Graham Colton
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| Graham Colton | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Graham Patrick Colton |
| Born | November 6, 1981 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA |
| Genre(s) | Pop, Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Singing, guitar |
| Years active | 2002—Present |
| Label(s) | Universal Republic |
| Associated acts | Graham Colton Band |
| Website | grahamcolton.com |
Graham Colton is a singer-songwriter from Oklahoma City, OK most widely known for his hit song, "Best Days", featured on Fox's 'American Idol'. He has toured with John Mayer, Counting Crows, Maroon 5, Dave Matthews Band, and Kelly Clarkson among others, and appeared on NBC's 'Tonight Show with Jay Leno', CBS's 'Late Show with David Letterman', NBC's Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly among others. Graham Colton's solo debut, Here Right Now, was released on October 30, 2007.
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[edit] Early life
Colton graduated from Heritage Hall School, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. While there, he was the quarterback of the football team. Together with his childhood friend and teammate Wes Welker,[1] now a star wide receiver for the New England Patriots, Colton led his team to a class 2A state championship in 1998 against the Tishomingo Indians. In the process, Colton and Welker set multiple state passing and receiving records, respectively.
[edit] Gaining attention
After leaving his hometown of Oklahoma City to attend Southern Methodist University, Colton began writing and performing songs in and around the Dallas pubs and coffee houses. It was there that fate and the internet took Graham and his music to new heights. “I would return to my college dorm room and have e-mails from kids across the country asking where to buy the album,” says Colton. Quickly Colton began recording songs for his ever-growing local fan-base and distant admirers. The self-titled demo became a local favorite and began making waves outside the Texas music scene.
It wasn’t long before the CD fell into the hands of Adam Duritz of the (Counting Crows) who quickly asked Graham to support them on their ’02 fall tour. It would prove to be a friendship that would evolve over the next two years of touring and recording. The month long tour put Graham and his newly formed band in front of sold out audiences and fans they didn’t know they had.
After the fall stint with Counting Crows in 2004, Graham and his bandmates signed a record deal with Universal Records, and entered the studio with famed producer Brendan O'Brien at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, GA. Shortly after the completion of the record, the band set a May release date for its newly completed album "Drive", and returned to the road performing dates with John Mayer, Maroon 5, Dave Matthews Band, Guster, Gavin DeGraw, Train, Sister Hazel, and Kelly Clarkson; proving the band had the ability to connect with all types of listeners.
[edit] Solo career
After spending the majority of 2005 on the road with Kelly Clarkson, Colton began writing songs for what would become his solo follow up, 'Here Right Now', which was released in late October of 2007. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard New Artist/Heatseeker chart, and #4 Pop Album/#11 Top Album charts on iTunes.
Upon release of the album, Graham returned to the road for a series of intimate solo performances with Vanessa Carlton.
On March 10th, 2008, Graham mentioned that a full tour will be announced in early 2008 for this album. He will also be performing to promote the album on the Today Show, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and the Late Show with David Letterman. [2]
The lead track, "Best Days", was chosen as single of the week at iTunes and subsequently, Graham was named by its editors as a 'Top New Pop Artist' of '07. In addition, the track landed coverage in Billboard magazine with a 'Singles Review' and was the subject of their 'Breaking and Entering' feature.
The music video for the song was directed by highly acclaimed director, Nigel Dick, and made its TRL debut on MTV shortly after it was filmed. MTV proceeded to use four songs from the album as part of their 'Featured Artist Program' for the hit show, Newport Harbor.
From there, the song began to quickly attract attention from music supervisors and was used for several national promo campaigns including HBO (year-end promo), ABC (October Road promo), and Sundance ('08 new lineup promo). CBS used the song in its nationally televised Thanksgiving Day Football programming. In addition, Graham was invited by the producer's of ABC's hit show, Wildfire, for an on-camera performance of the song "Telescope". Among other notable placements, Oprah Winfrey also tapped the song for her new primetime network series, 'The Big Give'. It was also featured during the second season finale of Kyle XY on ABC Family.
"Best Days" was selected by Fox's hit show American Idol for a featured ending montage of group auditions which lead to additional use as the 'exit song' for three additional rounds of auditions leading up to the 'Top 12'. The video was the subject of a 'Spotlight Feature' on the official show website, and the digital single was featured in the official American Idol page on iTunes.
[edit] National television performances
Graham made his national television debut on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday, February 2, 2008 with a full band performance of "Best Days" which included a three-piece string section. Shortly thereafter, he travelled to New York to perform on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman on March 13th and NBC's Today Show on the 14th, again with full band and strings. The next week, he performed on CBS' Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on March 19th with a stripped down acoustic performance with strings. The week after, he travelled back to New York for a solo acoustic performance on ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly on the 14th, making that the third consecutive week with a national television performance. On April 9th, Graham returned to Los Angeles to perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
[edit] Personal life
Colton dated singer/songwriter Kelly Clarkson, but they split because of time apart. The pair met while Colton and his band opened for Clarkson on her Breakaway and Hazel Eyes tours in the United States. The two remain good friends.
[edit] Discography
- 2002: Graham Colton (Independent)
- 2004: Drive (while part of the Graham Colton Band)
- 2007: Here Right Now
