John Ondrasik, known by his stage name Five for Fighting, rose to fame with the 2002 Grammy-nominated single Superman (It’s Not Easy). The song charted at number 14 on the Hot 100 and reached number 1 on Billboard’s Adult Top 40. Music aficionados considered it an anthem following the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11.
On his third album, The Battle for Everything, the single 100 Years rose to the number 1 spot on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. It remained there for 12 non-consecutive weeks.
Partnering with Broadway composer Steven Schwartz, John, along with Steven, Steven developed a TV show called Harmony. Subsequently, John placed a considerable number of songs on TV shows and films.
AllMusic has referred to Ondrasik as “one of contemporary pop music’s enduring balladeers.” But John Ondrasik is much more than that. He is also an activist and philanthropist and has raised money for several causes.
In the last couple of years, John has turned to writing anthems which express his perspective on geopolitical and domestic events. Can One Man Save The World is a paean to Ukraine and President Zelensky. He followed that with Blood On My Hands referencing The United State’s controversial evacuation of American service personnel from Afghanistan. In recent weeks, John released a music video addressing antisemitism and the ongoing situation in Gaza.
Tandy Culpepper spoke with John about this latest video and song as well as his reasons for producing it.