John Mayer was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on October 16, 1977. His parents, Margaret and Richard worked as a high school English teacher and Principal, respectively. He spent a period of time in his youth at a magnet school for students of the Japanese language. By the age of 19, Mayer entered Boston’s Berklee College of Music but lasted only two semesters at the school before he and friend Clay Cook (currently of the Zac Brown Band) left and moved to Atlanta. The pair performed as the LoFi Masters before Mayer left to pursue a solo career. Mayer’s major break in the music industry came after he was signed by Aware Records following his 2000 appearance at the South By Southwest music conference in Austin. The label released his debut album “Room For Squares” and was later bought by Columbia Records, who then remixed and re-released the album.