Mat Kearney

Musician

Birthday December 1, 1978

Birth Sign Sagittarius

Birthplace Eugene, Oregon, U.S.

Age 45 years old

Nationality United States

#35187 Most Popular

1978

Mathew William Kearney (born December 1, 1978) is an American musician born in Eugene, Oregon, and based in Nashville, Tennessee.

So far, he has a total of five top 20 hits on the Adult Top 40 Chart.

Kearney was born on December 1, 1978, and raised in Eugene, Oregon, with his two brothers.

At South Eugene High School, Kearney was a soccer player.

He attended California State University, Chico in Chico, California, on an athletic scholarship and majored in literature, playing soccer until his junior year.

Kearney first became interested in music after traveling to Nashville with music producer Robert Marvin.

Using a roommate's guitar, he tried covering songs by other artists, but realized he was not very good at it, and began writing his own.

Though things were going well for Kearney at school, the partying atmosphere at Chico caught up to him.

In an interview, Kearney said, "I guess I lived it up and did what everyone said you should do in college. I discovered the depth of depravity, the bleakness of that lifestyle. It just wasn't working. I finally started understanding there must be more to life."

Kearney began focusing on music fusing his simple guitar playing with spoken word or rap.

He started to play at coffee shops and soon began to make small amounts of money.

At this time, Kearney had met friend and future producer, Robert Marvin.

The two began to make music together, but Marvin had plans to move to Nashville, Tennessee.

Marvin asked Kearney to help with the move and he accepted.

Kearney says, "I helped him pack up his trailer and we put a mattress on the back of his truck. We basically drove cross-country and slept in the back. When we pulled into Nashville we slept in a school parking lot for three days until we finally rented this apartment where the roof was caving in and mice were crawling all over."

Kearney decided to stay in Nashville to record a few demos with Marvin and after a few months, Kearney had no plans on returning.

"By the end of the summer, we had three or four songs and I realized this is what I wanted to do. It just clicked. So I called home to Oregon and said, 'I'm not coming back' and I never left Nashville."

2005

To promote Nothing Left to Lose, Kearney toured with John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Train, Mutemath, Meiko, and Cary Brothers throughout 2005, '06, and '07; he also headlined VH1's first ever "You Oughta Know Tour" in early 2007.

2006

On April 18, 2006, Kearney's second album and major-label debut, titled Nothing Left to Lose, was released.

It contains several reworked songs from Kearney's first album Bullet, as well as some new material, and has sold over 450,000 copies to date.

2007

The title track "Nothing Left to Lose" was the first single from the album, peaking at No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of February 10, 2007.

The single has sold over 500,000 copies and won numerous BMI awards.

The track "All I Need" was featured on Grey's Anatomy and NCIS.

It peaked at No. 94 on the Billboard Pop 100.

2009

Kearney's following album, City of Black & White, was released through Columbia Records on May 19, 2009.

He collaborated with Nashville artists such as Trent Dabbs, Matthew Perryman Jones, Kate York, Paul Moak, Daniel James, Will Sayles, and Josiah Bell.

Robert Marvin (TobyMac, Britt Nicole), the producer of Kearney's previous albums and EPs, joined him yet again.

The lead single was "Closer To Love", and it received much airplay, on both secular and Christian outlets.

His second single is "All I Have", the last song he wrote before releasing the album.

In May 2009, Kearney toured with Keane and The Helio Sequence for several weeks to promote City of Black & White.

It debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 13.

He toured with Owl City and Unwed Sailor on Owl City's "All Things Bright and Beautiful Tour".