Owl City

Owl City (started 2007)

Owl City is the synth pop alter ego of Adam Young. Owl City rose to fame with the release of 'Fireflies'.

Owl City: Starting Out

Owl City was formed when Adam Young started to make music in his parents' house, whilst he had a job at a Coca-Cola factory. He started making music to distract him from his insomnia.

After uploading his songs to his MySpace page, the popularity of the tracks spread and Young eventually signed to Universal Republic.

The debut release from Owl City was an EP entitled Of June. This was followed by the debut album, Maybe I'm Dreaming.

Owl City then released 2009's Ocean Eyes, which debuted at number 27 on the main US album chart. Of the four singles from the album ('Hello Seattle', 'Strawberry Avalanche', 'Fireflies' and 'Hot Air Balloon'), 'Fireflies' was by far the most popular. The song reached number one in the US and Canadian charts and eventually did the same when it was released in the UK.

Owl City's backing band consists of Breanne Duren (backing vocals and keyboards), Laura Musten (violin), Hannah Schroder (cello) and Matthew Decker (drums). The vocalist from Relient K, Matt Thiessen can also be heard singing backing vocals on 'Fireflies'.

Owl City's track 'Sunburn' was featured on Soundtrack 902010, the musical accompaniment to the TV series 902010, which stars Shenae Grimes, Tristan Wilds and Ryan Eggold. Other artists to feature on the soundtrack include OK Go, Adele and The Raconteurs and N*E*R*D.

Previously, Owl City has toured with Brooke Waggoner and The Scene Aesthetic as well as being chosen to open for John Mayer. He was also shortlisted for the BBC Sound of 2010. The poll was topped by Ellie Goulding and also featured Delphic, Joy Orbison and Marina and the Diamonds.

Young lists Boards of Canada and Imogen Heap among his biggest inspirations for making music.

Adam Young also leads four other projects, Port Blue, Seagull Orchestra, Insect Airport and Windsor Airlift, though none of the projects retain the popularity of Owl City.