Get to know Switchfoot lead vocals-Jon Foreman

Jon Foreman

Jonathan Mark Foreman was born on October 22, 1976 is the lead singer, lead guitarist, main songwriter and co-founder of the alternative rock band Switchfoot. He started Switchfoot in 1996.

Foreman was born in San Bernadino 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. 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 San Diego. Foreman attended UC San Diego and later dropped out to follow his singing career.

One of his favorite pastimes is surfing and when not in tour, he spent moments with his wife Emily Foreman in San Diego, California. He is a committed evangelical Christian. Some of his musical influences are The Beatles, Nirvana, and Radiohead. 

In 2001, Jon 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.

 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. Foreman also provided his vocals in accompaniment with Denson on the song "Drums of War".

Foreman has also worked on various solo projects, independently releasing four EPs, titled Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer.

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.

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.

"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". -Jon Foreman

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Foreman