Andy Grammer Keeps His Head Up

Pop/soul singer/songwriter Andy Grammer was the featured guest for the inaugural installment of the GRAMMY Museum's Homegrown series on May 31, a new series that spotlights Los Angeles-based artists. Before an audience of 200 in the Museum's Clive Davis Theater, Grammer discussed creating "Keep Your Head Up," the first single off his self-titled debut album, and performing at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif. Following the discussion, Grammer performed a brief set, including "Keep…" and "The Pocket."

"Whenever anybody asks me, 'What should I do as a new artist?' [I say] it's how you play in front of people that don't know who you are," said Grammer when asked about performing at the Third Street Promenade. "The thing that [street performers] all have in common is we all just decided, 'Yeah, I'm going to throw myself out there.' Then [you] start to develop who you are, what you have to bring, and it starts to connect."

A Los Angeles native, Grammer was born the son of GRAMMY-nominated children's music artist Red Grammer. He was raised in New York but returned to California after high school and earned a bachelor's degree in Music Industry Studies at California State University, Northridge. After being discovered while performing at the Third Street Promenade by artist manager Ben Singer, Grammer inked a deal with S-Curve Records, and subsequently released his self-titled debut in June. The video for "Keep Your Head Up," which he wrote as a letter of encouragement to himself after a long day of performing on the street, picked up Most Innovative Video honors at MTV's inaugural O Music Awards in April. Grammer is currently on tour with Natasha Bedingfield and Kate Voegele.

Upcoming GRAMMY Museum events include Reel To Reel: Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest (July 5), An Evening With Todd Rundgren (July 18) and Great Guitars: Gary Lucas (July 20).

Click on the "GRAMMY Museum events" tag below for links to other GRAMMY News stories in this series.