Jonathan Foreman
Full Name: Jonathan Mark Foreman
Nickname: Jon, Jono, Jay-o-Jay
Date of Birth: October 22nd, 1976
Birthplace: born in San Bernardino, raised in San Diego.
Immediate Family: Mark & Jan Foreman (parents), Tim Foreman (brother), and Emily (wife)
Hobbies: Surfing, writing, philosophy, reading, poetry, photography, and soccer.
Position in band: Lead singer, guitar, harmonica, songwriter
Blood type: “I don’t know.”
Favorite food: “Ice cream”
Favorite books: “Let Justice Roll Down” John M Perkins
Favorite movies: “Amelie”, “Life is Beautiful”, “Dumb & Dumber”
Influenced by artists/albums: “Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix”
First bought record: “Whitesnake”
First concert: “Don’t remember!”
My hero: “For different reasons, Johnny Cash, Kierkegaard, Bob Dylan, and Jesus Christ”
Hobbies beside music: “Building guitars, surfing.”
What I’d be if I hadn’t become a musician: “A person who’d walk on the beach or surf all day long.”
Motto in life: “It isn’t love if there’s no broken heart.”
Jon was born in San Bernardino, California, but he grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, Norfolk, Virginia and later, San Diego. His walk with the Lord began at a very young age. His dad recalls that he was taking the boys back home from the dump and telling them about how Jesus had made him a better person. “I want that,” Jon said. Wanting Jon to be of an age where he fully understood, his dad tried to put him off, telling him when the time was right, they’d do it. “No. I want to do it NOW,” was Jon’s reply. Jon asked Jesus into his heart that day.
Jon has always been comfortable in the spotlight, even as a young boy. Once, when his father took him to a local parade, Jon got lost, causing his dad to anxiously search everywhere for him. At last, he found him at the end of the parade, marching with everyone else. Jon has also been singing for a long time, ever since he was young. He says he remembers singing for the first time at Disneyland… “the happiest place on earth!” As a kid, Jon wanted to be a professional soccer player when he grew up.
At the suggestion of a friend, Jon learned to play the guitar in Junior High, and later, helped his brother Tim learn to play the bass. Jon is a long time surfer, and throughout high school, he competed often in many surfing events. During his high school years, he and Tim played in a variety of local bands, most famously their band ‘Etc’. ‘Etc’ released a self-titled demo (of which only 1000 copies were made), but soon disbanded.
Jon then attended college at UCSD, majoring in Economics and studying music. He formed the band Chin Up (with Tim and a friend from high school Chad Butler) and the band was quickly signed to an indie label called Re:think, where they changed their name to Switchfoot and recorded an album. As the band began to grow and become more successful, Jon dropped out of college to pursue music full time.
In January of 2002, Jon married his wife Emily Masen (her sister is Sarah Masen, who was a recording artist on the Re:think label).
In 2007, though Jon was still making music with Switchfoot, he decided to start two side projects. With his friend Sean Watkins from Nickel Creek, Jon started a new band called Fiction Family (previously titled “The Real SeanJon”), and the two recorded an album which is slated for a 2009 release. Jon also began a solo career, releasing four critically acclaimed acoustic EPs, named after the seasons. He uses these side projects as a vehicle to get out his songs that don’t fit with the “Switchfoot sound”.
Jon can play the guitar, the keyboards, the piano, the drums, the harmonica and the trumpet. He has also contributed his voice to a variety of bands in the music scene, such as Noise Ratchet and Relient K. Jon is a gifted writer and he has been involved in several books such as The Art of Being, New Way To Be Human and Be The Change. A profilic songwriter, Jon will often write a song a day for a period of time. Jon also enjoys philosophy and says that if he were not in the band, he would want to be teaching a philosophy class.
Jon’s favorite holiday is Christmas and he thinks the cartoon character he most resembles is Goofy. He has a wide range of musical influences, everyone from U2 to Bob Dylan, to Johnny Cash.
Jon currently lives in Cardiff by the Sea (a suburb of San Diego), California and when he’s not on tour you’ll find him at the beach, with his friends, writing songs, playing solo shows, at a charity event, or with his family. “When I’m home,” Jon says. “I try to do the following at least once a day: record, write, surf, hang with my wife, read, and eat.”
Drew Shirley (guitarist for Switchfoot) on Jon: “I see Jon as half visionary, half revolutionary. Here’s a guy who envisions an idea. His brain is always spinning, always like, ‘How can we make things better? How can we do things differently?’… ranging from music to the band to travel to interpersonal relationship. And the revolutionary side is, ‘Let’s put it into plans and make it happen. Let’s get it done.’ Jon is a phenomenal leader… someone you want to follow. Someone who you say, ‘There’s a guy I respect, there’s a guy who does the right thing.’ Jon is also quick to say ‘I’m sorry’ and to humble himself. And that influences all of us. As a friend, Jon lets you be yourself and just appreciates you. He’ll pick out the qualities in someone that are kind of quirky and that other people might say ‘Look at that dude, he’s quiet.’ And Jon will say ‘Look at that dude, he’s quiet. Isn’t that awesome? Isn’t that the greatest thing? I love the quietness in that guy.’ He appreciates the individuality of people. Musically, Jon’s a prolific songwriter… the rare kind who just always has like 30 songs going. We’ll go through something as a band, and then there’ll be a song [about it] in the next couple of days or week. And it’s like, ‘Wow, you’ve just put it into music and into words.’ And it just keeps happening; it’s amazing.”
Drew Shirley (guitarist) on Jon: “Jon is a visionary. Always wanting to be like ‘Well what if we did this!? What if we did this!?’ and Tim will be the editor, sometimes. Where those ideas then kind of get shaped, like ‘Well that can’t happen, but THIS can happen! So let’s edit that idea to be something that’s THIS.’ and then it starts to take shape and become formed from a vision to something that’s practical and doable.”