Jon Foreman

Foreman was born in San Bernardino County, California, but his family moved to Massachusetts and Virginia Beach during his childhood. There he became fast friends with Todd Cooper, who encouraged him to learn guitar.^[2] Cooper was later a guitar tech for the band Switchfoot, although he left in 2005 to pursue his own musical career.

After several years, Foreman and his family moved back to Southern California, this time settling in Encinitas. He graduated from San Dieguito Academy in the North County Coastal area of San Diego, California.^[3][4] Foreman attended UC San Diego and later dropped out to follow his singing career.^[5]

Foreman married Emily Masen in 2002, and the couple had a daughter in 2012.^[6] The couple welcomed their second child, a son, in June 2018.^[7]

One of Foreman's favorite pastimes is surfing,^[5] and when not on tour, he resides in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, a beach community in Encinitas.^[6]

Foreman is a committed nondenominational Christian; however, his goal with Switchfoot has always been to make music for all people. "For us, these songs are for everyone. Calling us 'Christian rock' tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them. And that's not what we're trying to do. Music has always opened my mind — and that's what we want."^[8]

Foreman's father, Mark, served as the senior pastor of North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, California.^[9] His mother is Jan (née Carlton).^[10]

Foreman cites Elliott Smith,^[11] U2,^[5] The Police,^[11] James Taylor,^[11] The Beatles, Radiohead,^[12] J.S. Bach, Ronny Jordan, Miles Davis, Keith Green, Nirvana, Johnny Cash,^[5] Bob Dylan,^[5] and Led Zeppelin as some of his musical influences.^[13] In 2001, he was awarded the "Les Paul Horizon Award" for the most promising up-and-coming guitarist at the annual Orville H. Gibson Guitar Awards in Los Angeles.^[14]

Foreman has made musical contributions away from Switchfoot, including writing with Molly Jenson.^[15] He appeared on the song "Deathbed" on Relient K's 2007 album, Five Score and Seven Years Ago. In September 2009, Jazz musician Karl Denson released the album "Brother's Keeper," on which two songs were co-written by Foreman, and one song, "Drums of War," was solely written by Foreman, which he also sang on.^[16] He wrote "Running Away from Me" for Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Foreman collaborated with Ryan O'Neal for the Sleeping at Last song "Birthright."^[17] Foreman has also contributed to the books The Art of Being^[18] and New Way to be Human,^[19] the latter written by producer Charlie Peacock.

Foreman's songwriting tends to be very dynamic, and he often employs a wide range of different instrumentation, including, but not limited to: guitar, violin, cello, trumpet, mandolin, sitar, flute, saxophone, clarinet, synthesizer, piano, miscellaneous percussion, and harmonica. Foreman has always aimed to use interesting instrumentation when writing for Switchfoot, mostly on some of the band's first albums such as The Legend of Chin, New Way to Be Human, and Learning to Breathe.