| John Mayer grew
up in Connecticut listening to pop radio and picked up the
guitar after discovering blues music, specifically the work
of Steve Ray Vaughan. Within two years of first learning how
to play, he was a notable performer at various local blues
bars, and at 19, he enrolled at the Berklee College Of Music.
However, Mayer soon realized he would rather perform music
than study it, and would rather focus on serious songwriting
than on virtuoso guitar playing. So in 1998, he returned to
his adopted hometown of Atlanta and became a regular in the
Atlanta club circuit, playing continuous gigs at nightspots
like Eddie's Attic.
A year later, Mayer released Inside Wants Out, an album
of acoustic-based tracks as well as several songs recorded
with a full band. His stellar March 2000 performance at
the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas caught
the attention of many record labels, who soon courted the
young talent; Mayer eventually chose to sign with Aware/Columbia
Records. He began recording his major-label debut, Room
For Squares, that fall with producer John Alagia (Dave Matthews
Band, Ben Folds Five), which featured a full electric band
(including bassist David LaBruyere and Alana Davis/Genesis
drummer Nir Zidkiyahu) and a more versatile singing style.
In summer 2001, Columbia re-released Room For Squares as
a limited-edition, two-CD set with two previously unreleased
Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan covers and one bonus
track recorded with Alagia entitled "3 X 5." The
reissued CD also included seven remixed songs recorded with
legendary producer Jack Joseph Puig (Eric Clapton, Weezer,
Black Crowes) at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles. Mayer
gained an incredibly strong fanbase during his first international
tour to support the album, was hailed as the next Dave Matthews
or Jakob Dylan, and received a Grammy nomination in 2002
for Best New Artist.
Although Mayer
failed to win the award, which when to Norah Jones, it didn't
dim his star. His label attempted to capitalize on his rising
popularity with the release of the live album, Any Given
Thursday. In September 2003, Mayer released his proper followup
to Room For Squares, an album that promised in its title,
Heavier Things.
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