Jon McLaughlin

Jon McLaughlin crafts melodic, emotionally charged piano pop that has sparked partnerships with performers including Sara Bareilles and Demi Lovato. While still enrolled at college he issued a self-titled solo project in 2004; two years later his major-label bow arrived when Indiana entered the Billboard 200, and he also delivered the Oscar-nominated “So Close” from Disney’s Enchanted. The 2013 set Holding My Breath extended his unbroken run of charting U.S. albums to five releases. In 2018 he launched the online Dueling Pianos video series featuring rotating collaborators, then unveiled his debut instrumental collection, Mood, the following year.

A native of Anderson, Indiana, McLaughlin started classical piano instruction in childhood. Interest waned during secondary school, and a wrist injury further interrupted his progress, yet he reclaimed his abilities as a senior and began blending those skills with soulful pop songwriting. At Anderson University he pursued formal piano study while composing original material in his spare time, eventually winning a campus contest that financed the 2004 release of his debut album.

The next year brought the EP Songs I Wrote and Later Recorded. Shortly afterward he auditioned for three major labels and ultimately joined Island’s roster, which issued the 2007 album Indiana nationally; the project contained two reworked tracks from his earlier record and debuted at number 81 on the Billboard 200. His visibility increased when he performed the Stephen Schwartz–Alan Menken composition “So Close” onscreen in Enchanted and again live at the 2008 Academy Awards. His third studio album, OK Now, followed and reached a personal best of number 49 on the U.S. chart. In 2009 he supplied songwriting and vocal contributions to Demi Lovato’s sophomore effort, Here We Go Again.

After parting with Island, McLaughlin independently released Forever If Ever in 2011. Strong grassroots support prompted Razor & Tie to acquire the project, add three new tracks (among them the Sara Bareilles duet “Summer Is Over”), and reissue it as Promising Promises; both editions appeared on the Billboard 200. He returned to the chart in 2013 with Holding My Breath and completed his final Razor & Tie album, Like Us, two years later.

Extensive touring preceded the self-issued Christmas EP in 2017, which mixed two originals with holiday standards. In 2018 he delivered the full-length Angst & Grace and initiated the Dueling Pianos series, whose early participants included Ben Rector and Gabe Dixon. McLaughlin’s subsequent studio outing was the all-instrumental Mood, issued in September 2019.