Nate Ruess

Nathaniel Joseph Ruess (pronounced ; born February 26, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter.

He is best known as the founder and lead singer of the indie pop band Fun, and of the Format.

In 1986, his family moved to a farm in Glendale, Arizona, due to repeated bouts of pneumonia Ruess faced as a child.

Ruess's pneumonia and the move are referenced in the lyrics of the song "The Gambler".

Ruess remained in Arizona throughout his childhood and attended Deer Valley High School, graduating in 2000.

During his time in school, Ruess played in punk bands and upon graduation chose to pursue music professionally.

In an interview with American Songwriter Ruess states, "I'm not one to take lessons, so I decided that the only way I was going to learn how to sing, if what they were saying was true, was to go in my car and put on any sort of music from a vocalist that might be really hard to mimic, turn it on as loud as possible and try to hit all those notes".

He took a job in a law firm as a way to support himself while he pursued his musical ambitions.

After forming in 2000, the Format released a five-song EP, titled EP, which generated local interest and led to the band being signed to Elektra Records in 2002.

In 2002, at the age of 19, he launched the band the Format with his longtime best friend, Sam Means.

The Format was his first musical endeavor to gain widespread attention.

They released their first studio album, Interventions + Lullabies, on October 21, 2003, leading to more local mainstream success.

The band's fanbase began to grow, and the Format released their second EP, Snails, with Atlantic Records in April 2005.

However, while working on their second album, Dog Problems, they were dropped from Atlantic.

They eventually created their own label, The Vanity Label, and released the album on July 10, 2006.

On February 4, 2008, Ruess announced through the band's blog that the Format would not be making another album.

Immediately after the split of the Format, Ruess contacted Jack Antonoff of Steel Train and Andrew Dost, formerly of Anathallo, to form a new band called fun.

The band's first tour happened in 2008 supporting Jack's Mannequin and gained exposure opening for them as well as Paramore in 2010.

They released their first demo, "Benson Hedges", through Spin's September 20, 2009, article.

Four months after releasing their first single, "At Least I'm Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)", through Myspace on April 6, 2009, Fun released their first studio album, entitled Aim and Ignite.

The album received generally positive reviews and peaked at 71 on the Billboard 200.

On August 4, 2010, Fun announced that they had been signed to the Fueled by Ramen label.

In 2011, in collaboration with the band Panic! at the Disco, the band released the single, "C'mon" with limited vinyl release.

The album's first single, "We Are Young", which features guest singer Janelle Monáe, was released September 20, 2011.

Their second album, Some Nights, was released on February 21, 2012, and featured production by Jeff Bhasker.

The song was covered on Glee in December 2011, featured in a Chevy Sonic commercial during the Super Bowl in February 2012, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 8, 2012.

The album has become a success throughout the world, selling nearly three million copies.

The album's title song, "Some Nights", reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 1 on the Alternative Songs chart.

In 2012, he was featured on "Only Love" from Anthony Green's second solo album, Beautiful Things, and in 2013 was featured on Pink's album, The Truth About Love, in the song "Just Give Me a Reason".

The song began as a simple songwriting session with Pink.

Since 2013, he also performs as a solo musician, collaborating in several successful songs, including "Just Give Me a Reason" with Pink, which received two nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards and won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Collaboration.

On February 10, 2013, Fun won a Grammy for "We Are Young".

Upon receiving the Grammy, Ruess commented, "I don't know what I was thinking writing the chorus for this song. If this is in HD, everyone can see our faces, and we are not very young. We've been doing this for 12 years, and I just got to say we could not do this without the help of all the fans that we've had keeping us afloat for the last 12 years."

Fun also won the Grammy for Best New Artist.

Alongside Fun, Ruess had been a supporting vocalist for many different songs across genres.

In 2015 he published his solo studio album Grand Romantic, which peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200.

Ruess has also written and composed several successful songs, including "Die Young" by Kesha, "Stay the Night" by Zedd and Hayley Williams, "Walk Me Home" by Pink and with Keith Urban, Maroon 5 and Ellie Goulding.

In 2015 he was honored with the Hal David Starlight Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame for his song writing.

Ruess was born the second child of Larry Ruess and Bess Zinger.

His uncle, John Ruess, was a performer on Broadway and served as an influence for Ruess's musical ventures.