Five for Fighting

Five For Fighting was the aggressive-sounding stage moniker for singer/songwriter John Ondrasik, whose contemplative pop-rock songs like "Superman (It's Not Easy)" and "100 Years" earned a devoted following on the Adult Contemporary charts for more than a decade. Born Vladimir John Ondrasik III on January 7, 1965 in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, he was born into a musical family which provided him with training in instruments and voice from an early age. Although he briefly studied opera, Ondrasik found greater interest in pop-rock acts like Elton John and Billy Joel, which would inform his own subsequent efforts as a singer and songwriter. After earning a degree from UCLA in applied science and mathematics, he began playing the bar and club circuit in Los Angeles under the name Five For Fighting, a hockey term for a fight penalty. He was soon introduced to his wife, Carla, whose work in music publishing helped to broker a deal for his first record, Message to Albert, with EMI in 1997. The album drew the attention of Aware Record, a subsidiary of Columbia, which signed him to a deal in 2000. His debut for the label, America Town, earned modest sales until the following year, when the melancholy single "Superman (It's Not Easy)" captured national attention in the wake of the events on September 11. The song's popularity boosted the album to platinum status, and paved the way for its follow-up, The Battle for Everything (2004), to debut at No. 20 on the Billboard albums chart, and its lead single, "100 Years," to land at the top of the Adult Contemporary chart, where it would remain for 12 consecutive weeks. His fourth studio album, Two Lights (2007) performed even better, debuting at No. 8 and generating two Top 40 hits with "The Riddle" and "The World." After issuing a live album, Back Country Live, the same year, Ondrasik teamed with musical theater composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) for several songs on Slice (2009). Response to the record and its lead single, "Chances," was modest when compared to previous releases, and Ondrasik left Columbia for Wind-Up the following year, when the label reissued both the album and its title track, which rose to No. 11 on the Adult Contemporary chart. In 2013, Five For Fighting's sixth studio album, Bookmarks, peaked at No. 54 on the Billboard 200.