Q 01/05

In which Connecticut city was John Mayer born in 1977?

A) Bridgeport

B) New Haven

C) Hartford

D) New London

Answer · why

A) Bridgeport

His father was the principal of the local Central High School and his mother taught middle-school English. He grew up in nearby Fairfield.

Q 02/05

Which film performance first made a young John Mayer want to play guitar?

A) Prince in Purple Rain

B) Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future

C) Ralph Macchio in Crossroads

D) Steve Martin in Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Answer · why

B) Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future

Marty McFly's school-dance guitar scene did it. His father rented him a guitar when he turned 13, and a neighbor's Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette then pu...

Q 03/05

Which future tennis star was Mayer's close elementary-school friend and after-school Nintendo partner?

A) Andy Roddick

B) Pete Sampras

C) James Blake

D) Michael Chang

Answer · why

C) James Blake

Both grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut. Mayer's parents were so worried about his single-minded guitar obsession that they twice took him to a psychia...

Q 04/05

Mayer says the songwriter in him was born the night he left hospital at 17. What had put him there?

A) A ruptured appendix

B) A broken wrist from skateboarding

C) A collapsed lung

D) An irregular heartbeat

Answer · why

D) An irregular heartbeat

He was hospitalised for a weekend with cardiac dysrhythmia and wrote his first lyrics that same night. Panic attacks followed soon after, which he sti...

Q 05/05

Where did Mayer enrol as a student in 1997, only to leave after two semesters?

A) Berklee College of Music

B) Juilliard School

C) Musicians Institute

D) New England Conservatory

Answer · why

A) Berklee College of Music

He had considered skipping college altogether, but his parents talked him into it. He lasted two semesters before heading south to chase gigs.