Five for Fighting

With his piano-driven soft-rock sound, singer, songwriter, and producer John Ondrasik—known to millions as Five For Fighting—became a fixture of Billboard’s Adult Contemporary charts in the 2000s. • An L.A. native, Ondrasik grew up in a musical household and learned to play the piano as a toddler and the guitar as a teen. He also took opera lessons. • In 1988, Ondrasik graduated from UCLA with a degree in applied science and mathematics and formed John Scott, a hair metal band with Pat Benetar guitarist Scott St. Clair Sheets. • He signed with EMI Records in 1995 and adopted the moniker Five For Fighting—a term derived from ice hockey. • In 1997, Five For Fighting released his debut album, Message for Albert. • Under a new deal with Columbia Records, he returned with his sophomore album, , in 2000. The single “Superman (It's Not Easy)” peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and reached No. 1 on the Adult Top 40 Airplay chart. The song earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. • His success continued with the 2003 single “100 Years,” which appears on his third album, The Battle for Everything. It reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. • Five for Fighting’s fourth album, 2006’s Two Lights, yielded two more Top 20 hits on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 Airplay chart: “The Riddle” and “World.” • Along with his solo work, Five For Fighting has written music for television series and films like Hawaii Five-0, Code Black, and Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer.