Andy Grammer Artistfacts

December 3, 1983
Grammer was born in Los Angeles to singer/songwriter Red Grammer, a children's entertainer, and Kathryn Willoughby, a women's rights activist. He grew up in New York but returned to LA in his early 20s.
His early musical influences were from his dad's music collection: The Beatles, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon. The first artist he "discovered" on his own was Lauryn Hill, through her groundbreaking Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album. He's also a big fan of John Mayer and Coldplay.
His 2011 self-titled debut earned him the blue-eyed soul tag thanks to the Adult Contemporary hits "Keep Your Head Up" and "Fine By Me."
Many of his early tunes were written during his busking days. In between his street performances, he would jot down ideas. "I wrote 'Keep Your Head Up' on the street," he told Songfacts.
Grammer also told Songfacts how he grew as a songwriter between his first and second albums: "When I was a young songwriter, I'd think, 'Oh, that would make me look shitty, I probably shouldn't write that.' And then when you start to realize, 'No, that's exactly the lyric you should write, because that's what makes it honest,' that's what makes someone's ear lean in, when you really get to the good stuff and you're honest and it's a little bit raw, and there's edges."
His first Top 10 hit on the Hot 100 was "Honey, I'm Good," from his sophomore album, Magazines or Novels. It peaked at #9.
Grammer has worked with songwriters like the Norwegian production duo Espionage ("Sinner"), Jon Levine ("Blame It On The Stars"), and Ian Kirkpatrick ("Fresh Eyes"). When we asked him if he prefers writing solo to co-writing, he said both are important as long as there's balance. "It's very important to be aware of what you need at the moment. If you've co-written too much, you can feel like you're losing your sense of self and your point of view," he explained. "But if you go for too long by yourself and you don't get something, you can get discouraged and bummed out, so then you need new energy to bring it back in."
In 2015, he participated in Dancing With The Stars. He and his partner, Allison Holker, finished in seventh place.
His decision to save himself for marriage inspired the track " Holding Out." His girlfriend Aijia Lise wasn't too keen on the idea but went along with it. They married in 2012 and welcomed baby girl Louisiana in 2017.
The actor Kelsey Grammer is his third cousin.

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