| Graham Colton | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Graham Patrick Colton |
| Born | November 6, 1981 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA |
| Genres | Pop, rock |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Singing, guitar |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | Universal Republic |
| Associated acts | Graham Colton Band |
| Website | grahamcolton.com |
Graham Colton is an American singer-songwriter from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma most widely known for his hit song "Best Days", featured on the television series American Idol and Kyle XY (finale of season 2). He has toured with John Mayer, Counting Crows, Maroon 5, Dave Matthews Band, NeedToBreathe, and Kelly Clarkson, and appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Late Show with David Letterman, NBC's Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Live with Regis and Kelly. Graham Colton's solo debut, Here Right Now, was released on October 30, 2007.
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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.
After leaving his hometown of Oklahoma City to attend Southern Methodist University, Colton began writing and performing songs in Dallas pubs and coffee houses. During this time, Colton perceived an appreciable demand for his music, “I would return to my college dorm room and have e-mails from kids across the country asking where to buy the album.” Colton began recording songs for a growing local fan base; his self-titled demo became a local favorite and also received attention outside Texas.
Adam Duritz invited Colton to perform as a supporting act for the Counting Crows in their 2002 fall tour. Colton was invited for another tour in 2004.
The Graham Colton Band signed a record deal with Universal Records. The group started recording sessions with producer Brendan O'Brien at the Southern Tracks studio in Atlanta, GA. The resulting album Drive was released in May 2004. To support the album, performance dates were arranged with various high profile acts, including John Mayer, Maroon 5 and the Dave Matthews Band.[2]
After spending the majority of 2005 on the road with Kelly Clarkson, who he also dated, Colton began writing songs for what would become his solo follow up, 'Here Right Now', which was released in late October 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 solo performances with Vanessa Carlton.
On March 10, 2008, Graham mentioned that a full tour would be announced in early 2008 for this album. He also performed to promote the album on the Today Show, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and the Late Show with David Letterman.[3]
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 attracted 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 producers of ABC's hit show, Wildfire, for an on-camera performance of the song "Telescope". 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.
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 13 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 19 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 9, Graham returned to Los Angeles to perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.