Jon Crosby | |
---|---|
Born | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | July 25, 1976
Genres | |
Occupations |
|
Instrument(s) | vocals, guitar |
Years active | 1998–present |
Labels |
|
Jon Crosby (born July 25, 1976) is an American musician and founder of the musical project VAST.[1]
Crosby was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Humboldt and Sonoma counties in Northern California,[2] raised by a single mother from an upper-class family who owned a record store in Fortuna, California. His great-grandfather was John C. Crosby, a congressman from Massachusetts, and his ancestry on his mother's side is English and Native American. His father was a lounge guitarist whom he never met.[citation needed]
At the age of 13, he was profiled in Guitar Player magazine and Shrapnel Magazine as a rising young star.[2] In 1993, aged 16, he moved to Petaluma, California and formed VAST with friends Mike Alioti and Dimitri Katzoff, formerly of ska band The Conspiracy, though the band line-up changed frequently thereafter.[citation needed] The band's early shows were mainly at the Phoenix Theater.[citation needed]
At 19, Crosby's manager and ex-girlfriend Sakina Sati took him to New York, along with ex-members Daniel Alva and Stephen Garver, for the purpose of shopping his demo tapes through Shiva Baum, former manager for Opiate for the Masses, and after a bidding war he signed with Elektra.[2] Two albums were released by Elektra: Visual Audio Sensory Theater in 1998,[2] and Music For People in 2000.[citation needed] In 2002, Crosby left the label.[citation needed] In 2003 he released two digital download albums, Turquoise 3.x and Crimson 3.x.[citation needed] He then moved on to Carson Daly's 456 Entertainment, releasing Nude in 2004.[citation needed]
In 2003, Crosby started his own record label, 2Blossoms Records & Media.[3] In late 2007 and early 2008, Crosby released five download-only EPs, under the collective title Generica, billed as "an exploration of people, places and American music."[citation needed] The first three volumes were solo acoustic guitar songs, while the last two were recorded with VAST band members under the name "Jon Crosby and the Resonator Band".[citation needed]