Edwin McCain / Five For Fighting

Edwin McCain, Mercy Bound

In a way, Edwin McCain began sowing the seeds of Mercy Bound, his tenth album and debut for 429 Records, seven years ago. The songs comprising Mercy Bound are the fruits of an on-again, off-again collaboration with fellow singer/songwriter Maia Sharp that began in 2004 with their lovely duet “Say Anything.” Since co-writing and tracking that song, McCain and Sharp have kept up their friendship and creative partnership. They decided to make Mercy Bound their first full-album collaboration.

And that collaboration has offered McCain, some 20 years into his career, a chance to try something new—not only with someone who’s worked with everyone from the Dixie Chicks to Art Garfunkel, but also someone who had an eerie habit of being able to get deep inside his head, he says with a laugh.

“As we were making this album, we wrote together exclusively on a bunch of the tracks, and then she threw me a few songs she wrote herself. A lot of the time, when you go from a female to a male voice, it doesn’t really work, but for me, it was almost like she was watching me on closed circuit TV. She would play me a song and it was like, ‘Quit watching me! You’re freaking me out!’”

Along the way, some of those songs, like “Sober,” changed entirely, when performed by McCain. “That was a song Maia wrote [with Adrianne Gonzalez] after a conversation with a friend, who asked her why she was being so grouchy. She said, ‘Sorry, I’m a little sober,’ which inspired the chorus of the song. For me—and for a lot of other people further down that road—that line took on a pretty powerful meaning.”

Like such McCain signature songs as “3 a.m.” and “I’ll Be,” the horn- and Rhodes piano-tinged tracks comprising the Sharp-produced Mercy Bound are classic Edwin. They’re story songs about lovesick romantics or truth seekers stumbling around life trying to make sense of all their good luck, or of situations gone awry; pop-tinged sing-alongs written on acoustic guitars jammed with percolating hooks.

Mercy Bound also marks two decades since McCain first entered a studio. Raised in Greenville, S.C., on a musical diet of everything from Earth, Wind & Fire to David Wilcox, he recorded his first independent demo in 1991, issuing his debut, Solitude, two years later. That album led to his 1995 major-label debut, Honor Among Thieves, which introduced America to the then-budding Southeastern bar favorite. Songs like “Solitude” and “3 a.m.” remain fan faves and live staples. Two years later, he broke into the mainstream with the sweeping ballad “I’ll Be,” from the album Misguided Roses.

Two more albums followed for Atlantic (1999’s Messenger and 2001’s Far From Over) before he stepped off the major-label treadmill with 2003’s The Austin Sessions. The following year’s Scream & Whisper featured that first collaboration with Sharp. In 2006, they worked together again, co-writing several of the tracks on that year’s Lost in America, which was followed up in 2008 by the covers album Nobody’s Fault but Mine.

Over two decades, McCain has morphed into a road warrior, gigging throughout North America most of each year, flanked by his longtime friends and bandmates Craig Shields on saxophone and keyboards, Larry Chaney one lead guitar, as well drummer Markeya “Tez” Sherard and bassist Jason Pomar.

Reflecting on his collaboration with Sharp on Mercy Bound, McCain says, “Sometimes I think your ego tricks you into thinking, ‘I have to write everything,’ but, no, you don’t have to write everything, you just have to love it.”

Largely captured in no more than two takes, the songs on Mercy Bound were recorded at at the Lair Studio and Sharp’s home studio in Los Angeles, with some additional tracking done in Greenville, where McCain lives with his family. Mercy Bound also features a co-write with Angie Aparo (“Better Story to Tell”). The title track was written by Mark Addison and the guitar-and-vocals-only closer, “Lucky One,” was written by Anders Osborne. It features the guitar talents of McCain’s old friend, Warren Haynes (Allman Bros., Gov’t Mule), and such lyrics as, “I can’t explain why I’m here today/I’m just thankful that I am… Every day I wake up to see the sun/I thank God that you still think I’m the one.”

“That song has been kind of lost, says McCain, “and I want to get it back out there so people can hear it. It kind of sums up where I am right now: full of gratitude. The 15-year-old me would have crawled through a river of fire to be the 41-year-old singer/songwriter that I am today, and I remember that. I am incredibly grateful to be able to do this.”

Vladimir John Ondrasik III (born January 7, 1965), known by his stage name Five for Fighting, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his piano-based rock, such as the top 40 hits, "Superman (It's Not Easy)" (2001), "100 Years" (2003) and "The Riddle" (2006).

Ondrasik was born in Los Angeles, a child of a musical family. In his early years, he learned the piano; and, in his teens, he learned to play the guitar and started to write music. While he also learned to sing opera briefly, he soon decided that he would like to be a singer and songwriter. Ondrasik graduated from UCLA with a degree in applied science and mathematics.

While in college, Ondrasik continued to pursue music in his spare time. He adopted the name "Five for Fighting", an ice hockey term that means a five-minute major penalty for participating in a fight. Ondrasik is a lifelong fan of the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings.

Musical career

Ondrasik's first album, Message for Albert, was released by EMI in 1997. Capitol Records then re-released this album after the success of America Town.

Aware Records' Mark Cunningham made initial contact with Ondrasik. Cunningham then passed Ondrasik's demos to the label's new A&R Steve Smith. After a discussion with Aware head Gregg Latterman, Smith met with Ondrasik and set up a deal in partnership with Columbia Records.

His second album, America Town, was released on September 26, 2000. The track "Superman (It's Not Easy)" was a commercial success, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song became an anthem after the September 11 attacks and Ondrasik performed the song at The Concert for New York City in late 2001. While America Town did not reach the top 50 of the Billboard 200 chart, the album eventually was certified Platinum.

His third album, The Battle for Everything, debuted at number 20 on “Billboard 200 chart in February 2004. It included the single "100 Years", which reached number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and stayed at number one for 12 non-consecutive weeks. The Battle for Everything was certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Two years later, the album Two Lights was released; this became his first career top 10 album, debuting at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart in August 2006. Its first single, "The Riddle", became Ondrasik's third career top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 40. It reached number three on AC charts and number seven on Hot AC charts. The second single, "World", reached number 14 on Hot AC charts and the music video has been used to raise funds for various charities and as a theme for NASA's International Space Station (see Philanthropy below).

His fifth studio album, titled Slice, was released on October 13, 2009, and appeared on the iTunes top 10 albums on the first day. The album was produced by Gregg Wattenberg ("Superman," "100 Years"). Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, who penned the songs for musicals such as Wicked, Godspell and Pippin, co-wrote the title track, as well as the track "Above the Timberline." On July 21, 2009, the first single from Slice, called "Chances", was released for digital download. "Chances" was featured at the end title of the hit movie The Blind Side. "Chances" reached number 11 on the Hot AC radio chart.

On May 27, 2010, Ondrasik announced that he had left Columbia Records and his album Slice would be re-released on Wind-up Records along with the song "Slice" being released as a single in July 2010.

On February 20, 2011, Five for Fighting performed at the 2011 NHL Heritage Classic in Calgary, with the Calgary Flames facing off against the Montreal Canadiens.

Ondrasik was named a top five AC and a top 10 Hot AC artist for the 2000s.

He has twice collaborated with Sandra Boynton, recording a song each for her Dog Train book and CD in 2005, and her Blue Moo album in 2007.

With over 2.5 million albums sold and America Town and The Battle for Everything, both achieving Platinum status, Ondrasik continues to write and perform, and writing and co-writing music for other artists, including the Backstreet Boys and Josh Groban. He has also contributed to movie soundtracks such as August Rush, We Were Soldiers, Chicken Little, and Everyone's Hero, and in 2008, Ondrasik wrote and recorded the song "Brothers in Arms" for the award-winning documentary film Brothers at War.

Ondrasik wrote and recorded the original song "All for One" for the one hundredth episode of the television series Hawaii Five-0. The song was released as a single on November 7, 2014, the same date the episode aired. His song "100 Years" was featured in the final scene of the final episode of the TV series JAG.

On September 12, 2016, Five for Fighting released the single "Born to Win." The song debuted during the opening montage of the season eight finale of American Ninja Warrior.

Five for Fighting performed as part of the Lincoln Center Series, American Songbook, in February 2017. They also performed their song "All for One" at the National Memorial Day Concert on the steps of the Capitol in 2017.

Ondrasik is the featured artist in season three of the CBS drama Code Black. Contributing his take on Gary Go's "Open Arms" in episode one. He also appears on screen performing the song. His song "Superman (It's Not Easy)" performed by Briana Lee was featured in the season three finale.

In 2018, Ondrasik recorded a song entitled "The Song of Innocents" for the end credits of the film Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer.