Graham Colton (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Graham Colton (born November 6, 1981) is an American singer/songwriter from Oklahoma City, OK. His most recent album, Pacific Coast Eyes Vol. 2, was released in October 2011. Colton's songs have been featured on numerous TV shows including American Idol, Pretty Little Liars, Kyle XY, Oprah's Big Give, Newport Harbor, Castle, Wildfire, October Road Fall promo, HBO Winter promo, Sundance promo, and many others. Colton has spent the last year on tour promoting Pacific Coast Eyes Vol. 2, playing over 150 concerts.

In the fall of 2011, he developed the "Go Natural" tour partnering with CNGnow.com and became their first featured artist. He traveled the country in an energy-efficient Natural Gas powered vehicle while logging the money saved & calculating his eco footprint via social media. He has recently formed a new band, Sooner the Sunset, and begun collaborating with Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne.

Early life

Colton graduated from Heritage Hall School, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. While there, he was the quarterback of the football team. Together with his childhood friend and teammate Wes Welker, now a star wide receiver for the New England Patriots, Colton led his team to a class 2A state championship in 1998 against the Tishomingo Indians. In the process, Colton and Welker set multiple state passing and receiving records, respectively.

Career

Graham Colton Band

After leaving his hometown of Oklahoma City to attend Southern Methodist University, Colton began writing and performing songs in Dallas pubs and coffee houses. During this time, Colton perceived an appreciable demand for his music. Colton began recording songs for a growing local fan base; his self-titled demo, Graham Colton, became a local favorite and a top seller on the popular music website Awarestore.com.

Soon after, Colton formed the Graham Colton Band alongside Brian 'Turtle' Turton, Jordan Elder, Drew Nichols, & Ryan Tallent. The band's first trip outside of Texas included a tour stop at DC Sessions in Washington, DC. There, the band struck up a friendship with New Orleans band Better Than Ezra and frontman Kevin Griffin. They would perform with Better than Ezra off and on for the next 2 years and begin collaborating with Griffin on several songs.

Adam Duritz invited Colton to perform as a supporting act for the Counting Crows in their 2002 fall tour. Colton was invited for another tour in 2004.

The Graham Colton Band signed a record deal with Universal Records. The group started recording sessions with producer Brendan O'Brien at the Southern Tracks studio in Atlanta, GA. The resulting album Drive was released in May 2004. To support the album, performance dates were arranged with various high profile acts, including John Mayer, O.A.R., Maroon 5 and the Dave Matthews Band.Guitarist Aben Eubanks served as an un-official member of the band.

After extensive touring through 2006, the band officially parted ways.

Here Right Now

After spending the majority of 2005 on the road with Kelly Clarkson, who he also dated, Colton began writing songs for what would become his solo follow up, 'Here Right Now', which was released in late October 2007. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard New Artist/Heatseeker chart, and #4 Pop Album/#11 Top Album charts on iTunes.

Upon release of the album, Graham returned to the road for a series of solo performances with Vanessa Carlton.

On March 10, 2008, Graham mentioned that a full tour would be announced in early 2008 for this album. He also performed to promote the album on the Today Show, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and the Late Show with David Letterman.

The lead track, "Best Days", was chosen as single of the week at iTunes and subsequently, Graham was named by its editors as a 'Top New Pop Artist' of '07. In addition, the track landed coverage in Billboard magazine with a 'Singles Review' and was the subject of their 'Breaking and Entering' feature.

The music video for the song was directed by highly acclaimed director Nigel Dick, and made its TRL debut on MTV shortly after it was filmed. MTV proceeded to use four songs from the album as part of their 'Featured Artist Program' for the hit show, Newport Harbor.

That year, Colton performed at a number of concerts and radio events alongside Vanessa Carlton, Colbie Caillat, John Mellencamp, as well as a U.S headlining tour.

Colton officially parted ways with Universal/Republic records in 2008 and quickly began writing songs for what would later become the Twenty Something EP. As a newly independent artist, Colton enlisted touring band mates Chad Copelin & Jarod Evans to produce the EP at Blackwatch Studios in Norman, Oklahoma. Colton played several solo acoustic shows in support of the EP including a month of tour dates with long time pals NEEDTOBREATHE.

Pacific Coast Eyes

Colton began recording songs with producer Tommy Walter in 2010 that would later become Pacific Coast Eyes'. Officially released in April of 2011, the album would be Colton's first official full length independent release. The album was highly praised and reached the top of the iTunes singer songwriter chart. Colton enlisted David Green and Jon Cooper to direct/produce the music video for Pacific Coast Eyes'. It was filmed in 3 days in Los Angeles, CA. Colton would again embark on a US headlining tour as well as open for artists including Sheryl Crow, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Colin Hay, Mat Kearney, and Ben Rector. After writing a handful of new songs he chose to re-release the album in October 2011 as Pacific Coast Eyes Volume 2 adding 3 new songs and 3 bonus tracks.

New collaborations

Colton formed new band/duo Sooner The Sunset in the spring of 2012 with singer-songwriter Lindsey Ray. The two began collaborating in the summer of 2011 and have since recorded a handful of songs for their forthcoming EP release October 2, 2012. The band's first single 'All Because of You' was released on iTunes in March of 2012.

Colton also joined forces with Flaming Lips frontman, Wayne Coyne, to record 'Don't Take My Sunshine Away,' made popular by the band Sparklehorse. The song hasn't been officially released but will appear on a tribute album for the late Mark Linkous.

Television performances

Graham made his national television debut on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday, February 2, 2008 with a full band performance of "Best Days" which included a three-piece string section. Shortly thereafter, he travelled to New York to perform on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman on March 13 and NBC's Today Show on the 14th, again with full band and strings. The next week, he performed on CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on March 19 with a stripped down acoustic performance with strings. The week after, he travelled back to New York for a solo acoustic performance on ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly on the 14th, making that the third consecutive week with a national television performance. On April 9, Graham returned to Los Angeles to perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Discography

• 2002: Graham Colton (Independent)
• 2004: Drive (as Graham Colton Band)
• 2007: Here Right Now U.S. #153
• 2009: Twenty Something EP
• 2009: Pictures on the Wall EP
• 2009: Dashboard Memory EP
• 2010: One By One EP
• 2010: Somewhere In Between EP
• 2010: Summertown EP
• 2011: Pacific Coast Eyes
• 2011: Pacific Coast Eyes Volume 2
• 2012: All Because Of You (as Sooner The Sunset)

Music videos

• 2008: Best Days
• 2011: Pacific Coast Eyes

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