John Callum Stewart (born 8 February 1997), known professionally as JC Stewart or Callum Stewart, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter. In 2020, he went viral after Jennifer Aniston reposted his parody of the theme song from ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

''. He released his EP ''When the Lights Hits the Room'' later that year.

Early life

Stewart grew up on a farm in

Magherafelt Magherafelt ( ; , ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,071 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county an ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

, Northern Ireland. He has two younger sisters and is the fourth generation of JC Stewarts, with his family running a grocery business of the same name. Despite not coming from a particularly musical family, Stewart sang in school and was encouraged by his mum to attend a local theatre where he learnt to make music and fell in love with songwriting aged 14. He notes that his dad's record collection inspired him to listen to

the Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

and

the Band The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...

. Once he had finished school Stewart took a gap year and then moved to Brighton to study International Relations at Sussex University but dropped out of university and moved to London to pursue music instead.

Career

In 2014, Stewart independently released his debut single "Gold". He signed to Warner Records in 2018 and released two singles, "Medicine" and "Like I Did". Stewart co-wrote the track "Hollywood" which featured on

Lewis Capaldi Lewis Marc Capaldi (born 7 October 1996) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. In March 2019, his single "Someone You Loved" (2018) topped the UK Singles Chart where it remained for seven weeks, and in November 2019, it reached number ...

's 2019 debut album ''

Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent ''Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent'' is the debut studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi. It was released on 17 May 2019 through Vertigo Records in Europe and Capitol Records in the United States, and distributed globally ...

''. Stewart released four further tracks of his own that year:"Have You Had Enough Wine?", "Bones", "Pick Up Your Phone" and "The Wrong Ones". Stewart held a four-night residency at the Islington in September 2019, which sold out within a few hours. He also toured with the likes of

Lauv Ari Staprans Leff (born August 8, 1994), known professionally as Lauv (), is an American musician best known for his breakout hit "I Like Me Better"; included on his compilation album ''I Met You When I Was 18 (The Playlist)'', which was releas ...

and Anne-Marie. In 2020, Stewart released two singles "Lying That You Love Me" and "I Need You to Hate Me". He uploaded a parody of the ''

'' theme song, " I'll Be There for You", to TikTok which caught the attention of

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom ''Friends'' from 1994 to 2004, which earned her Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Scr ...

and subsequently led to his first appearances on U.S. television. His collaboration on a track with 220 Kid, "Too Many Nights", which peaked at number 72 on the UK Singles Chart. Stewart also released his debut EP ''When the Light Hits the Room'' in November 2020. He co-wrote the EP in two weeks with

Tom Odell Thomas Peter Odell (born 24 November 1990) is an English singer-songwriter. He released his debut extended play, ''Songs from Another Love'', in 2012. He won the 2013 BRIT Awards, BRITs Critics' Choice Award in early 2013. Odell's debut studio ...

, whom he has cited as one of his biggest musical heroes. In January 2021, Stewart released his single "Break My Heart", which was co-written with

Niall Horan Niall James Horan ( ; born 13 September 1993) is an Irish singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence as a member of the boy band One Direction, formed in 2010 on the singing competition ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor''. The gr ...

and Plested. He was also named

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's Push Artist of the Month.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, JC Living people 1997 births Male singer-songwriters from Northern Ireland 21st-century singer-songwriters from Northern Ireland Musicians from County Londonderry Warner Records artists People from Magherafelt