Gavin DeGraw

Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977 in South Fallsburg , New York ) is an American rock singer .

Gavin DeGraw during a visit to Radio Pilatus in Lucerne in June 2009

Life

DeGraw grew up in the Catskill Mountains (South Fallsburg) with his two older siblings. His mother is a specialist in addicts and his father is a prison guard, both of whom Gavin processed in his first hit, I Don't Want to Be ( “I don't have to be anyone other than a prison guard's son, I don't have to be anyone other than a specialist's son ... " ).

He got piano lessons at the age of eight and later played in various cover bands with his older brother Joey. He also briefly attended Berklee College of Music in Boston before the brothers settled in New York in the late 1990s. They opened a bar on New York City's Lower East Side called The National Underground in 2007 .

Musically, Gavin DeGraw made a name for himself through his live performances and received offers from record labels. He eventually signed with J Records and completed his debut album Chariot by the summer of 2003 . Initially it was not a success, but its popularity rose nonetheless. When his song I Don't Want to Be was used as the title track of the American TV series One Tree Hill and the single entered the US singles charts at number 10, it meant the breakthrough. The album was then revised and re-released and now also hit the charts. It peaked at number 56 and sold over a million times. In addition to the top ten single, the title track and the song Follow Through achieved gold status. I Don't Want to Be made DeGraw known in Europe too. Both the song and the album hit the charts in many countries, including Chariot reaching number one in Denmark and number two in Norway.

In May 2008 the second studio album Gavin DeGraw followed . Although it entered the top ten in the USA and brought him two more top 40 hits in the singles charts, it still lagged behind the success of the debut. He also remained successful in Europe, even if he was only represented there in the album charts. Less than a year later followed with Free Album number three, which aroused much less interest.

For the next album Sweeter , Gavin DeGraw then worked for the first time with other authors. Two songs were written with songwriter Andrew Frampton, and two others were co-written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic . He was featured on Not Over You , which saw DeGraw rank 18 in 2011. The album made it into the top ten for the second time. An extensive tour followed, which also resulted in his first live album Sweeter: Live .

On the fifth album, DeGraw's sound was further developed in the direction of current pop music and on each of his songs he worked with other artists, including twice again with Ryan Tedder. Make a Move was released in October 2013 and became his fifth chart success and fourth top 20 album.

His band, with whom he plays in both the United States and Europe, consists of: Casey Twist (bass), Jimmi Wallace (Hammond organ), Joey "Coach" Hanna (drums) and Brian Dennis (electric guitar). Degraw also played a small role as himself on the Hello Holly series .

In 2012 he took part in the American version of Let's Dance , Dancing with the Stars .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2003	Chariot	-	-	CH48 (5 weeks) CH	-	US56 platinum (59 weeks)US	First published: July 22, 2003
2008	Gavin DeGraw	-	-	CH23 (3 weeks) CH	-	US7 (14 weeks) US	First published: May 4, 2008
2009	Free	-	-	CH96 (1 week) CH	-	US19 (3 weeks) US	First published: March 29, 2009
2011	Sweeter	-	-	CH19 (3 weeks) CH	-	US8 (22 weeks) US	First published: September 18, 2011
2013	Make a move	-	-	CH55 (1 week) CH	UK79 (1 week) UK	US13 (4 weeks) US	First published: October 13, 2013
2016	Something Worth Saving	-	-	CH72 (1 week) CH	-	US35 (2 weeks) US	First published: September 9, 2016

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2014	Finest Hour: The Best of	-	-	-	-	US95 (1 week) US	First published: October 17, 2014

EPs

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2008	iTunes: Live from Soho	-	-	-	-	US167 (1 week) US	First published: 2008

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2004	I don't want to be chariot	DE99 (1 week) DE	AT44 (8 weeks) AT	CH46 (6 weeks) CH	UK27 silver (7 weeks)UK	US10 gold (28 weeks)US	First published: December 14, 2004
2005	Chariot Chariot	-	-	-	-	US30th gold (20 weeks)US	First published: March 1, 2005
2006	We Belong Together Gavin DeGraw	-	-	-	-	US26 (3 weeks) US	First published: February 2006
2008	In Love with a Girl Gavin DeGraw	-	-	CH73 (1 week) CH	-	US24 (23 weeks) US	First published: February 12, 2008
2011	Not over you sweeter	-	-	-	-	US18th platinum (35 weeks)US	First published: May 17, 2011
2012	Soldier Sweeter	-	-	-	UK59 (1 week) UK	-	First published: September 20, 2012
2013	Best I Ever Had Make a Move	-	-	-	UK80 (1 week) UK	US75 (5 weeks) US	First published: June 18, 2013
2015	Brother Rivers in the Wasteland	-	-	-	-	US98 platinum (2 weeks)US	First published: February 2nd, 2015 Needtobreathe feat. Gavin DeGraw

More singles

• 2005: Follow Through (US:gold)
• 2006: Just Friends
• 2007: Meaning
• 2008: She Holds a Key
• 2008: Cheated on Me
• 2009: I Have You to Thank
• 2009: Stay
• 2009: Dancing Shoes
• 2011: Sweeter
• 2013: Make a Move
• 2014: You Got Me
• 2014: Fire
• 2016: She Sets the City on Fire
• 2016: Making Love with the Radio On

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Gold / Platinum awards: US (RIAA), UK (BPI)
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US

Web links

• Official German website
• Official American website
• Official UK website
• The Official Gavin DeGraw US Fan Site
• Gavin DeGraw at Allmusic (English)