Tobias MacDonald Jesso Jr. (born July 11, 1985) is a Canadian musician from North Vancouver, British Columbia. His debut album ''

Goon Goon, gooner, or gooning may refer to: Slang * Humans: ** People noted for brutality, or otherwise as targets of contempt: *** A guard in a prisoner of war camp (British World War II usage) *** An enforcer (ice hockey) *** A hired thug, in a g ...

'' was released in 2015 on

True Panther Sounds True Panther Sounds (TPS) is an independent record label founded by Dean Bein in San Francisco in 2004. The label eventually moved to New York, and was acquired by Matador Records of Beggars Group in 2009, remaining under that umbrella until 2017 ...

. He was included in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine's list of the 20 Biggest Breakouts of 2015''.'' He won the first ever Grammy Award for Songwriter of the Year at the

65th Annual Grammy Awards The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year – October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022 – as de ...

for his work on releases by

Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His showmanship, artistry, and flamboyant fashion have had a Cultural impact of Harry Styles, significant impact on popular culture. Styles's musical ca ...

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. List of awards and nominations received by Adele, ...

FKA Twigs Tahliah Debrett Barnett (born 16 January 1988), known professionally as FKA Twigs (stylized as FKA twigs), is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and dancer. She was a backup dancer for numerous musicians, and made her musica ...

Orville Peck Daniel Pitout (born January 6, 1988), known professionally as Orville Peck, is a South African country musician based in the United States and Canada — and widely known for often wearing a mask and not showing his face publicly. He released ...

King Princess Mikaela Mullaney Straus (born December 19, 1998), known by her stage name King Princess, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Brooklyn, New York. She is signed to Mark Ronson's label Zelig Records, an imprint of Colu ...

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...

and

Omar Apollo Omar Apolonio Velasco (born May 20, 1997), known professionally as Omar Apollo, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. After signing a record deal with Warner Records, his debut album, ''Ivory (Omar Apollo album), Ivory'', was released in ...

Career

After living and playing bass in Los Angeles for 4 years, Jesso moved back to his home in North Vancouver. Retrieved February 7, 2015. He started playing the piano in his spare time while working for a moving company. It was during this period that he wrote his first piano-based song "Just a Dream." Eventually, he sent one of his demos in an email to former

Girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. ''daughter'' or ''girlfriend'' regardless of age, ...

bassist JR White. Jesso co-wrote the songs " When We Were Young" and "Lay Me Down" (featured on the Target version of '' 25'') with

, which is included in her 2015 album '' 25''.

''Goon''

Jesso's first demo was released in August 2013 after a painful break-up and his mother's cancer diagnosis. JR White, along with

Patrick Carney Patrick James Carney (born April 15, 1980) is an American musician and producer best known as the drummer of the Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. Early life Carney stated in an interview with '' Modern Drummer'' that he never t ...

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, Singing, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drum kit, drums). The duo began as an Independent music, independent act, record ...

, John Collins of

The New Pornographers The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 1997 in Vancouver. Presented as a musical collective and supergroup of singer-songwriters and musicians from multiple projects, the band currently consists of Carl Newman (vocals, ...

, and

Ariel Rechtshaid Ariel Rechtshaid ( ;) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His accolades include three Grammy Awards for music production. Rechtshaid was the lead singer and guitarist of the ska ...

, helped produce Jesso's debut album entitled ''

''.

Aaron Sperske Aaron Sperske is an American drummer who has played in several bands, including Beachwood Sparks, Father John Misty, Lilys, The Miracle Workers, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, The Chapin Sisters, and The Pernice Brothers. He also played drums ...

plays drums on the album except

Danielle Haim Danielle Sari Haim (born February 16, 1989) is an American musician. She is the lead guitarist and vocalist of the pop rock band Haim, which also consists of her two sisters, Este Haim and Alana Haim. Danielle also serves as the group's drummer i ...

plays drums on the track "Without You." His song " How Could You Babe" garnered increased attention after being tweeted about by both

and

Alana Haim Alana Mychal Haim (born December 15, 1991) is an American musician and actress. She is a member of the pop rock band Haim (band), Haim, along with her two older sisters Este Haim, Este and Danielle Haim, Danielle, where she performs piano, guita ...

. He collaborated with Sia and

on the song "Alive". Originally intended for Adele and

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

, the song was eventually recorded by Sia and appeared on her album ''

This Is Acting ''This Is Acting'' is the seventh studio album by Australian singer and songwriter Sia. It was released on 29 January 2016 by Inertia, Monkey Puzzle and RCA Records. The album is mostly composed of songs written by Sia for other Pop music, pop ar ...

''. His first major tour started in 2015.

Musical style

Jesso's music has been compared to singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s from

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experi ...

and

Emitt Rhodes Emitt Lynn Rhodes (February 25, 1950 – July 19, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer. At the age of 14, Rhodes began his career in musical ensembles the Palace Guard as the group's drummer bef ...

. He cites Newman as one of his favourite artists. Even though he was a bassist and guitarist for years, his new music was written by him on the piano—an instrument he started playing at the age of 27.

Awards

Jesso was nominated for Songwriter of the Year at the 2015 Juno Awards. On June 20, 2016, Jesso was the recipient of the SOCAN Breakout Award at the

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

Awards in Toronto. He won the Grammy for Songwriter of the Year non-classical in 2023. ''Goon'' was Short Listed for the

Polaris Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize. The prize was inc ...

in 2015.

Personal life

Jesso married Australian musician

Emma Louise Emma Louise Lobb (born 16 July 1991), known professionally as Emma Louise, is an Australian singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 2011 debut single "Jungle". Two studio albums, '' Vs Head vs Heart'' (March 2013) and '' Supercry'' (July 2 ...

in January 2019; they have since had a child.Instagram
/ref>

Discography

Singles

* "True Love" * "Hollywood" * " How Could You Babe"

Songwriting and production credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jesso, Tobias, Jr. 1985 births Living people Canadian male singer-songwriters Musicians from British Columbia Canadian people of Portuguese descent 21st-century Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian guitarists 21st-century Canadian bass guitarists 21st-century Canadian pianists Canadian indie rock musicians Canadian indie pop musicians Canadian male songwriters Grammy Award winners 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters