Mitch Grassi
Mitchell Coby Michael Grassi (born July 24, 1992) is an American singer from Arlington, Texas. Known for his high tenor voice,[1][2] Grassi came to international attention as a founding performer in two groups—the a cappella quintet Pentatonix, and the duo Superfruit with Pentatonix bandmate Scott Hoying.[3][4][5][6][7] As of September 2023, Pentatonix has released eleven albums (two of which have been number ones) and six EPs, have had five songs in the Billboard Hot 100, and won three Grammy awards as "the first a cappella group to achieve mainstream success in the modern market".[8][9] As of September 2023, Superfruit's YouTube channel has over 2.4 million subscribers and has accumulated over 483 million views.[10]
Mitch Grassi
Mitchell Coby Michael Grassi
Messer
July 24, 1992
Arlington, Texas, U.S.
- A cappella
- pop
- electronic
- Singer
- songwriter
2002–present
In April 2020, Grassi debuted a solo moniker, Messer, doing a DJ set of "a range of dark, techno tunes" at Paper's Club Quarantine Zoom event during the COVID-19 pandemic.[11] "Machine" was released as Messer's debut single in July 2021, with "Angels Pray" following later that month. Messer's debut EP Roses was released August 2021.
Early life and education[edit]
Grassi was born July 24, 1992, in Arlington, Texas, to Nel Grassi (née Fenton) and Hornell, New York, native Michael Grassi.[12][7][13] He is of half Italian and half a mix of Scottish, Irish and Welsh descent.[14] His parents relocated to the Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, area in the mid-1980s for Michael's career in the airline industry. Grassi has an older sister, Jessa, and remembers doing singalongs to pop tunes and Christmas songs in homemade variety shows with her for his parents when he was very young.[15] His uncle Tony was also "a high tenor and had an incredible range".[16]
He met Scott Hoying, another co-founder of Pentatonix, and his partner in the duo Superfruit, when he was young.[17] He also met Kirstin Maldonado, another Pentatonix founder, when he was nine or ten and they were both doing musical theater.[15] Grassi and Hoying were both active in theater arts in Arlington and met when they were cast in the musical Annie; they both also play piano.[17][18] They were "giggly" together but not best friends immediately; they then were split up being sent to different schools for a year and a half, and reunited while performing in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.[17] Though both were still closeted at the time, they feel they had a subconscious connection, as well as their musical theater interests; Grassi's favorite Broadway musical is Rent.[17] When he was fourteen, Grassi knew he wanted to be a singer and musician, "I want to enrich others' lives with the music I make, because that's what music did for me all my life."[7]
When Grassi was seventeen he was inspired by Lady Gaga when she came out as part of the LGBTQ community, and admires her sense of self expression, "That was something I'd always yearned to do because I had always been the weird kid—I always had something, I always wanted to make a point and I always wanted to be an individual."[4] Grassi briefly dated Hoying at their "arts-oriented" Martin High School; both openly gay, they remain best friends.[19][9][20]
Pentatonix started as a trio, as Grassi, Hoying, and Maldonado had been in choir for most of their high school careers.[21] Grassi and Maldonado also did community theater together as well.[22] The three quickly put together an a cappella cover of Lady Gaga's 2010 "Telephone" featuring Beyoncé to compete in a local radio station contest to meet Glee cast members.[9] They did not win but kept competing and performing, gaining notoriety.[9]
Hoying heard about The Sing-Off reality-show competition for a cappella acts; he gained an interest in the genre once in college.[15][9] It was the first time the three really embraced a cappella.[15] The show required groups to have five or more members, so they recruited bass vocalist Avi Kaplan and singer/beat boxer Kevin Olusola.[23][24] Grassi skipped high school graduation to audition for 2011's The Sing Off.[25] After they won, all relocated to Los Angeles to pursue recording artist careers.[26][27] The main goal of the group was to become the first modern mainstream a cappella group, which they have done.[9][28]
Personal life[edit]
Grassi is openly gay; Out readers voted him the second-most eligible gay bachelor behind Adam Lambert in 2017.[58] As of 2016, Grassi lives in Hollywood, California.[59]