Five for Fighting

With his piano-driven soft-rock sound, singer, songwriter, and producer John Ondrasik—known to millions as Five For Fighting—became a fixture of Billboard’s Adult Contemporary charts in the 2000s. • An L.A. native, Ondrasik grew up in a musical household and learned to play the piano as a toddler and the guitar as a teen. He also took opera lessons. • In 1988, Ondrasik graduated from UCLA with a degree in applied science and mathematics and formed John Scott, a hair metal band with Pat Benetar guitarist Scott St. Clair Sheets. • He signed with EMI Records in 1995 and adopted the moniker Five For Fighting—a term derived from ice hockey. • In 1997, Five For Fighting released his debut album, Message for Albert. • Under a new deal with Columbia Records, he returned with his sophomore album,