Griffin Peterson

An Oconomowoc, WI native, Griffin Peterson was raised on the water and grew up with a love for music. In his early years, Griffin found himself staying up all night to listen to the newest releases, and it was during this time that he he was influenced by all sorts of music including his Dad’s love for classic rock and blues. Griffin was 12 years old when his father, an avid guitar player himself, gave him his first guitar for Christmas. He took to the instrument immediately and often found himself playing covers of his favorite songs with some of his earliest influences including John Mayer, Jack Johnson and NEEDTOBREATHE. After a few years of lessons, he began playing in his local church band. Despite his early found love of playing music, it wasn’t it wasn’t until college that Griffin realized his gift for translating his emotions and words into music. He wrote his first song, “Might Go Crazy”, at the age of eighteen during an emotionally tolling time for his family. This song was his first experience writing and sharing his music, allowing him to see the impact it could have on others. After studying Marketing at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin for two years, Griffin decided to transfer to Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Here he was able to follow his true passion for music through their music business program where he blended his love for business with his love for music and songwriting. In Nashville, Griffin was able to make some essential connections allowing him to further himself as a singer/songwriter. Before his final semester, Griffin interned at Leo Burnett in Chicago as a music supervision intern. After hearing Griffin’s music, his boss encouraged him to audition for American Idol Season 12 just two days before the audition took place. Despite the whirlwind experience, he ended up going all the way to Hollywood and having his audition aired. After Idol, Griffin had a fortuitous meeting while on a plane to L.A. where he struck up a conversation with Keith Urban’s bass player, Jerry Flowers. The two ended up coproducing Griffin’s first two independently released singles, “Makes Me Hold On to You” and “Getaway”. Around that time, New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover contacted Griffin to collaborate on a project writing an original album for her upcoming novel, Maybe Someday. The album of the same name was released in March of 2014 alongside the novel and garnered enough interest to hit the Billboard Heatseeker Chart as well as hold the number two spot on the iTunes singer songwriter chart for two weeks straight. The book and album gained such a following that a book/concert tour was put together for the summer of 2014, solidifying the already expanding fan base. The success of Maybe Someday led Griffin to write two more songs in conjunction with Colleen’s follow up books, “Ugly Love” and “November 9”. Following a successful single and video release of the song “Set Me Free”, Griffin set to work on his sophomore album, “From All Sides” in early 2015. Partnering with acclaimed Nashville producer Nick Steele, they worked to bring together a collection of song ideas that spanned multiple styles and themes. Speaking on the new album, Griffin said that, “Every song had its own blueprint but, but we went about it in a natural way – feeling out each song and seeing what production felt good on it and where it lent itself.” The title of the album represents the multiple musical directions and stories being told from multiple perspectives. The album was released on July 26th, 2015 with much critical success. “From All Sides” charted on the iTunes Pop charts peaking in the top 20.