Jason Mraz Breaks Billboard Hot 100 Record

I'm gonna admit right now that I was a Java Joe's groupie way back when. If Steve Poltz or Blacksmith Union or Gregory Page were playing, I was there. Then they moved around the corner and I kinda quit my habit. Fortunately I still made it there from time to time including two or three times seeing Jason Mraz before the labels came knocking and the boy was gone...I'm posting the following press release in it's entirety because I couldn't be happier that Jason has found success in the music business. I only wish the same for other San Diego troubadours...I'll refrain from any snarky comments about the tour not including a San Diego date...also, a video of my favorite Mraz song that still makes me weepy.

Jason Mraz has entered the record books with his history-making hit single, “I’m Yours.” Described by the San Diego-based singer/songwriter as “his happy little hippie song,” the track has spent a remarkable 70 weeks on Billboard’s “Hot 100,” shattering the record previously held by LeAnn Rimes’ 1998 smash, “How Do I Live.” “I’m Yours” now ranks as the longest-running song in the chart’s 51-year history.

Certified 4x platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of 4 million, “I’m Yours” is currently the third best-selling digital single of all time. Initially released to radio back in February 2008, the Grammy-nominated track from Jason’s RIAA platinum-certified third album, “WE SING. WE DANCE. WE STEAL THINGS.”, made history earlier this year as the first song ever to top the charts at four pop radio formats: CHR/Top 40, Triple A, Hot AC, and AC (where it held the #1 slot for 16 weeks, the most of any artist in 2009). (Click 'keep on reading' for more)




Mraz has also announced the upcoming release of an all-new live CD/DVD, “JASON MRAZ’S BEAUTIFUL MESS – LIVE FROM EARTH.” Due in stores and at all online retailers on November 10th, the album and DVD were recorded just last week as Jason’s blockbuster “Gratitude Café Tour” hit Chicago’s Charter One Pavilion. Full details – including a complete tracklisting – will be revealed shortly.

The first leg of the acclaimed “Gratitude Café Tour” is set to wrap up later this month at the Ironstone Amphitheatre in Murphys, California (see attached itinerary). The tour will resume on September 14th at the Nokia Theatre Prairie in Dallas, Texas, and run through an October 10th sold-out finale at Hollywood, California’s world-famous Hollywood Bowl.

The “Gratitude Café Tour” has proven a popular and critical success, with sold-out shows accompanied by a bevy of rave reviews appearing in publications across the country. The New York Times waxed rhapsodic about Jason’s recent performance at Wantagh, New York’s Nikon @ Jones Beach Theater, hailing the singer/songwriter as “part Jack Johnson, part Eckhart Tolle, he is a troubadour of the anodyne – an emotionally humane John Mayer, a slicker Paul Simon – and at times a devilishly effective one.”

Mraz is donating a portion of every “Gratitude Café Tour” ticket sold to the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education programs in America’s public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child’s complete education.

In addition to the “Gratitude Café Tour,” Mraz has also slated a number of upcoming festival performances, including sets at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival on August 29th; Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival on September 6th; and Phoenix’s Fall Frenzy Festival on September 18th. What’s more, Jason will be appearing alongside Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews at the 2009 Farm Aid benefit concert, set for October 4th at St. Louis’ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Following those dates, Jason will embark on his first South American tour in late November. More details on that will be announced soon.

On September 29 in Vancouver, BC, Jason will participate in a very special performance as part of We Day, an initiative of international charity Free the Children, which celebrates the power of young people to change the lives of others. Now in its third year, We Day sets the stage for an exclusive year-long program for students throughout North America to create global change through Free The Children’s Adopt a Village program. Other speakers/entertainers participating in the event include His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Mia Farrow.

In other news, Mraz and beach culture brand Hurley have created a limited-edition collection of environmentally friendly men’s and women’s t-shirts. The t-shirts, available now at select Buckle stores and at www.buckle.com, feature nature-inspired, abstract graphics which were designed by Mraz and printed with soy ink on 100% organic cotton. A portion of the proceeds raised will go to the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s oceans, waves, and beaches.

“I am proud to be supporting the Surfrider Foundation, and stoked to be working with the team at Hurley,” says Mraz. “Collaborating to create a limited edition organic T-shirt has been a fun way of contributing to the care of our coasts.”

For further information, including news, tour dates, and on-sale bulletins, please visit www.jasonmraz.com or www.myspace.com/jasonmraz and www.gratitudecafetour.com