John Mayer

By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and further delved into the blues and rock music of which originally influenced his artistry. Forming the John Mayer Trio, he released the live album, Try! (2005) and his third studio album, Continuum (2006). Both were met with positive critical reception, while the latter received a nomination for Album of the Year, and won both Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for its single, "Waiting on the World to Change" at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. It was followed by Battle Studies (2009) which marked his return to pop.


After having several controversial incidents with the media, Mayer withdrew from public life in 2010 and drew inspiration from the 1970s pop music of Laurel Canyon for the sound of his fifth studio album, Born and Raised (2012). Discovery of a granuloma on his vocal cords delayed the release of the album until May 2012, and forced him to cancel its accompanying tour. Despite favorable reception and becoming his second release to peak atop the Billboard 200, the album was less commercially successful than his previous work. Mayer recovered in January 2013 and released his sixth studio album, Paradise Valley (2013) in August of that year, which peaked at number two on the chart and incorporated country, folk, and Americana influences. His seventh album, The Search for Everything (2017) was a loose concept based around themes of a romantic break-up. His eighth, Sob Rock (2021) was inspired by 1980s soft rock music.


In 2015, three former members of the Grateful Dead joined with Mayer and two other musicians to form the band Dead & Company.^[3] It was the latest of several reunions of the band's surviving members since Jerry Garcia's death in 1995.^[4][5] Mayer's secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing; he has authored columns for magazines such as Esquire. He supports various causes and has performed at charity benefits. He is a watch aficionado (with a collection he values in the "tens of millions" of dollars), contributing to the watch site Hodinkee, and has been on the jury at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.^[6] By 2014, he had sold a total of over 20 million albums worldwide.^[7]

Early life

Mayer was born on October 16, 1977, in Bridgeport, Connecticut.^[1] His father, Richard Mayer (b. 1927), was principal at Central High School in Bridgeport, and his mother, Margaret (née Hoffman; b. 1947), was a middle-school English teacher.^[8][9] He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older half-sister Rachel,^[10] older brother Carl, and younger brother Ben.^[11][12] His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism.^[13] As an elementary school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they played Nintendo together weekday afternoons after school for three years.^[14] He attended the Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk for his junior year (then known as the Center for Japanese Studies Abroad, a magnet program for learning Japanese).^[8]


After watching Michael J. Fox's guitar performance as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Mayer became fascinated with the instrument.^[15] When he turned 13 years old, his father rented one for him.^[16][17] A neighbor gave Mayer a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette, which cultivated Mayer's love of blues music.^[18][a] According to Mayer, his fascination with Vaughan started a "genealogical hunt" that led him to other blues guitarists, including Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Otis Rush, and Lightnin' Hopkins.^[19] Mayer started taking lessons from a local guitar shop owner, Al Ferrante, and soon became consumed.^[20][21] His singular focus concerned his parents, and they twice took him to see a psychiatrist, who determined him to be healthy.^[20][21] Mayer says that his parents' contentious marriage led him to "disappear and create my own world I could believe in".^[20] After two years of practice, he started playing at bars and other venues, while still in high school.^[17] In addition to performing solo, he was a member of a band called Villanova Junction (named for a Jimi Hendrix song) with Tim Procaccini, Joe Beleznay, and Rich Wolf.^[20][22]


When Mayer was 17, he was stricken with cardiac dysrhythmia and was hospitalized for a weekend. Reflecting on the incident, Mayer said, "That was the moment the songwriter in me was born", and he penned his first lyrics the night he left the hospital.^[23] Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from panic attacks, and says he feared having to enter a mental institution.^[20] He continues to manage such episodes with anti-anxiety medication.^[23][24]

Instruments and equipment

John Mayer is a guitar collector and has collaborated with elite guitar companies to design his own instruments. He owns over 200 guitars.^[23]


In 2003, Martin Guitars gave Mayer his own signature model acoustic guitar called the OM-28 John Mayer.^[196] The guitar was limited to a run of only 404, an Atlanta area code.^[197] This model was followed by the release of two Fender signature Stratocaster electric guitars, beginning in 2005. A third Stratocaster, finished in charcoal frost metallic paint with a racing stripe, was also a limited-release, with only 100 guitars made. In January 2006, Martin Guitars released the Martin OMJM John Mayer acoustic guitar. The guitar was intended to have many of the attributes of the Martin OM-28 John Mayer but with a more affordable price tag.^[198] In August 2006, Fender started manufacturing SERIES II John Mayer Stratocasters.


In January 2007, Two Rock collaborated with Mayer on custom-designed amps. Only 25 (all signed by Mayer himself) were made available to the public,^[199] along with a 500-run John Mayer signature Fender Stratocaster in Cypress-Mica. Included in the limited Cypress-Mica model was the INCSvsJM gig bag, on which Mayer collaborated on the in-case designs. In 2006, Mayer was estimated to have more than 200 guitars in his personal collection.^[23]


John Mayer's most iconic guitar is the "Black1". Conceived after the Heavier Things tour, Mayer went to Fender Custom Shop with the desire to build a guitar.^[70] He was inspired by guitars of famous players the likes of Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan.^[200] He sought out masterbuilder John Cruz to help devise the design. In essence, Mayer wanted an all-black version of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "First Wife" Stratocaster.^[201] The guitar is heavily "relic'd" to specs very similar to the guitar used by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Black1 includes a mint pickguard, custom wound pickups, gold hardware, and gold tuners from the SRV Tribute Stratocaster. It was the principal guitar on the Continuum album. It was notably used on tracks such as "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You", and "Bold as Love".^[200] The Black1 has become a trademark to Mayer's music.


The Fender Custom Shop made a limited run of 83 replica Black1 Stratocasters, all of which were sold within 24 hours.^[202] Each one was carefully relic'd by John Cruz. In 2010, Fender announced a production model of Mayer's Black1 guitar.^[70] Un-relic'd production versions of the guitar were produced for a limited run of 500 worldwide.^[203] In addition, full production signature Stratocasters were produced in three-tone sunburst and Olympic White finishes.


In 2014, John Mayer announced that he was no longer a Fender Artist.^[204] As a result, his signature line of guitars was pulled from production. In 2015, Mayer announced that he was collaborating with PRS Guitars. In March 2016, Mayer and PRS revealed their collaborative project, the Super Eagle.^[205] This was a limited release from PRS's Private Stock line of instruments and each guitar features ultra-grade woods, abalone inlay, JCF Audio preamps, and a hand-signed sticker by glass-artist David Smith. Only 100 were produced, each retailing for over $10,000.^[206] In January 2017 at the NAMM Show, PRS and Mayer announced the J-MOD 100 signature amp.^[207][208] In June 2017, the Super Eagle II was revealed, limited to 120 instruments.^[209][210]


In January 2018, Martin Guitar announced the limited-release (45 instruments) John Mayer Signature D-45, with list price $14,999.^[211][212] In March 2018, Mayer's signature Silver Sky model was released by PRS, available in four colors.^[213][214] While Music Trade called the Silver Sky "derivative", it said that all the elements were "designed from the ground up" and built with "attention to detail".^[215] While acknowledging its similarity to a Stratocaster, Matt Blackett of Guitar Player magazine ultimately said, "The Silver Sky absolutely delivers on the promise of being a damn-near-perfect version of this type of guitar." The magazine named its "Editor's Pick".^[216]