October 29, 2003 -- THE singer
unzips his jacket, then slides it back and forth across his buff
chest. His performance of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" is
temporarily drowned out by the high-pitched approval of 500 teenage
girls.
The next Justin Timberlake may not be a bubblegum pop icon but a
good old rock singer/songwriter. Gavin DeGraw plows the same
acoustic ground as John Mayer, David Gray and Jason Mraz. But he has
something they don't: a thriving, and writhing, audience under age
25.
The hunky troubadour lets a goofy laugh rip backstage before his
recent gig at L.A.'s House of Blues.
"I love to see more and more people identifying with me and what
I have to say," he says. "But I like to think my music is pretty
universal. I think my songs pay tribute to the old-school masters."
The piano-plunking 26-year-old - who opens for Maroon5 at
Roseland tonight - is a throwback to Elton John and Billy Joel. But
the uniquely silky texture he brings to his chugging ballads, such
as "Just Friends" and "Follow Through," adds more soul to that
foundation.
And that's what makes the young girls swoon. Minutes after his
L.A. sound check, a dozen swarm DeGraw for a photo op.
"You're really gonna go far," says 19-year-old Kaleena, unclear
whether she's referring to DeGraw's career or his chances with her.
The insinuation provokes more goofy laughter.
"Nah," he says. "I wouldn't want to start something and then have
it be ruined by my lack of ability to be there."
Another, more important distinction DeGraw has is the support of
music mogul Clive Davis. When your résumé includes guiding Bruce
Springsteen and Carlos Santana to prominence, your A-list friends
can still get your pet projects on the radio.
Last year, DeGraw was the "next big artist" Davis chose to
introduce at his big pre-Grammy party.
"It was a lot of pressure, but it was great," DeGraw says,
clearing his throat. "I didn't throw up, but I definitely had to go
to the bathroom."
DeGraw grew up in upstate Fallsburg, in the shadow of forsaken
Borscht Belt resorts the Pines and Kutshers, long before the current
Catskills renaissance.
"It's possible that maybe I wanted to be part of another era,"
DeGraw says. "I would hear, 'Oh that place used to be hopping,' and
it was just an empty building. We'd drive by and see nothing, but
I'd have this vision of people from another decade and a different
reality."
Local radio played mostly classic rock, too.
After dropping out of Ithaca College, then Berklee College of
Music, in Boston, DeGraw moved to Manhattan to pursue his dream in
1998. (He still shares the same Hell's Kitchen flat with his uncle.)
Within two years, he was gigging five nights a week at the Bitter
End, Red Lion and Prohibition.
His big break came via a Monday night residence at Wilson's on
West 79th Street. Owner Debbie Wilson was duly impressed to become
DeGraw's manager. She brought him to the attention of a Columbia
Records exec who later moved to Clive Davis' J Records.
DeGraw was signed to a multi-album deal last year.
"I've been working hard a long time," DeGraw says. "Still, I was
very lucky to have this opportunity."
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