Gavin DeGraw

Gavin DeGraw built a career as a multi-platinum singer and songwriter whose warm, expressive delivery anchors songs that weave together pop, soul, country, folk, and funk. His first full-length project, Chariot, appeared in 2003 and introduced the Top Ten hit “I Don’t Want to Be,” which became the signature theme for the long-running series One Tree Hill. Platinum status greeted both “In Love with a Girl” in 2008 and “Not Over You” in 2011, while the 2013 duet “We Both Know” with Cobie Caillat earned a Grammy nomination. Later studio efforts Something Worth Saving in 2016 and Face the River in 2022 sustained the critical regard he had already earned.

Long before that breakthrough single introduced him to mainstream pop and rock listeners, DeGraw started playing piano at eight and soon joined several cover bands alongside his older brother throughout upstate New York. A short period at the Berklee School of Music brought him into contact with fellow emerging songwriter John Mayer, after which he headed to New York City carrying a set of original compositions. Arriving in the late nineties, he cultivated a loyal following through well-received club performances, one of which was preserved on the live recording Gavin Live. The growing attention attracted major-label interest, leading to a contract with Clive Davis’s J Records imprint, already home to Santana along with R&B stalwarts Alicia Keys and Angie Stone.

Chariot reached stores in summer 2003. Much like DeGraw’s gradual rise in New York, the album gathered listeners slowly yet steadily, creating a devoted core audience. By 2004 the opening track “I Don’t Want to Be” had become a Top Ten single, prompting an expanded reissue titled Chariot + Chariot Stripped. Follow-up single “Chariot” also gained traction and, by 2005, helped drive the project to double-platinum sales. Five years passed before his self-titled second album surfaced in 2008; although it debuted higher on the charts than its predecessor, it yielded no single matching the earlier success, even though “In Love with a Girl” reached number 24. A more relaxed and spontaneous project, Free, followed only months later in early 2009.

For his fourth album, DeGraw spent two years co-writing material and refining ideas that eventually shaped Sweeter. Released in fall 2011, the record benefited from the momentum of “Not Over You,” a collaboration with Ryan Tedder that marked his strongest chart showing since “I Don’t Want to Be” and carried Sweeter into the Billboard Top Ten. Throughout the next year he promoted the project with television appearances and a concert tour later captured on the live set Sweeter: Live, issued in December 2012. In 2013 he paired with Cobie Caillat for the Grammy-nominated film song “We Both Know” from Safe Haven. Make a Move arrived that October and featured the Top 20 AC single “Best I Ever Had.” Something Worth Saving, his sixth studio album, surfaced in 2016 and showcased a sleeker, contemporary production aesthetic. Personal losses, including the deaths of both parents, preceded the reflective Face the River, whose title track serves as an affectionate tribute; the album appeared in 2022. The following year he signed with Sony Nashville and issued his first holiday collection, A Classic Christmas. In 2024 DeGraw marked the twentieth anniversary of his debut with a new recording of Chariot.