Mat Kearney Biography
Mat Kearney (pronounced CARN-ee; born December 1, 1978, in Eugene, Oregon) is an American singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. Known for his fusion of acoustic, soft rock, folk-pop, and hip hop elements, Kearney has made a significant impact in the music industry since his debut. He plays guitar, piano, and harmonica, and is signed to Aware/Columbia Records. Kearney's music first gained widespread attention with his 2006 album "Nothing Left to Lose", which featured the title track that became a hit on multiple charts. Since then, he has released several successful albums and has a total of six top-20 hits on the Adult Top 40 Chart.
Kearney's fourth studio album, "Young Love" (2011), marked a stylistic shift with a stronger hip-hop influence and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Digital Chart and No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Following "Young Love", he released "JUST KIDS" on February 24, 2015. This album continued to explore themes of nostalgia and reflection and featured the single "Heartbeat," and "Air I Breathe" which gained substantial radio play and topped out at #8 on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs list.
In May 2018, Kearney released his sixth studio album, "CRAZYTALK", which included hits like "Kings & Queens" and "Better Than I Used to Be."
Kearney's music has been featured on a variety of television series. His songs have appeared in shows including Dirty Sexy Money, Kyle XY, The Unit, Without a Trace, Laguna Beach, The Hills, Bones, Jericho, Friday Night Lights, Wildfire, What About Brian, South Beach, 8th & Ocean, One Tree Hill, Scrubs, The Closer, NCIS, Life Unexpected, and Grey's Anatomy.
Over the years, Kearney has toured with a variety of artists, including Owl City, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, The Fray, Jason Mraz, Newsboys, MUTEMATH, and Train. He headlined VH1's inaugural "You Oughta Know Tour" in 2007, which brought his music to an even broader audience.
Originally from Eugene, Oregon, Kearney attended California State University, Chico, where he majored in literature and played soccer until his junior year. It was during this time that he picked up a guitar for the first time, leading to the discovery of his passion for songwriting.
An interesting fact about Kearney is related to his name: due to a nurse's error on his birth certificate, his legal name is "Mathew" with a single 'T'. Kearney discovered this mistake in eighth grade and has embraced the unique spelling ever since. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.