“I wanted to be a blues guitar player. And a singer. And a songwriter. Not a shock jock.”

American singer, songwriter, and guitarist

John Clayton Mayer is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born in 1977, he left Berklee College of Music in Boston and moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he briefly formed the rock duo Lo-Fi Masters with guitarist Clay Cook. After the duo split, Mayer kept performing in local clubs and built a small following. He played the 2000 South by Southwest festival and then signed with Aware Records, through which he released his debut EP, Inside Wants Out, in 1999. His first two studio albums, Room for Squares and Heavier Things, were both well received. Room for Squares produced “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” which won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and Heavier Things reached number one on the Billboard 200.