John Hoskinson was born and raised in Southern California's Inland Empire, where he developed a taste for the Beatles, Elvis Costello, and Crowded House as a teenager. After graduating from high school, Hoskinson relocated to Los Angeles, and joined the band Ferocious Daisies, with whom he released two discs, the 1993 album Blue Hair City and a self-titled EP in 1997. Ferocious Daisies broke up not long after the release of the EP, and Hoskinson began writing and demoing songs on his own. He got to know producer and musician Joe Ongie, and was impressed enough with his work to ask him to assist with the making of his solo debut. Ongie's busy schedule meant that Hoskinson's first album Miscellaneous Heathen didn't appear until the summer of 2004, but once it was released the disc earned enthusiastic reviews from the international music press. Hoskinson teamed up with Ongie again to produce his second solo effort, 2007's Pancho Fantastico which, like the first album, received positive reviews from pop-friendly music journals. ~ Mark Deming