Contact Five for Fighting

Full Name:	Five for Fighting
Birth Name:	John Ondrasik
Famous As:	Alternative singer
Date of Birth:	1997
Nationality:	American
Claim to Fame:	Single Superman (It's Not Easy) (2001)

• Five for Fighting show at Crocodile postponed

  Seattle Times - Found Nov. 4, 2009 ... at 3:04 PM Comments (0) Print view Share The Five for Fighting show at the Crocodile Thursday, Nov. 5, has been postponed due to laryngitis.

• Five For Fighting ? Giveaway

  KatyShops - Found Oct. 29, 2009 This is good great!  One of you lucky, lucky viewers will get an autographed copy of the new Five For Fighting CD Slice !!!  Seriously, this is

• 'Once' couple breaks ups, makes album

  Philadelphia Daily News - Found Oct. 27, 2009 Also out this week Five for Fighting mastermind John Ondrasik's '70s musical influences are palpable on the act's fifth release, 'Slice' (Sony... Swell Season releases a melancholy album of post-breakup music, ... - Seattle Times 'Once' couple breaks ups, makes album - Philadelphia Inquirer Album Review: 'Strict Joy' by The Swell Season - Hartford Courant Music Review: 'Once' pair returns as Swell Season - Town Hall Explore All

  The Onion AV Club

• Five For Fighting, the Podcast

  Power Line - Found Oct. 18, 2009 John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting--it took me a couple of years, at least, to figure out that the reference is to the hockey penalty, not the number ...

• Slice by Five For Fighting

  Metronews - Found Oct. 22, 2009 Five For Fighting Album: Slice Label: Sony Rating: ** The piano men of past generations have gotten fatter and older.

• Doan, 'Five For Fighting' on NHL Live!

  NHL.com - Found Oct. 14, 2009 Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan and singer John Ondrasik of "Five For Fighting" join hosts Rob Simpson and Billy Jaffe on Wednesday's edition of

• Five for Fighting, "Chances"

  CBS News - Found Oct. 11, 2009 On this week's 'Second Cup Café', Singer/songwriter, John Ondrasik from 'Five for Fighting' performs a special acoustic performance of their brand

• New Slice of Five for Fighting

  Badger Herald - Found Oct. 17, 2009 ... com, collects money for various charities. With an emotions-on-his-sleeve quality, Five for Fighting also offers up leap-for-love ballads that...

• Second Cup Cafe: Five for Fighting

  CBS News - Found Oct. 10, 2009 Five for Fighting platinum-selling artist John Ondrasik's career has been soaring high since 2001 with the release of his Grammy-nominated hit,

• Two for Five for Fighting

  Mudville Gazette - Found Oct. 8, 2009 Glenn Reynolds interviews John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting "about music, multiculturalism, support for the troops, and the politics of art.

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Five for Fighting
Background information
Birth name	John Ondrasik
Also known as	Five for Fighting
Born	January 7, 1965 (1965-01-07) (age 44) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Pop rock, Piano rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Aware Records Sony BMG
Website	FiveForFighting.com

Five for Fighting is the stage name of American singer-songwriter John Ondrasik. His 2000 album America Town went platinum in the U.S. largely because of the success of the song "Superman (It's Not Easy)". The 2004 album The Battle for Everything has also enjoyed chart success in the United States with the hit single, "100 Years". Ondrasik has also released a DualDisc of his 2004 album which has one side containing The Battle for Everything in its entirety and the other side being a DVD containing bonus footage and Five For Fighting music videos. Five for Fighting's fourth album, Two Lights, was released on August 1, 2006. Five for Fighting's fifth album, Slice, was released on October 13, 2009¹, and the first single off the album, called "Chances", was released on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 for download.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Career 3 Philanthropy 4 Back Country 5 Discography 5.1 Studio albums 5.2 Live albums 5.3 EPs 5.4 Singles 6 References 7 External links

Early years

John Ondrasik was born on January 7, 1965² in Los Angeles, a child of a musical family. In his early years Ondrasik learned the piano. As a teenager, he learned how to play the guitar and started to write music. While he also learned to sing opera briefly, he quickly decided that he would like to be a singer/songwriter. Ondrasik went to college at UCLA and graduated with a degree in applied science and mathematics continuing to pursue music in his spare time. He adopted the name "Five for Fighting," which is an expression in ice hockey when a player receives a five-minute penalty for fighting.

Career

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.

In 2000, Five For Fighting signed with Columbia Records and released America Town on September 26, 2000. The album made little impact, but "Superman (It's Not Easy)" became an anthem after the September 11 attacks. Ondrasik would perform 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. Two years later the album Two Lights was released; this became his first career Top 10 album, debuting at #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 #40. A video of the second single, World, has been used to raise funds for various charities (see Philanthropy, below).

In 2005 he recorded the song "Penguin Lament" for Sandra Boynton's Dog Train book and CD. In 2007, he again collaborated with Boynton, performing "Big Band Sound" on the Blue Moo album.

On the weekend of January 27/28, 2007, John Ondrasik filled in for legendary radio host Casey Kasem on the American Top 20 and American Top 10 radio programs. On AT20, he counted down his own hit "World," and on AT10 he counted down his own hit "The Riddle."

John Ondrasik writes and co-writes music for other artists' CD's. Those artists include The Backstreet Boys and Josh Groban. He also writes and co-writes for movie soundtracks. Those movies include August Rush, We Were Soldiers, Chicken Little, Everyone's Hero, Jimmy Neutron.

In 2008 Ondrasik wrote and recorded the song "Brothers in Arms" for the award winning documentary film Brothers at War. "Brothers at War is an honest glimpse into the reality of our troops and their families. I wrote the song two hours after seeing the film," Ondrasik said. "The final production you hear is the demo I recorded that night in my living room, accompanied by a string section Lee Holdridge composed and directed a year later." Ondrasik collaborated with the film's production team of Jake Rademacher (Director/Producer), Norman Powell (Producer), Gary Sinise (Executive Producer) and David Scantling (Executive Producer) on the project.³

On July 21, 2009, the first single from the album, called "Chances", was released for download.

On September 22, 2009 the music video for "Chances" was released on VH1.com. The music video shows the story of two teenagers falling in love, while Ondrasik narrates (sings) to the story. The video was directed by Steven Drypolcher (Beyonce, Kanye West, Boyslikegirls) and produced by Partizan. The "Making of the Chances Music Video" is available on Amazon.com.

His fifth studio album, titled "Slice", was released on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 and premiered on the iTunes Top 10 Albums on the first day. The album was produced by Gregg Wattenberg (Superman, 100 Years). Academy Award-winning composer Steven 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."

Philanthropy

In the spring of 2007, Ondrasik created the first video charity website.⁴ 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 are: Augie's Quest,⁵ Autism Speaks,⁶ Fisher House Foundation,⁷ Save the Children,⁸ Operation Homefront⁹ and several other charities and foundations.

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/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 globe and to offer the music from the CD as free MP3 downloads from www.aafes.com. The songs donated include:

• Billy Joel - Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
• Brooks and Dunn - "Keep on Swinging"
• Five for Fighting - "100 Years"
• The Fray - "How to Save a Life"
• Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band - "Sweet Home Chicago"
• Goo Goo Dolls - "Feel the Silence (Remix)"
• Jewel - "Hands"
• Josh Groban - "February Song"
• Los Lonely Boys - "Heaven"
• Maroon 5 - "She Will Be Loved"
• Nik Kershaw - "Wouldn't It Be Good"
• Melissa Etheridge - "Come to My Window"
• Montgomery Gentry - "My Town"
• The Neville Brothers - "Brothers"
• Sarah McLachlan - "Wintersong"

Any US military member is eligible to download the music through AAFES.

In November 2008, Ondrasik released another free CD for US military members. "CD for the Troops II" has 14 free songs and was released on Thanksgiving Day. 200,000 CD's were pressed for the release and will again be available online at www.aafes.com. The songs donated include:

• 3 Doors Down - When I'm Gone
• Daughtry - Home
• Five For Fighting - Freedom Never Cries
• Good Charlotte - I Don't Want To Be In Love
• Gretchen Wilson - California Girls
• Isaac Hayes - Theme From Shaft
• Joe Perry - Shakin' My Cage
• Josh Groban - Machine
• Jude - I Think It's Time
• Keith Urban - Everybody
• Maroon 5 - Won't Go Home Without You
• Roy Orbison - In Dreams
• Alan Jackson - Where I Come From
• Trace Adkins - Fightin' Words

He also performs 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.[2]

The singer’s ongoing support of servicemen and women, and his dedication to his own wife and children, even led to him receiving a special fatherhood award from the National Fatherhood Initiative’s 2009 Military Fatherhood Award Ceremony.

Back Country

The live CD and DVD released on November 6, 2007 comes in 3 formats: Live CD, Live Back Country DVD, and Live Back Country Special Edition CD/DVD. Back Country was recorded live in concert in Orlando. The Live CD includes "100 Years," "Freedom Never Cries," "Superman," "Two Lights," "The Riddle" as well as other fan favorites. The "Back Country" DVD, in addition to the live concert footage, features all of the Five For Fighting music videos, an interview with the inspiration for the song "Two Lights", charity videos from www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com, and Five For Fighting photo montage.

Discography

Studio albums

• 1997: Message for Albert
• 2000: America Town #54 U.S., #30 Australia
  • RIAA Certified: Platinum (10/2004)
• 2004: The Battle for Everything #20 U.S., #73 Australia¹⁰
  • RIAA Certified: Platinum (10/2009)
• 2006: Two Lights #8 U.S.
• 2009: Slice #34 U.S.

Live albums

• 2007: Back Country

EPs

• 2004: 2 + 2 Makes 5

Singles

Year	Song	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. Adult Top 40	U.S. AC Chart	U.S. Pop 100	Hot Digital Songs	Triple A	Australia	Album
2001	"Superman (It's Not Easy)"	14	3	2	-	70	-	2	America Town
2002	"Easy Tonight"	-	18	-	-	-	-	-	America Town
2002	"America Town"	108	-	-	-	-	-	-	America Town
2004	"100 Years"	28	3	1	-	30	-	32	The Battle for Everything
2004	"The Devil in the Wishing Well"	-	23	-	-	-	-	-	The Battle for Everything
2005	"If God Made You"	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	The Battle for Everything
2006	"The Riddle"	40	8	4	39	27	-	-	Two Lights
2006	"World"	-	15	-	-	-	-	-	Two Lights
2007	"I Just Love You"	-	-	24	-	-	-	-	Two Lights
2009	"Chances"	83	15	12	-	114	26	-	Slice

Singles: RIAA Awards

• Superman (It's Not Easy)
  • RIAA Certified Gold (11/2005)
• 100 Years
  • RIAA Certified Platinum (7/2007)

References

External links

• Five for Fighting Home Page
• Ondrasik discusses the themes of his album Slice at Pajamas Media