Jason never took a more pronounceable stage name, preferring to stick with Mraz, which is Czech for "frost."
As a teenager, Mraz participated in a local theater group, SPARC (School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community), playing Joseph in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
He attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City for a short time after graduating from high school in 1995, studying musical theater. Mraz dropped out of the famous school after taking up the guitar and focusing more on songwriting.
Early in his career, Mraz began performing at the Java Joe's, a coffeehouse in Southern California where the singer-songwriter Jewel got her start. He played regular shows and was an audience favorite.
In 2002, Mraz signed with Elektra Records. Among the artists featured on his first album were the Dave Matthews Band, and Agents Of Good Root, both from Mraz's native Virginia. The album,
Waiting for My Rocket to Come, peaked at #55 and contained the hit single "
The Remedy," which was co-written by the music production team The Matrix and made #15 in the US. His second major-label album,
Mr. A–Z, was released on Atlantic Records.
The Mr. A-Z tour, which began in 2003, featured opening act Tristan Prettyman. Prettyman and Mraz had co-written the duet "Shy That Way" in 2002. Mraz and Prettyman dated, but ended their relationship in 2006.
Mraz released his third studio album,
We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things, in 2008. The album debuted at #3 and broke into the Top 10 of many international music charts. The album's first single, "
I'm Yours," reached #1 on AAA radio charts in the US, and went on to became Mraz's first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #6. The song was a commercial success worldwide as well, peaking in the top ten of multiple European charts and topping the charts in New Zealand for six weeks. The song, and Mraz, were nominated for Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards. "Make It Mine" and "Lucky," two other singles from
We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, respectively, at the 2010 Grammy Awards.
Mraz was awarded the Hal David Starlight award from the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2009.
Mraz is known for his commitment to environmental causes. He owns an avocado farm in Bonsall in Northern San Diego County. He received the Clean Water Award in 2010 from the Surfrider Foundation, and the same year, teamed up with The Nature Conservancy, creating a PSA using his song "I'm Yours."
He is big on yoga and also kirtan, which is group chant. In Yoga Journal, Mraz said, "My yoga practice has taught me to be present with each moment and each task that I'm working on. I realize that I don't have to be so quick to rush through things."
He made his Broadway debut in 2017, playing Dr. Pomatter in Waitress opposite Sara Bareilles. Mraz was already familiar with the musical before he took the role - a couple years earlier, he sang on Bareilles' album What's Inside: Songs From Waitress.
To emulate the sugar-free Dr. Pomatter, Mraz gave up the sweet stuff when he performed in Waitress, except for the few bites of pie his character ate throughout the show.
Mraz's studio band is the rock-folk act Raining Jane, a female quartet who opened for the singer back in 2007. They're also his frequent co-writers, and they plan annual songwriting retreats together.
Mraz has collaborated with several other artists, including Meghan Trainor, Alan Parsons, Colbie Caillat, and Ingrid Michaelson. When it comes to working with other songwriters, Mraz's methods are rather quirky.
"What I mostly learn is how these songwriters are taking care of themselves," he
told Songfacts in 2023. That includes asking if they smoke, drink tea, wear insoles or record in their bare feet. "Those are the things that get me excited more than, 'How do you come up with these lyrics?'" he added.
Mraz's eighth studio album, Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride, dropped on June 23, 2023 - his 46th birthday. Much of the album involves his feelings around growing older, so it was an appropriate release date.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mraz took up roller skating, a popular '70s pastime that influenced the retro vibe of
Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride, including the lead single, "
I Feel Like Dancing."
Mraz told Songfacts his dream hobby would be building birdhouses. "It feels so charming and so cute. If I just had a little more time, I could get there," he said.
Mraz has married and divorced twice. He was married to makeup artist Sheridan Edley from 2000 to 2001, and coffee-shop owner Christina Carano in 2015 to 2023.
Mraz came out as bisexual during Pride month in 2018, writing a poem to the LGTBQ community for Billboard that contained the line, "I am bi your side, All ways."
