Solo Career, Marcy Playground, and Personal Life
John a.k.a. "Woz", learned how to play the guitar at the age of 14. His first solo effort was Zog BogBean - From the Marcy Playground, recorded in his own home in 1990. In 2006 he recorded his second solo album, Leaving Wonderland...in a fit of rage and while searching for a label to release it on, decided to call it a Marcy Playground album and include new songs recorded with the rest of the band..
Aside from influences such as Neil Young, Paul Simon, and Van Morrison, a major early influence in Woz's life was his high school girlfriend from tenth grade until his freshmen year in college, Sherry Fraser, now of the band Two Ton Boa. She collaborated with Wozniak on Zog Bogbean, and on the song "Ancient Walls of Flowers" from Marcy Playground's self-titled album. The song "Sherry Fraser" was written about her. They were known for being good friends throughout high school and would make movies or write together.
Woz moved to Great Neck Long Island in 1994 in order to collaborate with his then friend Jared Kotler, a multi-instrumentalist/music producer. John had written two albums worth of material and began recording what would become the eponymous "Marcy Playground" recordings at Sabella Recording studios in suburban New York. This included the definitive recording of the soon to be hit single "Sex and Candy". More recording sessions followed with John and Jared hiring Dylan Keefe to take over bass playing duties. Over two albums of material were recorded at Sebella by Engineer Ken Goia and these recordings brought the band to the attention of Capitol Records. The band was soon signed to Capitol and began a year long series of club dates in New York City performing live in support of "Marcy Playground". The band then began a radio promotion tour of the US following the release of the first single "Poppies". Shortly after the label then released the follow-up single "Sex and Candy". This song became a smash hit, and ended up rising to a then-record 15 weeks at number one on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. Three albums later, the band managed to produce several singles and several other semi-hits. Woz continues to regularly write, record and tour with Marcy Playground, and is credited as being the brains behind the operation. Woz is recently remarried and has a son named Keegan, of whom the song "Keegan's Christmas" is inspired by.
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