John Callum Stewart[2] (born 8 February 1997),[3] known professionally as JC StewartorCallum Stewart,[4] is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter. In 2020, he went viral after Jennifer Aniston reposted his parody of the theme song from Friends.[5] He released his EP When the Lights Hits the Room later that year.
Stewart grew up on a farm in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. He has two younger sisters and is the fourth generation of JC Stewarts, with his family running a grocery business of the same name.[2]
Despite not coming from a particularly musical family, Stewart sang in school and was encouraged by his mum to attend a local theatre where he learnt to make music and fell in love with songwriting aged 14.[2][6] He notes that his dad's record collection inspired him to listen to the Who and the Band.[7]
Once he had finished school Stewart took a gap year and then moved to Brighton to study International Relations at Sussex University but dropped out of university and moved to London to pursue music instead.[2][6]
In 2014, Stewart independently released his debut single "Gold".[8]
He signed to Warner Records in 2018 and released two singles, "Medicine" and "Like I Did".[9] Stewart co-wrote the track "Hollywood" which featured on Lewis Capaldi's 2019 debut album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent.[10] Stewart released four further tracks of his own that year:"Have You Had Enough Wine?",[11] "Bones",[12] "Pick Up Your Phone"[13] and "The Wrong Ones".[14] Stewart held a four-night residency at the Islington in September 2019, which sold out within a few hours.[15] He also toured with the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Lauv and Anne-Marie.[16][17]
In 2020, Stewart released two singles "Lying That You Love Me" and "I Need You to Hate Me".[18][19] He uploaded a parody of the Friends theme song, "I'll Be There for You", to TikTok which caught the attention of Jennifer Aniston and subsequently led to his first appearances on U.S. television.[20] His collaboration on a track with 220 Kid, "Too Many Nights", which peaked at number 72 on the UK Singles Chart.[21] Stewart also released his debut EP When the Light Hits the Room in November 2020. He co-wrote the EP in two weeks with Tom Odell, whom he has cited as one of his biggest musical heroes.[22]
In January 2021, Stewart released his single "Break My Heart", which was co-written with Niall Horan and Plested.[23] He was also named MTV's Push Artist of the Month.[24]
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Retrieved 12 April 2021. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 202113 into search.
