Pete Droge

Singer/songwriter Pete Droge's career was helped immeasurably by his friendship with Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. McCready helped Droge secure a deal with American Records to release his 1994 debut, Necktie Second. Droge is a rootsy rocker in the vein of Tom Petty and John Mellencamp, with the occasional introspective ballad. On the strength of the tongue-in-cheek single "If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself)," Necktie Second became an AAA hit. Find a Door followed in 1996, but it had a hard time finding an audience, partially because American Records was faltering financially at the time. During 1997, he wrote his third album and severed ties with American, moving to the Epic subsidiary 57 Records. Like his two previous records, his first album for the label, Spacey and Shakin, was produced by Brendan O'Brien. Droge took over production duties for 2003's Skywatching. It was followed in 2006 by Under the Waves.