Kevin Griffin
Griffin performing with Better Than Ezra in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Kevin Michael Griffin [1]
Born	(1968-10-01) October 1, 1968 (age 55) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. [2]
Genres	Rock alternative rock country
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter record producer
Instrument(s)	Vocals guitar piano
Years active	1988–present
Member of	Better Than Ezra

Kevin Michael Griffin ^[1] (born October 1, 1968) ^[3] is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Better Than Ezra. ^[4]

His songs have been performed and recorded by artists such as Taylor Swift, ^{[5] [6] [7]} Train, ^[6] Sugarland, ^{[8] [9] [10] [6] [11]} James Blunt, ^[6] Dierks Bentley, The Record Company, Wilder Woods, Moon Taxi, ^[12] Saint Motel, Andy Grammer, Christina Perri, ^[11] Trombone Shorty, ^[13] Howie Day, ^{[5] [14] [12]} Barenaked Ladies, ^{[6] [11]} Tom Morello, Boys Like Girls, Blondie, ^{[6] [12]} Chase Rice, ^{[15] [16]} The Struts, ^{[12] [7]} Andrew McMahon, Matt Nathanson, Meat Loaf, Missy Higgins, and many others.

He is a co-founder and partner of the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival in Franklin, Tennessee. ^{[17] [18] [19] [20]} Rolling Stone's review of the festival's inaugural year was positive, saying it had "an A-list lineup (arguably the best curated of the year)" ^[17] and "established itself as a festival to watch." ^[17] Performers at the festival have included Justin Timberlake, ^{[21] [20]} Foo Fighters, ^[22] Willie Nelson, ^[23] Chris Stapleton, ^[24] The Killers, ^[25] Dave Matthews Band, ^{[26] [23]} Maren Morris, ^{[26] [23]} The Black Keys, ^{[23] [16]} Cage the Elephant, ^[26] and Black Pumas. ^[26]

Griffin formed the alternative rock band Better Than Ezra in 1988. ^[20] They had platinum success in the 1990s with hits such as " Good", " In the Blood", and " Desperately Wanting", and have continued in the 2000s with hits such as " Extra Ordinary", " A Lifetime", and " Juicy". The band continues to tour and produce new recordings, the most recent of which is All Together Now, released in September 2014. As a performer, Griffin is known for singing in falsetto, inviting audience members onstage to play guitar, and interrupting his own songs with verses of well-known rock songs. He is also a mimic, imitating singers such as Aaron Neville, Bruce Springsteen, and Dave Matthews. ^{[27] [28]}

His first solo album, Anywhere You Go, ^{[29] [30]} was released on October 4, 2019. ^[12] Griffin also performs as part of Ezra Ray Hart with Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray and Emerson Hart of Tonic. ^{[31] [32]}

Personal life

Griffin was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in Monroe, Louisiana. He attended River Oaks School, where he met his bandmate Jim Payne. ^{[33] [14]} He received a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in political science ^[20] from Louisiana State University in 1990. ^[4] He was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. He took the LSAT with the intention of attending law school and working in entertainment law. ^[4] He then took a job with Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles during the early 1990s, ^[4] before Better Than Ezra achieved commercial success.

Griffin and his family largely resided in the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005. ^[34] He purchased a home in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles in July 2006 ^[34] and in 2011, he sold his house and moved to Franklin, Tennessee, with his family. ^[35]

Career

Griffin has produced, written, and co-written platinum albums and songs that have sold more than thirty million copies. ^{[14] [12]}

Griffin's first number-one with Better Than Ezra was the 1995 song " Good", ^[36] and it stayed on top of the Alternative Chart for seven weeks. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, No. 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. ^[36]

His other number-one songs are Howie Day's "Collide" ^{[5] [14]} and Sugarland's "Stuck Like Glue" in 2011, ^{[5] [9] [14]} which became the eleventh most-downloaded song in country music history.^{[ citation needed]}

In 2010, his song "Breathless" was covered by Taylor Swift at the Hope for Haiti telethon, ^{[5] [6]} the most widely distributed telethon in history. ^{[37] [38] [39]}

Griffin has won numerous BMI pop and country awards, ^[12] and his song " Scar", with Missy Higgins, won Song of the Year at the Australian ARIA Awards. ^[12]

In 2018, he was an adjunct professor at NYU's Clive Davis School of Recorded Music. ^[20]

He is active with Better Than Ezra's foundation, MusiCares, and St. Jude. ^{[40] [41]} In 2020, through a series of livestream acoustic performances, he was able to raise more than $220K for various charities helping those adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. ^{[40] [41]}

Songwriting credits

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References