Lyrics that make you think with a voice that will make you smile, from the Billy Joel/Jason Mraz school of pop music, please welcome Jacob Fannin.

12 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Adult Alternative Pop/Rock



Details:
Jacob Fannin was born Sept. 19th, 1984 in the small town of Hortonville, Wisconsin. The fourth oldest of eleven kids, Jake took to singing at an early age. Jakeâs dad was a bass guitarist in a popular local band while his mother was an accomplished performance pianist; thus making music an integral part of the familyâs upbringing. âI learned to sing before anything else, and that was my momâs doing,â Jake said. âShe knew what she was talking about, and she always played and let us kids sing whenever we wanted. So even though it was all fun, we were constantly getting instruction and always learning while we were raised.â

Jake said he always knew that music would be a PART of his life⦠but it wasnât until his senior year of high school when he found out music was going to BE his life. âIt was weird, because, we were putting on a musical my senior year of high school, and I was lucky enough to land one of the lead roles. It was really the first time that I had been on a stage and the lights were completely on me and I had the entire audienceâs attention for an extended period of time. It was the coolest feeling.â Jake claims that because of this, he skipped over the âcareer-burdenâ most high-schoolers face. âDefinately, most kids go through a time of âWhat do I want to do with my life?â and whatnot⦠and after that opening night, I just said âAlright, that was easy⦠I have to sing.â

After graduating high school in the Spring of 2003, Jake enrolled at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, where he quickly found his niche as an artist. âI didnât really start playing any instruments until my freshman year at college. I was living with my older brother, who has an acoustic guitar, and I was watching a show that had Eric Clapton playing âTears in Heavenâ and I wanted to learn how to play it. So I picked up his guitar and taught myself. It took forever to learn.â The piano came slower, âI still wouldnât say I can completely play the piano now. I can read chord progressions well-enough, but I am still learning on that thing.â Does he prefer one instrument over the other? âI would say I can play the guitar better than the piano, but I prefer writing on the piano over the guitar⦠if that makes sense. I donât think I like one over the other though.â

Jake says his musical influences vary, depending on his mood. âOne of the things I really liked about my childhood was the small diversity of music I was exposed to in my home, and I donât think my family did it intentionally. When I was a kid, my two older brothers kind of controlled our basement. So whenever I would go down there I would hear Van Halen and Metallica and Def Leppard⦠lots of 80âs metal and harder rock. Then if I would go upstairs by my older sisterâs room⦠she would be playing Boyz II Men and K-Ci and JoJo, a lot of the slower R&B and ballad-types.â Jake says he has come to like almost all music since then. âWell, ever since I picked up the guitar, Iâve really learned to appreciate most guitar music, whether itâs John Mayer or Damien Rice or Clapton or Matthews or James Taylor⦠and the same goes for piano based stuff, I really like Billy Joelâs music, Elton John⦠Folds, Ray Charles, Coldplay⦠and of course, just about any music that is sung well. I normally donât like when people say they like âallâ music, because it defeats the purpose of asking the question⦠but I really do like almost anything that is considered music. Everything has its place.â

Whatâs in your CD player right now?âMy brother just bought me a live recording of John Mayer for my birthday that I really like. Normally Iâll have something quiet and something kind of obnoxious with me to listen to ⦠depends on what Iâm doing. Van Halenâs greatest hits is still one of my favorites.â

I asked Mr. Fannin what was in store for him after graduation this spring, and he left it open-ended. âI can tell you the steps Iâm going to take, and I can tell you how Iâm going to take them⦠but as far as what is actually going to happen to me, I have no idea. Iâm an optimist, but I also donât like playing in the clouds, if that makes sense. I know that there are about 300 million people out there trying to make it as musicians and, just like everything else, it is an extremely competitive field. But with that said, I am way too proud of my familyâs name to let myself fail. So I canât really say what is going to happen⦠Iâm just really excited to get going with this part of my life.