Five for Fighting

Vladimir John Ondrasik III (born January 7, 1965), also known by his stage name Five for Fighting, is an American singer-songwriter and pianist.

After graduating from UCLA in 1988, Ondrasik became associated with the glam metal scene.

He befriended Whitesnake bassist Rudy Sarzo and later formed a band with Scott St. Clair Sheets, best known for his work with Pat Benatar, called John Scott.

Ondrasik later described the band's genre as "pop metal", comparing their sound to Bon Jovi.

John Scott signed a management deal in the early 1990s, but any hopes of mainstream success were shattered with the rise of grunge.

"We had some good songs and had some interest and were about to do a big management deal and then this little band called Nirvana came out and the whole hair-metal thing blew up," said Ondrasik.

At least one song with Ondrasik's vocals survives from this era, called "I Won't Be Home."

Ondrasik spent the early 1990s playing singer-songwriter gigs around Los Angeles.

He signed with an EMI music publisher, Carla Berkowitz, who discovered him in a bar on Melrose and Vine.

Ondrasik and Berkowitz later married.

EMI also had concerns that the male singer-songwriter was "dead" in the mid-1990s.

According to Ondrasik, the label "loved" the name Five for Fighting even though it sounded like a "heavy-metal band".

"Five for fighting" is an ice hockey expression that means a five-minute major penalty for participating in a fight.

Ondrasik is a lifelong fan of the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings.

According to the song's drummer, Frank Briggs, "I Won't Be Home" was recorded in 1991.

In 1995, Ondrasik signed with EMI Records.

He adopted Five for Fighting as a "band name" that same year at the request of EMI executives, who found Ondrasik's name difficult to pronounce.

Three songs co-written by Sheets and Ondrasik later appeared on a 1997 arena rock album from Sheets' band, St. Clair, which also featured Sarzo.

Ondrasik did not perform on the album, but received writing credits for "After the Fire", "Shadow of Myself", and "Turn the Wheel".

Five for Fighting's first album, Message for Albert, was released by EMI in March 1997.

However, EMI Records' American division closed that June.

Although the album itself had already been released, there were no singles from Message.

"Bella's Birthday Cake" was intended as the lead single, judging by the existence of radio promos and demos featuring the song.

The song "Ocean" appears alongside "Bella's Birthday Cake" on some promotional cassettes, suggesting it was viewed as a potential second single.

AllMusic called Message for Albert "intelligent and well-crafted", concluding that it was "a promising debut that sadly lost its shot when EMI spontaneously combusted after the record's release."

He also had a string of moderate hits on the adult contemporary charts in the late 2000s and into the 2010s, including "World" (2006) and "Chances" (2009).

Ondrasik has recorded six studio albums, one EP, and several live albums as Five for Fighting.

He is best known for his piano-based soft rock sentimental ballads, such as the top 40 hits "Superman (It's Not Easy)" (2001), "100 Years" (2003), and "The Riddle" (2006).

Ondrasik's song "Superman" was nominated for a Grammy in 2002.

The singer has had songs featured in 350 films, TV shows and advertisements.

Ondrasik was born in Los Angeles, California, a child of a musical family.

He is of Slovak descent.

His mother was a piano teacher who taught at John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, where he graduated.

He learned the piano as a child.

In his teens, he learned to play the guitar and started to write music.

While he also learned to sing opera, taught by Ron Anderson, he soon decided that he would like to be a singer and songwriter.

While in college, Ondrasik continued to pursue music in his spare time.

He graduated from UCLA with a degree in applied science and mathematics.

Sheets and Ondrasik would collaborate again much later, in 2008, when Ondrasik provided vocals for Sheets' song "Fly Me Away".

After John Scott parted ways, Ondrasik says he then "went back to the piano, where I belonged."