Five For Fighting is the stage name of Vladimir Ondrasik, an American singer/songwriter hailing from Los Angeles, California, U.S born on January 7th 1965. He has released six albums since 1997 and has had three major hit singles, the most succesful of which was 2001’s “Superman (It’s Not Easy)”.
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.
Kurt Vile
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