James Mercer is one of the most popular and richest Guitarist who was born on December 26, 1970 in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Founder, guitarist, and singer-songwriter for the rock group The Shins. He has also been involved with the group Broken Bells, among other projects.
His music is heavily featured in Zach Braff’s directorial debut Garden State.
In the early 1990s, Mercer belonged to a group called Blue Roof Dinner. In 1992, Mercer founded the band Flake Music (originally called Flake) with drummer Jesse Sandoval, keyboardist Marty Crandall, and bassist Neal Langford. Together, they produced the well-received album When You Land Here, It’s Time to Return, and toured with Modest Mouse and Califone.
Shortly after the release of When You Land Here, in 1999, Mercer formed The Shins in Albuquerque, New Mexico as a side project. Mercer named the band The Shins after the family in the musical The Music Man, a favorite of Mercer’s father. The project began as a way to explore three-minute pop songs with conventional chord structure. Mercer recruited Jesse Sandoval to play drums and the two began performing as a duo. The Shins played with Cibo Matto and the American Analog Set, with Mercer serving as the primary songwriter for the band. As The Shins rose to popularity, Flake Music eventually disbanded in 1999, leaving Mercer, Sandoval, and Langford, who joined after Flake Music’s disbanding, to focus completely on The Shins. In 2002, the band relocated to Portland, Oregon.
He married designer Marisa Kula in 2006; they have three daughters together.
