Gavin DeGraw Artistfacts

February 4, 1977
Gavin Degraw was born in New York in 1977. His father was a prison guard and his mother was a botox specialist. Degraw mentions his parents in his breakout hit "I Don't Want To Be," when he sings that he don't need to be anything other than "a prison guard's son" and "a specialist's son."
After growing up in upstate New York, Gavin attended the nearby Ithaca College, where he went on a music scholarship. He lasted just one semester there before enrolling at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he left after a year. He returned home and eventually moved to New York City, where he had a lot more success making music than studying it. He became a popular club singer and eventually got a publishing deal with Warner-Chappell.
Degraw signed with J Records in 2002, which was the label run by Clive Davis. His first album Chariot, released in 2003, was his most successful, selling over a million copies. He released two more albums on J before moving to RCA for his 2011 album Sweeter.
In 2004, Gavin Degraw made his TV debut on Last Call with Carson Daly. Since then, he has toured with many successful artists, including Barenaked Ladies, Maroon 5, and Jason Mraz.
He's in the bar business with his brother Joey, who is also a musician. They opened a place called The National Underground on the Lower East Side of New York City in 2007 that featured lots of live music. It closed in 2013, and in 2018 the brothers opened the Nashville Underground in Nashville, also a hub for live music.
Gavin Degraw recorded his third album Free in just two weeks. Brooklyn producer Camus Celli recorded the album which included the single "Stay."
Gavin Degraw's song "We Belong Together" was featured in the 2006 movie Tristan & Isolde. Additionally, his breakout hit "I Don't Want To Be" was the theme song for the popular TV show One Tree Hill.
DeGraw has a family connection to the military and does what he can to support the troops. "My dad was an Army guy, my mom was in the Reserves, my granddad was Army, so supporting our military is near to my heart," he said in a Songfacts interview. "The red white and blue represents everybody in this country and that's a beautiful thing - we should embrace that together."

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