Jon Foreman | |
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![]() Jon Foreman in April 2008 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Jonathan Mark Foreman |
Born | San Bernardino County, California, U.S. | October 22, 1976
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, guitarist |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, harmonica, cello, keyboards |
Years active | 1996–present |
Labels | |
Member of | Switchfoot, Fiction Family |
Website | jonforeman |
Jonathan Mark Foreman (born October 22, 1976) [1] is an American musician who is the lead singer, guitarist, primary songwriter, and co-founder of the alternative rock band Switchfoot. He formed the band in 1996 with drummer Chad Butler and his brother Tim Foreman on bass guitar. Keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas and guitarist Drew Shirley later joined the band. As a solo act, Foreman has released 14 extended plays and one studio album.
Foreman was born in San Bernardino County, California, but his family moved to Massachusetts and Virginia Beach during his childhood. There he became fast friends with Todd Cooper, who encouraged him to learn guitar. [2] Cooper was later a guitar tech for Switchfoot, although he left in 2005 to pursue his own musical career.
After several years, Foreman and his family moved back to Southern California, this time settling in Encinitas. He graduated from San Dieguito Academy in the North County Coastal area of San Diego, California. Foreman attended UC San Diego and later dropped out to follow his singing career. [3]
Foreman married Emily Masen in 2002, and the couple had a daughter in 2012. [4] The couple welcomed their second child, a son, in June 2018. [5]
One of Foreman's favorite pastimes is surfing, [3] and when not on tour, he resides in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, a beach community in Encinitas. [4]
Foreman is a committed nondenominational Christian; however, his goal with Switchfoot has always been to make music for all people. "For us, these songs are for everyone. Calling us 'Christian rock' tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them. And that's not what we're trying to do. Music has always opened my mind — and that's what we want." [6]
Foreman's father, Mark, served as the senior pastor of North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, California. [7] His mother is Jan (née Carlton). [8]
Foreman cites Elliott Smith, [9] U2, [3] The Police, [9] James Taylor, [9] The Beatles, Radiohead, [10] J.S. Bach, Ronny Jordan, Miles Davis, Keith Green, Nirvana, Johnny Cash, [3] Bob Dylan, [3] and Led Zeppelin as some of his musical influences. [11] In 2001, he was awarded the "Les Paul Horizon Award" for the most promising up-and-coming guitarist at the annual Orville H. Gibson Guitar Awards in Los Angeles. [12]
Besides being the main songwriter for Switchfoot, Foreman has also made musical contributions away from the band, including writing with San Diego/Orange County based singer and songwriter Molly Jenson. [13] Foreman has also contributed to the books The Art of Being [14] and New Way to be Human, [15] the latter written by producer Charlie Peacock. He also appeared on Relient K's 2007 album, Five Score and Seven Years Ago , lending his vocal talents to the song "Deathbed". In September 2009, Jazz musician Karl Denson released the album "Brother's Keeper" in which two songs were co-written by Foreman, and one song, "Drums of War", was solely written by Foreman. [16] Foreman also provided his vocals in accompaniment with Denson on the song "Drums of War". [17] He wrote "Running Away from Me" for Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear . He collaborated with Ryan O'Neal for the Sleeping at Last song "Birthright". [18]
In 2006, Foreman and Nickel Creek member Sean Watkins started collaborating on a duo project originally called "The Real SeanJon", which was later renamed "Fiction Family". [19] Their self-titled debut, Fiction Family , was released on January 20, 2009.
"The album was recorded and written in parts because Nickel Creek and Switchfoot are both hard working, touring acts, we were rarely home from tour at the same time," says Foreman. "Consequently the tracks were passed back and forth between Sean and I. Whoever was home from tour would chip away at the songs with no real expectations at all, mainly just for ourselves and for the love of the song I suppose. We came up with a few cowboy rules for the project: No double tracking. No pussyfooting. No tuning of vocals." [20]
In November 2012, the band released an extended play titled Holiday EP . Their second studio album, Fiction Family Reunion , was released on January 29, 2013.
Foreman has also worked on various solo projects, independently releasing four EPs, titled Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. For the project, Foreman teamed with Credential Recordings in a partnership with Switchfoot's imprint record label, lowercase people records. [21] In October 2008, Foreman released a collection of songs from his seasonal EPs along with two new tracks. The collection is entitled Limbs and Branches .
In April 2009, he was GMA Dove Award-nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year. [22]
In November 2014, Foreman announced four EPs under the name The Wonderlands. They are titled Sunlight , Shadows , Darkness and Dawn , and contain 25 songs across the four albums; one for each hour of the day with one extra. [23] They were released in 2015. [24] [25] The records were a collaborative effort, with each song produced by a different producer, and Foreman sending in tracks recorded backstage while on tour. [23] All four EPs were mixed by Future of Forestry's Eric Owyoung. [26]
Jon's debut solo album Departures was released in February 2021. [27] The album featured collaborations with Lauren Daigle & Madison Cunningham. [27]
![]() | This section possibly contains original research .(December 2015) |
Foreman's songwriting tends to be very dynamic, and he often employs a wide range of different instrumentation, including, but not limited to: guitar, violin, cello, trumpet, mandolin, sitar, flute, saxophone, clarinet, synthesizer, piano, miscellaneous percussion, and harmonica. Foreman has always aimed to use interesting instrumentation when writing for Switchfoot, mostly on some of the band's first albums such as The Legend of Chin , New Way to Be Human , and Learning to Breathe .
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |
---|---|---|---|
US Current [28] | US Christ. [29] | ||
Departures |
| 60 | 12 |
In Bloom |
|
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [30] | US Christ. [29] | US Alt. [31] | US Rock [32] | US Folk [33] | ||
Fall |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Winter |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Spring |
| — [upper-alpha 1] | — | — | — | — |
Summer |
| 162 | 6 | — | — | — |
The Wonderlands: Sunlight |
| 104 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 2 |
The Wonderlands: Shadows |
| — [upper-alpha 2] | 4 | 20 | 26 | 8 |
The Wonderlands: Darkness |
| — [upper-alpha 3] | 7 | 22 | 30 | 3 |
The Wonderlands: Dawn |
| — | 11 | — | 35 | 6 |
25 IN 24 [36] |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Doubt [37] |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Love |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Fear |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Belief |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Departures (EP) |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |
---|---|---|---|
US Christ. [29] | US Heat. [38] | ||
Fall & Winter | 33 | 24 | |
Spring & Summer |
| 34 | — |
Limbs and Branches |
| 36 | — |
The Wonderlands: Sunlight & Shadows |
| — | — |
The Wonderlands: Darkness & Dawn |
| — | — |
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album |
---|---|---|---|
US Christ. AC/CHR [39] | |||
2007 | "The Cure for Pain" | — | Fall (EP) |
2008 | "Your Love Is Strong" | — | Spring (EP) |
2015 | "Caroline"[ citation needed ] | — | The Wonderlands: Sunlight (EP) |
2016 | "Your Love Is Enough (The Inland Mix)" [ citation needed ] | 12 [upper-alpha 4] | non-album single |
2021 | "Side By Side" (featuring Madison Cunningham) | — | Departures |
*Original version is on The Wonderlands: Shadows (EP)
Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman, Chad Butler, and Jerome Fontamillas. Guitarist Drew Shirley was also a member of the band from 2005 to 2022. After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot first gained mainstream recognition with the inclusion of four of their songs in the 2002 film A Walk to Remember. This recognition led to the release of their major label debut The Beautiful Letdown, which was released in 2003 and featured the hit singles "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move". Their fifth album, Nothing Is Sound peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, and included the single "Stars." Their seventh album, Hello Hurricane (2009) received a Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album. They have been noted for their energetic live shows.
Sean Charles Watkins is an American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is a member of the contemporary folk band Nickel Creek, the duo Fiction Family and the supergroup Works Progress Administration. He is the brother of Sara Watkins.
Matthew Arnold Thiessen is a Canadian-born American musician known for being co-founder, lead singer, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter for the rock band Relient K. With Relient K, he has released eight full-length albums, including three that were certified Gold, and three that peaked in the top twenty on the Billboard 200. Outside of his work with Relient K, Thiessen leads a side project called Matthew Thiessen and the Earthquakes, which released its debut album Wind Up Bird in 2018. In 2009, he co-produced and collaborated on Owl City's album Ocean Eyes.
Nothing Is Sound is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on September 13, 2005 and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. The first single from the album was "Stars," which was the number one most-added song on Modern Rock Radio and received much airplay on alternative rock stations upon release. A second single, "We Are One Tonight," was released in early 2006, though it did not enjoy much success on the Billboard charts.
The Beautiful Letdown is the fourth studio album by alternative rock band Switchfoot, released on February 25, 2003, by RED Ink Records, and later re-released through Sony Music. It marked the band's first release on a major label and their first release with keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas. The album was produced by John Fields and Switchfoot and recorded over a span of around two weeks; all songs on the album were written either in part or entirely by lead singer Jon Foreman.
"Dare You to Move" is a single by American alternative rock band Switchfoot from their fourth studio album, The Beautiful Letdown (2003). The song was originally called "I Dare You to Move", and was on the album Learning to Breathe, but the band decided to reimagine it and put it on The Beautiful Letdown. This track received considerable radio airplay, and its accompanying music videos saw play on MTV, VH1, FUSE TV, and other mainstream channels. "Dare You to Move" was released to Christian radio on February 6, 2004, and sent to modern rock radio the following month. It peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Switchfoot's second top-20 single, surpassing the success of their breakthrough single, "Meant to Live", in the United States.
"This Is Your Life" is a song by the alternative rock band Switchfoot, and their third single. "This Is Your Life" first appeared on the group's 2003 album The Beautiful Letdown and peaked at #30 on the US Modern Rock charts. The single also hit the U.S. top 40, peaking at No. 31.
"Meant to Live" is a single by alternative rock band Switchfoot. "Meant to Live" was released to radio on January 27, 2003. The song peaked at number five on the US Modern Rock chart and U.S. Adult Top 40 chart, number six on U.S. Top 40 radio, and number 18 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In April 2005, the song was certified gold in the United States.
Oh! Gravity. is the sixth album by the San Diego based alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on December 26, 2006. It was Switchfoot's last album released through Columbia Records and Sony BMG.
Fiction Family is a musical collaboration between Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins. The duo's self-titled, full-length album was released on January 20, 2009. The band has since added a drummer and a bassist, Tyler Chester and Aaron Redfield.
Karl Denson is an American funk and jazz saxophonist, flutist and vocalist from Santa Ana, California. He plays with the Rolling Stones and was a member of Lenny Kravitz's band and has co-founded and led The Greyboy Allstars. Denson has recorded with artists including Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Slightly Stoopid, Blind Boys of Alabama, Blackalicious, Stanton Moore, and Jon Foreman of the rock band Switchfoot. He continues to lead his own Karl Denson's Tiny Universe (KDTU) and Karl Denson Trio (KD3), while touring with the Rolling Stones since 2014 to date. Denson appears in the 1988 movie Coming To America and in the 2021 sequel Coming 2 America as the saxophonist in the fictional band Sexual Chocolate.
Spring is the third in a comprehensive four-EP collection released by Jon Foreman, the singer/songwriter of the San Diego rock band Switchfoot. It was released as a digital download on Tuesday, March 25, 2008, peaking at No. 14 on Billboard's Top Digital Albums chart and No. 179 on the Comprehensive Album Chart.
The discography of American alternative rock band Switchfoot consists of 12 studio albums, four live albums, three compilation albums, five video albums, 10 extended plays, 43 singles, nine promotional singles and 39 music videos. The band, originally called Chin Up, consists of singer/guitarist and primary songwriter Jon Foreman, bassist Tim Foreman, drummer Chad Butler and synthesizer/keyboardist/guitarist Jerome Fontamillas. Lead guitarist Drew Shirley left the band in February 2022.
Fiction Family is the debut studio album by the Fiction Family band collaboration between Switchfoot frontman and solo artist Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek guitarist and solo artist Sean Watkins. It was released January 20, 2009 through the indie record label, ATO Records.
Andrew Ripp is an American singer and Grammy-nominated songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. Ripp first broke into the national music scene as a songwriter; his contributions, such as Ryan Cabrera's album, You Stand Watching, have charted on the Billboard Hot 100, Top 40 Mainstream, Pop 100 Airplay, Pop 100, and Hot Digital Songs charts. As an artist he has released five studio albums. Ripp's second album, She Remains the Same, was released on September 21, 2010, breaking the top 100 on the Billboard new artists chart. His third album, Won't Let Go, was produced by Grammy Award winner Charlie Peacock and was released on April 16, 2013 via Be Music & Entertainment.
Fading West is the ninth studio album by the American alternative rock band Switchfoot, released on January 14, 2014 through Atlantic. The album was promoted by four singles: "Who We Are" and "Love Alone Is Worth the Fight", released in September 2013, "Let It Out" released in February 2014, and "When We Come Alive", released in May 2014.
"Who We Are" is a song by American alternative rock band Switchfoot, released on September 17, 2013, as the first track on the band's Fading West EP and one of two lead radio singles promoting Switchfoot's ninth studio album, Fading West, which was released on January 14, 2014. On January 21, a single containing three remixes of the song was released.
The Edge of the Earth is an extended play by American rock band Switchfoot, released digitally on September 9, 2014 through lowercase people/Atlantic. It consists of previously unreleased songs from Switchfoot's rock documentary film Fading West.
Colony House is an American indie rock band from Franklin, Tennessee. Their debut album, When I Was Younger, reached No. 154 on the Billboard 200 and No. 3 on the Heatseekers Albums chart.
Sunlight is the first of four EPs to be released under Jon Foreman's second solo-project, The Wonderlands. Foreman describes the project as, "trying to explore the physical space of music. I wanted to create a place that would exist only when you press play; a place of light and shadows, tension and release, things that you know and things that you don’t know. It's incredible that you can create a mood, almost a structure of feeling. All 24 songs will correspond with different moods of the day. At the end I'm going to do 25 concerts in 24 hours."