hails from Mechanicsville, Virginia, where the singer/songwriter grew up amidst the sounds of
. However, it was
's interest and participation in musical theater that served as his first introduction to music. Following high school, he moved to New York to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, but dropped out a year later when he took up the guitar and began to focus on songwriting. Nonetheless,
's training as a vocalist would later show itself on his debut album, which was marked by the pure clarity and range of his tenor range.
After busking around New York,
Mraz eventually returned to Virginia; in 1999, however, he made his way out West and settled in San Diego, California, having been drawn to the city's coffeehouse scene and historical support of singer/songwriters, most notably
Jewel.
Mraz began playing shows and soon landed a weekly residency at the local hot spot Java Joe's, which had previously played host to
Jewel during the early stages of her career. He also formed a duo with drummer
Noel "Toca" Rivera, who accompanied
Mraz's acoustic material by banging the djembe. Together, the musicians honed a live show that featured as much comedic banter as actual music.
Over the next two years,
Mraz's following expanded outside of the San Diego limits and began to encompass Los Angeles, garnering the attention of record labels.
Mraz signed to Elektra Records in early 2002 and returned to Virginia to write and record his debut album, a project that saw him working with producer
John Alagía (
the Dave Matthews Band,
John Mayer) and his high school heroes,
the Agents of Good Roots, who became his backing band. The resulting effort,
Waiting for My Rocket to Come, was released that same November, blending
Mraz's early influences with elements of country, roots rock, and coffeehouse folk. The buoyant first single "Remedy [I Won't Worry]," which
Mraz had co-written with pop hitmakers the
Matrix, proved to be a big hit, and
Mraz headed out on the road to support it. One of those shows, an October 2003 date at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, was later documented on
Mraz's summer 2004 live release
Tonight, Not Again. The album tided his fans over until July 2005, when the songwriter returned with the sophomore studio effort
Mr. A-Z.
Mraz's popularity reached a new high in 2008 with the release of
We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, which peaked at number three and spawned his first chart-topping single, "I'm Yours." The concert album,
Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess: Live on Earth, arrived in 2009, followed by his fourth studio album, Love Is a Four Letter Word, in 2012.
–
Christina Saraceno, Rovi