Andy Grammer
Age: 40
Andrew Charles "Andy" Grammer (born December 3, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is signed to S-Curve Records. His debut album, Andy Grammer, was released in 2011 and spawned the hit singles "Keep Your Head Up" and "Fine by Me". His second album Magazines or Novels was released in 2014, with "Back Home" as the first single. The album's second single, "Honey, I'm Good.", is his most successful song to date, peaking at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. This single has been certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and was ranked one of the ten best-selling songs of 2015 by Nielsen SoundScan. In January 2016, he performed an a capella version of the American national anthem at the Patriots-Broncos, AFC Championship football game, in Denver, Colorado.
Early life and education
Andrew Charles Grammer was born in Los Angeles, the son of Kathryn Willoughby and recording artist Robert Crane "Red" Grammer, He grew up in Chester, New York, graduating from Monroe-Woodbury High School. As a child, he learned to play the trumpet and later the guitar and piano. He began writing songs at 15. At 20, he left Binghamton University in Vestal, New York, after unsuccessfully auditioning for the Binghamton Crosbys a cappella group and returned to Los Angeles, where he currently resides. In 2007, he graduated from the California State University, Northridge, with a B.A. in music industry studies.
Musical career
Grammer started as a busker on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and later performed in the Viper Room. He was discovered by his managerAeety in July 2009 and signed with label S-Curve Records in April 2010. Grammer's popular songs include: "Honey, I'm Good", "Keep Your Head Up", "Fine By Me", "Lunatic", "Ladies", "Biggest Man in L.A.", "Numbers", "Stepping Stone", "Couple More Sleeves", "Fireflies", and "The Pocket".
His debut video "Keep Your Head Up", which featured actor Rainn Wilson, was an iTunes Video of the Week in 2010, and the version of the video on Grammer's website uses an interactive interface that allows the viewer to "send the singer into goofy scenarios". He performed the song on The Rachael Ray Show on November 17, 2010. It has since debuted at No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100 Grammer's debut album sales for the first week earned him the No. 1 spot on the Billboard New Artist Chart. He opened for Plain White T's for the second leg of their "Wonders of the Younger" tour in the spring of 2011. In January 2011, he was named an "Artist to Watch" by Billboard magazine. He performed at SXSW 2011, playing BMI's Acoustic Brunch, where he was one of the artists contributing to a recording produced by Hanson to benefit the victims of the 2011 Japan earthquake. He won MTV's "O Music Awards" for most innovative video for his "Keep Your Head Up" video on April 25, 2011.
His debut album, Andy Grammer, was released on June 14, 2011 on S-Curve Records. The self-titled album was produced by Matt Wallace from Maroon 5, Matt Radosevich, Dave Katz, and Sam Hollander of Gym Class Heroes.
On the new album, Grammer says:
“ | My ultimate goal is to try to be real. It just so happens that I'm usually more happy than sad when I'm writing. And in general I think that life is pretty great, and it's cool to be here, so that comes through in my music. I don't have a dismal outlook, but I don't aim to make positive music. It's just what I am. | ” |
He joined Natasha Bedingfield on her Less is More Tour, starting June 2011, and Colbie Caillat on her U.S. and Canada tour, starting August 2011. Grammer opened shows with Kate Voegele and Kevin Hammond. The Grammy Museum, in Los Angeles, featured him for the museum's first installment of its homegrown local artist series starting May 2011.
On November 16, 2011, Grammer announced his 2012 headlining tour. On May 21, 2013, Grammer released a new EP, Crazy Beautiful, which was features two original songs, "Crazy Beautiful" and "I Choose You", and a live version of "Crazy Beautiful". The new EP was released by S-Curve Records. On March 25, 2014, he debuted "Back Home", the lead single from his second album, Magazines or Novels. The song, co-written with Ryan Met from the group AJR, was released to iTunes on April 8, 2014. The album was released August 5, 2014. He went on the "Siren Songs" tour with Los Angeles-based recording artist Hughie Stone Fish in September 2014.
On August 31, 2015, he was announced as one of the celebrities who will compete on the 21st season of Dancing with the Stars. He was paired with professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd until an ankle injury forced her to withdraw. His new partner was Allison Holker. Grammer and Holker were eliminated on Week 8 of competition and finished in 7th place.
On October 27, 2015, he performed the National Anthem prior to the start of the opening game of the World Series between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Influences
Of his influences, he said: "I have three different places that I draw inspiration from. There's the guitar guys like Jason Mraz, John Mayer and Jack Johnson; piano influences like Coldplay, The Fray and OneRepublic. I also really love how hip-hop creates complexity in words. I love Common, Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z and Kanye West."
Discography
Studio albums
Title | Album details | Peak chart position |
Sales | Certifications | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US |
US Heat |
||||
Andy Grammer |
|
105 | 1 | ||
Magazines or Novels |
|
19 | — |
|
|
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
EPs
Title | Album details |
---|---|
The World Is Yours |
|
Soft Lights On Bright Colors |
|
Live from L.A. |
|
Crazy Beautiful |
|
Singles
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US |
AUS |
BEL (Fl) |
CAN |
FRA |
NLD |
NZ |
SWE |
UK |
|||||
"Keep Your Head Up" | 2011 | 53 | 53 | 27 | 61 | 156 | 94 | 34 | — | — |
|
Andy Grammer | |
"Fine by Me" | 84 | — | 47 | — | — | 94 | — | — | — |
|
|||
"Miss Me" | 2012 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Back Home" | 2014 | — | 27 | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
|
Magazines or Novels | |
"Honey, I'm Good." | 9 | 64 | — | 4 | 175 | 100 | — | 72 | 65 |
|
|||
"Good to Be Alive (Hallelujah)" | 2015 | 62 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
|
||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Personal life
In July 2012, Grammer married singer/songwriter Aijia . Grammer is a member of the Bahá'í Faith.
In March, 2016, his wife, also a noted background singer, auditioned on The Voice and Grammer was interviewed during her pre-performance package. However, she did not advance.