John-Robert grew up in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, a self-described 'fat kid that didn't have any friends' who turned to music at age 9. His father took John-Robert to open mics, to sing the national anthem at local sporting events, and eventually a recurring gig at the Shenandoah Jamboree.
Originally covering Green Day tunes with a mix of country and church music, John-Robert started uploading videos to YouTube, which eventually led to industry connections that identified him as a Bieber-clone (in terms of look and pop song appeal).
After being pitched a series of "god awful songs," John-Robert started work on the foundation of his songwriting skills.
He joined us from Los Angeles and performed some acoustic versions of songs from his debut EP.