pop guitarists Category:American pop singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from California Category:People from Los Angeles County, California Category:People from Ventura County, California