Jonathan Mark Foreman (born October 22, 1976)^[1] is an American musician who is the lead singer, guitarist, primary songwriter, and co-founder of the alternative rock band Switchfoot. He formed the band in 1996 with drummer Chad Butler and his brother Tim Foreman on bass guitar. Keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas and guitarist Drew Shirley later joined the band. As a solo act, Foreman has released 14 extended plays and one studio album.

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 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. Foreman attended UC San Diego and later dropped out to follow his singing career.^[3]

Foreman married Emily Masen in 2002, and the couple had a daughter in 2012.^[4] The couple welcomed their second child, a son, in June 2018.^[5]

One of Foreman's favorite pastimes is surfing,^[3] and when not on tour, he resides in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, a beach community in Encinitas.^[4]

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."^[6]

Foreman's father, Mark, served as the senior pastor of North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, California.^[7] His mother is Jan (née Carlton).^[8]

Foreman cites Elliott Smith,^[9] U2,^[3] The Police,^[9] James Taylor,^[9] The Beatles, Radiohead,^[10] J.S. Bach, Ronny Jordan, Miles Davis, Keith Green, Nirvana, Johnny Cash,^[3] Bob Dylan,^[3] and Led Zeppelin as some of his musical influences.^[11] 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.^[12]

Besides being the main songwriter for Switchfoot, Foreman has also made musical contributions away from the band, including writing with San Diego/Orange County based singer and songwriter Molly Jenson.^[13] Foreman has also contributed to the books The Art of Being^[14] and New Way to be Human,^[15] the latter written by producer Charlie Peacock. He also appeared on Relient K's 2007 album, Five Score and Seven Years Ago, lending his vocal talents to the song "Deathbed". In September 2009, Jazz musician Karl Denson released the album "Brother's Keeper" in which two songs were co-written by Foreman, and one song, "Drums of War", was solely written by Foreman.^[16] Foreman also provided his vocals in accompaniment with Denson on the song "Drums of War".^[17] He wrote "Running Away from Me" for Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. He collaborated with Ryan O'Neal for the Sleeping at Last song "Birthright".^[18]

This section possibly contains original research. (December 2015)

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.