Five For Fighting and Edwin McCain

Strangely enough for the prodigal child of a musical family, Vladimir Ondrasik began his music career in earnest far later than most would, signing his first record deal when he was 31 years old. Up until that point, while he was a talented pianist and guitarist and had been all throughout his childhood and teenage years, music was a hobby for him, a pastime while he focused on a career in applied sciences. However, after he left college the desire to create music became stronger and stronger, and he started devoting more time to songwriting and performing all around his local indie rock scene in L.A. The ice hockey obsessed Ondrasik took the stage name Five For Fighting after the five minute time penalty a hockey player receives for fighting on the rink and by late 1996, he’d signed a record deal with the EMI subsidiary Nettwerk Records.

His debut album “Message For Albert” wasn’t a smash hit, but it was enough to secure Ondrasik a major label deal with Columbia Records and his second effort “America Town”, was the smash hit that “Message For Albert” wasn’t. Released in September 2000, it was certified Platinum of the back of its second single “Superman (It’s Not Easy), which was a top fifteen hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and certified Platinum in its own right. Ever since then, Ondrasik has remained one of the most beloved singer/songwriters of his generation, with over two and a half million albums sold and sold out shows all over the United States that continue to this very day. He remains an unmissable act both live and in the studio, and for that, Five For Fighting comes highly recommended.

McCain’s career started out when he embarked on a tour with Hootie and the Blowfish. This fortunately led to him attracting the attention of Atlantic Records, whom he signed with in 1994. He entered the studio the same year to record his debut major label release, “Honor Among Thieves” on the same division, “Lava Records” as Matchbox Twenty, Kid Rock and Jewel. He released his second album, “Misguided Roses” On June 24th 1997. The album went to number 73 on the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned the hit single “I’ll Be” which made it to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has since been featured in the TV show “Higher Ground” and the motion picture, A Cinderella Story.

On June 15th 1999, Edwin McCain released the album “Messenger” which made it to number 59 in the Billboard 200. It featured the hit single written by Dianne Warren, “I Could Not Ask for More” which reached number 37 in the Billboard Hot 100. Still on the Atlantic Record Label, McCain released the album “Far From Over” which unfortunately didn’t make it into the top 100, but it did however, feature the single “Hearts Fall” which made it to number 27 on the Adult Contemporary charts.

Unfortunately, between the release of “Lost in America” in 2006 and “Mercy Bound”, McCain didn’t have any commercial success, but he still tours nationally, including performing on board USS John C. Stennis, whilst it was on a Western Pacific deployment in Guam.