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Adam Young
Background information
Birth name	Adam Randal Young
Also known as	Owl City, Sky Sailing, Port Blue
Born	(1986-07-05) July 5, 1986 (age 25)
Origin	Owatonna, Minnesota
Genres	Electropop, synthpop, indietronica
Occupations	producer, song writer, vocalist
Instruments	Vocals, Programming (music), piano, keyboards, synthesizer, guitar, banjo, violin, cello, xylophone, accordion, drums, Synth, bass guitar
Years active	2007 - present
Labels	Universal Republic, Sky Harbor, Port Blue
Associated acts	Owl City, Sky Sailing, Swimming With Dolphins, Port Blue, Seagull Orchestra, Relient K, Lights.
Website	ayoungmusic.com

Adam Randal Young^[1] (born July 5, 1986) is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer, song writer, vocalist and the founder of the electronic project Owl City. He also fronted numerous other musical projects, including Sky Sailing,^[2] Port Blue, and Swimming with Dolphins.

Personal life [link]

Young has often referred to himself as being deeply shy and socially introverted. Young resides in his hometown, Owatonna, Minnesota, where he writes and programs all his music. Adam Young enjoys photography as a hobby and says he is an amateur photographer.

Young identifies himself as a Christian, and writes about his faith on his blog and through his music.^[3]

All Music Projects [link]

Major Projects (These projects are available on iTunes & Amazon, their pages don't contain all songs)

• Owl City
• Sky Sailing
• Port Blue
• Windsor Airlift
• Swimming With Dolphins

Minor Projects American Jesus, Apes With Guns, Aquarium, Basketball, Beat Master Deluxe, Blue Dallas, Brother Reed, You Have Messed Up My Afro, Can You Smell What The Rock Is Cooking?, Charlton Heston And The Blast Beats, Chester McWiggins and The Kowboy Kidz, Dolphin Park, El Uno Clarence, Glacier Island, Half Nelson Flying Corkscrew Clothesline, Insect Airport, Join The Dark Side, You Knob, Keehar, Novel, Nuclear Suplex, Riders of Rohan, Seagull Orchestra, Slam Dance, Slingshot Powerbomb, Spinning Skull Smash, The Atlantic, The Grizzly, The Perfect Theory, The Sports, The Wellington Gigglebomb Experience, Tombstone Piledriver, Understory

Owl City [link]

Career beginnings [link]

Young originally began creating music in his parents' basement while suffering from insomnia. Working alone, Young posted his fizzy electro-pop songs to MySpace and iTunes, selling about 2,000 tracks a week^[4] under the name Owl City. Young quickly developed a MySpace following and self-released an EP and a full-length album. His debut release Of June was released in 2007 and despite Owl City not being signed to a record label, still managed to reach #15 on the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart. His first album Maybe I'm Dreaming was released in 2008, and reached #13 on the US Electronic Albums chart, also without the support of a record label. In 2009, Young signed a deal with the record company Universal Republic and released his second full-length album Ocean Eyes and re-released his two previous works.

Of June [link]

Of June is Owl City's first musical release. Adam Young self-released it on April 21, 2007 and then later again through Universal Republic. It has seven tracks, one of which has been re-released in Ocean Eyes. Hello Seattle was re-released with the album Ocean Eyes but now has a 2007 version, a remix, and the 'original'.

Maybe I'm Dreaming [link]

Adam Young's first full-length album. Despite Owl City not being signed to a record label, Maybe I'm Dreaming reached #13 on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. This album earned Adam Young a substantial fanbase which resulted in him touring throughout the United States with band members Austin Tofte, the frontman of Swimming With Dolphins on keys and backing vocals, Matthew Decker on drums and occasionally Breanne Düren also on keys and backing vocals.

Ocean Eyes [link]

Under Universal Republic, Young released the album Ocean Eyes. His hit single "Fireflies" sold 650,000 copies in its first week and was the iTunes Single Of The Week. It later went on to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Ocean Eyes reached the top ten in the US album charts and topped the US rock and electronic charts. In February 2010, iTunes released their list of highest-selling songs since 2003 with "Fireflies" listed at #24.^[5] After the success of Ocean Eyes, Young began touring internationally. The touring band now consists of Adam Young (lead vocals, guitar, keys, drums), Breanne Düren (backup vocals/keyboard), Matthew Decker (drums), Laura Musten (violin), and Hannah Schroeder (cello). A deluxe version of Ocean Eyes was released on Jan. 26 2010. It contains the bonus tracks, "Rugs From Me To You," "Strawberry Avalanche" and "Hot Air Balloon".

All Things Bright and Beautiful [link]

Owl City released his "sophomore" album, All Things Bright and Beautiful, on June 14, 2011. The album reached #1 on the iTunes Top 10 Electronic Albums in both the US and Canada and received 4 1/2 stars from customers. The album includes three singles, "Deer in the Headlights," "Alligator Sky," and "Galaxies". The album has ^[6] a track only available in Japan and the UK, Shy Violet. As of Monday, January 2nd, 2012, Adam announced via his blog [1] that he would be releasing a new Owl City album in the summer/fall of 2012.

Sky Sailing [link]

On June 29, 2010, Young announced that he would be releasing his early recordings under the name Sky Sailing. Young started making music under the project name Sky Sailing around 2006. Sky Sailing's debut album, An Airplane Carried Me to Bed, was made available exclusively through iTunes on July 13, 2010.^[7]

Port Blue [link]

Port Blue is an alias used for melody driven instrumental, ambient productions. Through this moniker Adam Young has released one album, The Airship (2007) and one EP, The Albatross EP (2008).

'Port Blue' is music that can be heard playing in elevators, hotel lobbies, airports, museums and restaurants inside my head. It is the soundtrack to my dreams. If I wrote music for movies, this is what my film scores would sound like. Much of the aesthetic of Port Blue is not what lies in the recordings but rather what is extracted from them...Dreamscapes. No vocals.

In my opinion, there is a huge lack of imaginative, unconventional music being created by artists today and what little there is, goes widely unappreciated by the masses. 'Port Blue' is my attempt at re-creating the music I want to hear and the emotions I want to feel.

I hope you enjoy my art as much as I enjoyed creating it. If by chance you ever feel as though you’ve come to know these songs, please consider yourself a friend because in a manner of speaking, you know me. This music is my heart and soul. This is who I am.

(Adam R. Young, 2006)

On June 1, 2011, Adam announced via Twitter that he was working on a new Port Blue song.^[8]

Collaborations [link]

He has provided vocals for different artists/producers and their projects, including:

• Chicane - Middledistancerunner (2010)
• Armin van Buuren - Youtopia (2010)
• He Is We - All About Us (2011)
• TobyMac - The First Noel (2011)
• Paul van Dyk - Eternity (2012)

He has also produced music for other artists including:

• Relient K - Terminals (2009)
• Shamar - I Don't Know Why (2010)

References [link]

External links [link]

• Official website