| Five for Fighting | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Vladimir John Ondrasik [1] |
| Also known as | Five for Fighting |
| Born | January 7, 1965 Los Angeles, California, US |
| Genres | Rock, heartland rock, pop rock |
| Occupations | singer-songwriter, musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano, guitar, harmonica |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | Nettwerk (1997) EMI (1997) Columbia Records (2000-2008) Aware Records (2000-present) Wind-Up Records (2009-present) |
| Website | FiveForFighting.com |
Five for Fighting is the stage name of American singer-songwriter John Ondrasik. He is best known for his piano-based rock, such as the Top 40 songs "Superman (It's Not Easy)" (2001), "100 Years" (2003), and "The Riddle" (2006).
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John Ondrasik was born on January 7, 1965,[2] in Los Angeles, a child of a musical family. In his early years, Ondrasik learned the piano, and in his teens he learned to play the guitar and started to write music. While he also learned to sing opera briefly, he soon decided that he would like to be a singer/songwriter. Ondrasik graduated from UCLA with a degree in applied science and mathematics. While in college he continued to pursue music in his spare time. He adopted the name "Five for Fighting," which is an expression in ice hockey, which he used to play, when a player receives a five-minute penalty for fighting. Ondrasik is a life-long fan of the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.
Ondrasik's first album, Message for Albert, was released by EMI in 1997. Capitol Records re-released this album after the success of America Town.
Aware Records' Mark Cunningham was a big fan of Five For Fighting and made contact with Ondrasik.[3] Cunningham then passed on Ondrasik's demos to the label's new A&R Steve Smith.[3] Smith loved the recordings and after a discussion with Aware head Gregg Latterman they met with Ondrasik and set up a deal shortly afterwards in partnership with Columbia Records.[3] The album America Town on September 26, 2000. The album had impact, but "Superman (It's Not Easy)" became an anthem after the September 11 attacks. Ondrasik performed the song at The Concert for New York City in late 2001. Five for Fighting contributed a live performance version of his song "Superman" to the charity album Live in the X Lounge IV. While America Town failed to make the top 50 of the Billboard 200 album charts, its consistent sales eventually led to its going platinum.
His third album, The Battle for Everything, debuted at number 20 on the Billboard 200 in February 2004. It included the single "100 Years", which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and stayed at #1 for 12 non consecutive weeks.[4] In October 2009, The Battle for Everything was RIAA certified Platinum.
Two years later, the album Two Lights was released; this became his first career Top 10 album, debuting at number 8 on the Billboard 200 in August 2006. Its first single, "The Riddle", became Ondrasik's third career Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 40. A video of the second single, "World", has been used to raise funds for various charities (see Philanthropy below).
On the weekend of January 27 and 28, 2007, Ondrasik filled in for radio host Casey Kasem on the American Top 20 (where he counted down to his own hit "World"), and American Top 10 (where he counted down to his own hit "The Riddle").
On July 21, 2009, the first single from his album Slice, called "Chances," was released for download. The music video for the single debuted on VH1.com on September 22, 2009. The video shows the story of two teenagers falling in love, while Ondrasik narrates (sings) to the story. It was directed by Steven Drypolcher (Beyonce, Kanye West, Boyslikegirls) and produced by Partizan. In November 2009, "Chances" was featured in the end credits of the hit movie The Blind Side. The song also appeared in the TV series The Vampire Diaries, and in a promotional video package from WWE for Shawn Michael's 2011 WWE Hall of Fame induction.
His fifth studio album, titled Slice, was released on October 13, 2009, and appeared on the iTunes Top 10 Albums on the first day. The album was produced by Gregg Wattenberg ("Superman," "100 Years"). Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, who penned the songs for musicals such as Wicked, Godspell and Pippin, co-wrote the title track, as well as the track "Above The Timberline."
On May 27, 2010, John Ondrasik announced that he had left Columbia Records and his album Slice would be re-released on Wind-Up Records along with the song "Slice" being released as a single in July 2010.[5]
On February 20, 2011, Five For Fighting performed at the 2011 NHL Heritage Classic in Calgary, with the Calgary Flames facing off against the Montreal Canadiens.[6]
John Ondrasik writes and co-writes music for other artists, including The Backstreet Boys and Josh Groban. He has also contributed to movie soundtracks, such as August Rush, We Were Soldiers, Chicken Little, and Everyone's Hero, and in 2008 Ondrasik wrote and recorded the song "Brothers in Arms" for the award winning documentary film Brothers at War.[7] He has twice collaborated with Sandra Boynton, recording a song each for her Dog Train book and CD in 2005, and her Blue Moo album in 2007.
In the spring of 2007, Ondrasik created the first video charity website.[8] The website allows fans to upload videos answering the central question, "What Kind of World do You Want?" (taken from his hit song, "World"). The charities the site raises money for include Augie's Quest, Autism Speaks,[9] Fisher House Foundation,[10] Save the Children,[11] and Operation Homefront.[10]
Ondrasik, under the auspices of the USO, performed for service members on a USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour of Guantanamo Bay and other bases in Cuba in February and March 2007. He followed up with another USO tour in November 2007 of Japan, Guam and Hawaii. "I am struck by the sacrifices the troops and their families make for our way of life and I felt was important to show my support," says Ondrasik.
In November 2007, Ondrasik coordinated the release of 13 free songs for US military members called CD for the Troops. Ondrasik worked with AAFES to deliver more than 200,000 CDs to US troops around the world and to offer the music from the CD as free MP3 downloads. The songs donated included tracks from Billy Joel, Jewel and Sarah McLachlan. Subsequent volumes became available in 2008 (including songs by Gretchen Wilson, Keith Urban and Trace Adkins), 2009 (an album of comedy tracks with material from comedians such as Chris Rock, Ray Romano and Adam Sandler) and 2010.[12]
Ondrasik has also performed on the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon and has done various events for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Augie's Quest, raising awareness and funds for ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
In 2008, he got involved in the musical movement of spreading awareness about current slavery and human trafficking by performing a live version of "World" for the rockumentary, Call + Response.[13]
The singer received a special fatherhood award from the National Fatherhood Initiative's 2009 Military Fatherhood Award Ceremony.[14]
Ondrasik currently lives with his wife and their two children in Encino, California. He is an avid hockey and basketball fan.[15]
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [16] |
US Rock [17] |
AUS [18] |
IRE [19] |
NOR [20] |
NZ [21] |
UK [22] |
|||
| 1997 | Message for Albert
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2000 | America Town
|
54 | — | 30 | 72 | 20 | 24 | 169 | |
| 2004 | The Battle for Everything
|
20 | — | 73 | — | — | — | — |
|
| 2006 | Two Lights
|
8 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2009 | Slice
|
34 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Back Country
|
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Playlist: The Very Best of Five For Fighting
|
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [26] |
US Adult [27] |
US AC [28] |
US Pop [29] |
AUS [30] |
IRE [19] |
NL [31] |
NZ [32] |
NOR [20] |
UK [33] |
||||
| 2000 | "Easy Tonight" | — | 26 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | America Town | |
| 2001 | "Superman (It's Not Easy)" | 14 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 43 | 2 | 12 | 48 | ||
| 2002 | "Easy Tonight" (re-release) | — | 18 | — | — | — | — | 88 | 20 | — | — | ||
| "America Town" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2003 | "Something About You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2004 | "100 Years" | 28 | 3 | 1 | 40 | 32 | — | — | 32 | — | — |
|
The Battle for Everything |
| "The Devil in the Wishing Well" | — | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Silent Night" | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2005 | "If God Made You" | — | — | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2006 | "The Riddle (You and I)" | 40 | 8 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Two Lights | |
| "World" | — | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2007 | "I Just Love You" | — | — | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009 | "Chances" | 83 | 14 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Slice | |
| 2010 | "Slice" | — | 33 | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||||||
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | "Superman (It's Not Easy)" | Ramaa Mosley |
| 2002 | "Easy Tonight" | Nancy Bardawil |
| 2004 | "100 Years" | Trey Fanjoy |
| "The Devil in the Wishing Well" | Elliott Lester | |
| 2006 | "I'm About to Come Alive" | Vem |
| "World" | Todd Strauss-Schulson | |
| 2009 | "Chances" | Steven Drypolcher |
|
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