Andrew McMahon Title Why Andrew? Lead Singer for one of my favorite bands He also has a side project that I listen to Singer/Songwriter Pianist Early Life He was born September 3, 1982 Andrew's family moved around a lot when he was fairly young After a death in the family, Andrew sought peace in music Taught himself piano starting at age 8 More Changes During Andrew's 8 th grade year, his family moved to California permanently Andrew was a fairly awkward kid at this point of his life He graduated from Dana Hills High School in 2000 Something Corporate Andrew's High School band Soon after graduation, the band signed a record deal Their first demo was released in 2000 entitled Ready...Break The EP was met with a good response and soon Something Corporate was signed over to a new record label Something Corporate's first EP Ready...Break released by Drive-Thru records Leaving Through the Window Due to the success of their first EP, Something Corporate was signed over to Geffen This label helped the band release their first full length CD, Leaving Through the Window It was released in May of 2002 A Tour; Another CD Something Corporate went on tour to promote their new CD They were part of the Van's Warped Tour, giving them more exposure During this time they put out their second full length CD North This was also a time of stress and conflict for the band Jack's Mannequin In 2004, Andrew signed his own record deal for his side project, Jack's Mannequin He had a album worth of songs he had written after coming home from the long tour with Something Corporate Leukemia While Andrew was promoting his upcoming CD for Jack's Mannequin, he felt weak He also had shortness of breath, and other symptoms He had blood work done in New York City, and was immediately admitted to the hospital The diagnosis came back as Leukemia, and Andrew chose to fly home to California to be with family & friends Dear Jack Andrew chose to document his sickness and recovery on video This documentary was intended to raise awareness about leukemia He called the film Dear Jack after a friend's brother who also had leukemia Recovery Andrew received a stem cell transplant from his sister He received his new cells on the same day Jack's Mannequin's first CD was released Andrew recovered from leukemia in around 6 months, an extremely rapid recovery In December of 2005, Andrew played his first show after his disease This show was his 100 th day of being cancer free Moving Forward Andrew released his second solo CD called The Glass Passenger This new album had some focus on his battle with leukemia It also had Andrew's highest charting single to date called The Resolution After The Glass Passenger Andrew released an experimental album called People and Things Jack's Mannequin's 2 nd and 3 rd albums Composition History One of the reasons I chose to write about Andrew McMahon is because he writes songs about his experiences His songs are full of meaning and are usually very symbolic Konstantine This song was only released in Japan on an EP It is about a bad break-up between Andrew and his ex-girlfriend named Vanessa This song talks a lot about the things that Andrew regretted after their relationship had ended There is still a lot of speculation and rumors about what some of the passages of this song mean There, There Katie This song was written by Andrew for his sister Katie He wrote this song in the hospital during his leukemia treatment It is encouraging his sister to stay strong because he knew she was feeling bad getting ready for the stem cell transplant Listening Guide I love the song Konstantine and the mystery surrounding the song My favorite parts of the song are at 4:37, when the piano does chords of major and minor; and 6:18- This is the first time Andrew holds out a note in this song, showing how important this lyric is Listening to There, There Katie I love the lyrics to this song, as well as all of the piano that is used I especially love the lyrics to the chorus It is amazing to me to think that he wrote this song while he was fighting for his life References Video interview with yourtotalhealth.com, Dear Jack documentary, Andrew McMahon biographyBiography/E86C2B7BE B51A1Biography/E86C2B7BE B51A1