Most Underrated Singer of this Century

                As I was watching the Orange Bowl the other night, suddenly they announced their halftime act as singer songwriter Gavin DeGraw.   DeGraw sounded amazing and showed that his vocal chops are as good as ever and it was refreshing to see someone actually singing and not lip syncing.  I thought to myself, “I wonder what twitter is saying about his performance.”  It was one tweet after another ridiculing the Orange Bowl committee for having a “has been” like DeGraw perform.  Comments like “What?  Ryan Cabrera was not available?” Or “Why Gavin DeGraw?”  went on and on.  Many of the people commenting thought that he had one hit song, “I Don’t Want to be,” from the WB show One Tree Hill in 2004 and was never heard from again.  I started thinking about some of his hits and how he has managed to stay relevant over a long period of time.  Then I began to wonder what other male singer songwriter from the pop/AC world from the first decade of this century is still around.   I started digging through charts and soon found that there are hardly any male singer songwriters left from the early to mid 2000’s besides DeGraw that are still getting on the charts.

“I Don’t Want to be” not only went number one in 2004 but it also is ranked as a top 30 all time song of the 2000-2009 decade.  “Chariot” was the other single from his first album that also went nearly to #1 in 2005 and is listed by some as a top 100 all time song from that decade.  “Follow Through” became a third single from the album to do well, charting in the top 20.  The “Chariot” album, written entirely by DeGraw alone, went top 10.    He then re-released “Chariot” in stripped form and this truly showcased his powerhouse live vocals that need no help from autotune.  This is where people get confused and think he disappeared after “I Don’t Want to be.”  Far from it.  Here is a synopsis of his career after the first album:

2006:    “We Belong Together,” a song he wrote for the film Tristan and Isolde,  was top 20 on the charts.

2008:    “In Love with a Girl,” from his second record, went top 5 on the charts.  The second single, “Cheated on me,” went top 25.   The album, written entirely by DeGraw, went #8 on the album charts.

 2009:    He wrote an indie record, “Free,” that was stripped down and not backed by his label or radio but showed his eagerness to not just be known as a pop singer. It still went top 20 on the album charts.

2012:      He came back stronger than ever in the second decade as he co-wrote with Ryan Tedder the single “Not Over You,” which exploded on the scene and went to number one, eight 8 years after “I Don’t Want to be.”  “Not over you” was also chosen as a top 30 all time song of this past decade.  What other solo male artist has two number ones in those two different decades?   Not John Mayer, not Bruno Mars, not Justin Bieber, not Ed Sheeran.  Of course, there are those who say, “Well, what has he done since “Not over you” the last 9 years?  Well, he had two more top 20 singles after “Not over you” from that album, “Soldier,” and another with Tedder entitled “Sweeter.”  That “Sweeter” album became yet another top 10 album on the charts.   He also was on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2012.

2013-14:   he wrote a song with Colbie Caillat, “We Both Know,” for the “Save Haven” movie soundtrack.  It was so well received that it received a Grammy nomination.  He then had a hit on his next record with a completely different style as he worked with Martin Johnson on “Best I Ever Had,” which went to the top ten in 2013.   He followed that up with “Make a Move,” yet another top 20 song, in 2014.   The “Make a Move” album went #13 on the charts. 

Later in 2014:   The Gavin DeGraw Greatest Hits album was released and included two new songs, one entitled “You Got Me” that was written by the great songwriter, Dianne Warren for the movie “Dolphin Tales.”  The other was called “Fire” that he co-wrote and this single was released to radio, reaching #29 on the charts.  Obviously, to have a greatest hits record, you must have at least 10 hits over a long duration in the business.    At the time, he had 13 hits and still going strong. 

2015:   DeGraw worked with both Avicii and with Armin Van Buuren, further proving his range in all genres of music.  He wrote “Sunset Jesus” with Avicii and recently performed it live at a benefit concert for the late Avicii.  This song did very well in Sweden on the charts.   Van Buuren and DeGraw teamed up to write a haunting ballad, “Looking for your name,” for Van Buuren’s album. 

2016:   DeGraw’s most recent record, “Something Worth Saving,” came out in 2016 and had two radio songs that did well.  DeGraw co-wrote “She Sets the City on Fire” and it went top ten in 2016 and then “Making Love with the Radio on” went top 20 in 2017.  This album, his 7^th one of original material, made it 7 in a row to all make it into the top 10 to top 20 on the album charts.  

2017:  DeGraw wrote “Brother” with Needtobreathe.  They asked DeGraw to collaborate on this song they had already put out but it did not do well on the charts without DeGraw.  After DeGraw wrote the bridge to “Brother,” and added his vocals to the song, it went top 10 on HOT AC and also went to #1 on the Christian music charts, becoming Needtobreathe’s most successful song of their illustrious career.

2019:   he wrote and sang a duet called “Chapters” with Brett Young on Young’s smash album also entitled “Chapters.”  This song will be released to radio in 2020 and is expected to be a hit for both artists on several charts.  This could very well be yet another #1 song for DeGraw in yet another decade.

If he is able to get a third #1 in a third different decade, he will really separate himself from the rest that came up in the first decade of this century.

Only Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars have more top 40 songs in the last decade among the male singer songwriters.   And again, DeGraw has done it over 17 years. Only Timberlake has been around for more than just the last decade.  It is yet to be seen what will become of the others for their second decade.   Timberlake has had numerous #1 hits but has not written many of his hits, and often co writes with numerous people.   DeGraw has not had one album yet without a hit.  In his 17 years in the business, he has had 17 songs reach the top 25 on the charts, an average of one hit per year.  This shows incredible consistency in an ever changing radio industry.

 His next album is set to come out in early 2020 and it is said to be more of a Tom Petty/Bob Seger type record, more Americana sounding.  He will again write all of the songs all by himself.   DeGraw seems tired of the pop world at this stage of his career and is ready to move forward in a different direction. 

DeGraw also does many more important things that people should care about, such as Musicians on Call, where he goes and sings to kids with cancer at hospitals.  He was named the Musicians on Call Leadership Artist of the Year in 2018 as a way to say thanks to him for all that he does for those kids.  Cancer hits close to home for him as he lost his mother to pancreatic cancer two years ago.  She was his biggest fan.  DeGraw further shows his true character by taking his dad on the road with him.

It is interesting to see how respected he is, if not by some of the twitter world, but by his peers.  He was chosen to sing “Against All Odds” for Phil Collins’ hall of fame induction ceremony. 

He was chosen to sing “Nothing Can Change This Love” for Sam Cooke’s induction.  Cooke’s grandchildren came running to Degraw afterward to tell them he was better than anyone they had ever seen or heard since Sam.   Amazingly, the late great Solomon Burke called DeGraw to speak to him at his soundcheck with Sam’s brother LC.  Burke, “The Godfather of R&B,” thanked DeGraw for studying and learning to sing their music correctly and for keeping their style of music alive, while LC nodded in agreement.   Burke and DeGraw then set plans to record together but unfortunately Burke passed away in 2010 before they could make that special musical moment happen. 

There is no greater sign of respect than having Billy Joel handpick you to open up for him over several years from 2014 until present.  DeGraw was also picked by Billy to sing a song of his at his honorary nights the last few years, including the Gerschwin Awards.  DeGraw was also selected by another legend, Shania Twain, in 2015 to open up for her on her comeback tour. 

And then there are new acts such as Brett Young and Chris Young in the country world who have embraced DeGraw and asked to collaborate with him.  Look no further than just last month when DeGraw and Chris Young did “Crossroads” on CMT and DeGraw put on an incredible vocal display, diving into Young’s songs along with his own material.  Their cover of Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” brought the house down.   In early 2020, he is one of the select few artists chosen to honor Aerosmith at the MusiCares Person of the Year gala. 

So let’s get this straight…he can sing Motown (Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson), he can sing with the legends like Billy Joel, he can cross over to the country world and sing their songs or collaborate with them (see Kenny Chesney, Chris Young, Brett Young, Martina McBride, Luke Bryan), he can sing with Avicii, he can collaborate with pop stars like Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles and Ryan Tedder, he can cross over to the Christian music market with Needtobreathe, and he can do a Chris Whitley cover.  He was also chosen to sing Freddy Mercury on a Mercury tribute.  Is there any man with this kind of voice and with this kind of range besides him out there today?  I do not believe so.   There is a short list of men I would say that have powerhouse live soulful vocals:  Chris Stapleton, John Legend, and Bear Rinehart to name a few, but DeGraw tops them all with range that is second to none. 

He has also branched out in the last year with a podcast with Brooks Laich entitled “How Men Think.”  The “I haven’t heard from DeGraw since 2004” statements are ridiculously ignorant and not factual.    While bands like Lifehouse and The Fray and The Script and solo artists like Jason Mraz and Daughtry have fallen off since their success in the first decade of 2000, DeGraw has persevered and found ways to stay relevant even though the true singer songwriter category is becoming excluded from pop radio.  Even John Mayer has disappeared from the charts in the last several years.  Now it is almost all rap and almost all songs written by numerous different people.  DeGraw remains true to himself and continues to write his own songs and they continue to chart well for him.   He has also continued to tour relentlessly every year of those 17 years while others have had to shut it down.

It seems DeGraw was born into the wrong generation.  He was meant to sing in the earlier decades with the legitimate legendary singers of our past.  Instead, he is in a world of lip syncers and non- talented people that do not even write their own material or play their own music.  I do believe his best days are still ahead of him as he carves his way into a different niche of the music world.    I would argue that when it comes to live vocals and pure songwriting and consistency, he has been the best over the two decades in the male singer songwriter category.   It would be hard for anyone to argue that he is not at least in the top five over that time solely based upon his resume and results.  The stats don’t lie.   And he is just getting started.