John Clayton Mayer ( MAY-ər; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-lived rock duo Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play at local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a minor following. He performed at the 2000 South by Southwest festival, and was subsequently signed by Aware Records, an imprint of Columbia Records through which he released his debut extended play (EP), Inside Wants Out (1999). His first two studio albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—were both met with critical and commercial success; the initial spawning the single "Your Body Is a Wonderland", which won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards, while the latter peaked atop the Billboard 200.
By 2005, Mayer had moved away from the acoustic music that characterized his early records, and further delved into the blues and rock music that had originally influenced him.