Celebrities and industry leaders have come out of the woodworks over the last couple of weeks to pay tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. His passing has spurred dozens of anecdotes from those that have come into contact with Jobs throughout the years.
Famous singer/songwriter John Mayer is known for loving Apple products. He has taken the stage at Macworld multiple times to help introduce products like Garageband. As it turns out, Mayer developed a personal friendship with Jobs years ago.
On his personal blog, Mayer shares memories of Apple’s former CEO:
“I first met Steve in 2003, over the phone, when I cold-called him to tell him I was a devout fan of all things Apple and would love to be involved in whatever way I could with the company. I remember the call extremely well; me on my hotel room bed, fidgeting and doodling and circuitously explaining that all I could really explain was that I wanted to have a relationship. I got nervous at one point and started second guessing myself and my intentions for calling, to which Steve replied “don’t worry, I have a very good bullshit detector.” I found it very comfortable to be myself around him from that moment on.
The bullshit detector must have stayed silent because In the following months and years I was invited to help introduce products and software at several Macworld keynote addresses in San Francisco. I got to know him a bit in our time together on and off the stage. I remember Steve as being almost iridescent; one second he would be talking to you about “architecture” as it related to digital data flow, and then in a microsecond turn his head a different way and mention Bob Dylan or a killer sushi place and just be the biggest rock star on the planet.”
Mayer goes on to tell of the time that he signed an exclusive agreement with Blackberry in 2008 to sponsor one of his summer tours. He called Jobs to explain the situation, and that he wouldn’t be able to use Apple products in public until the contract with Blackberry expired. Mayer said that “he [Jobs] would send me an iPhone to at least play with on the bus.”
Mayer also recalls the time that he was delivered the original iPhone in 2007:
“Someone knocked on my dressing room door and handed me an Apple Store bag. Inside was an iPhone, and taped to it was a card; it belonged to Steve Jobs, CEO, 1 Inifinite Loop, Cupertino, California. Handwritten on the backside of the card was one word: “Enjoy!”
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
40 responses to “Singer John Mayer Shares Stories About His Personal Relationship with Steve Jobs”
Cool story about getting the iPhone as a personal gift from Steve Jobs in 2007. It’s just too bad that John Mayer is a douche.
Douche sold out to Blackberry after all that. Douche is the right word.
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John Mayer is an amazing writtter.The guy is lia linguist you can’t deny that.I enjoyed his blog and he’s a brilliant musician,very funny to.This is all that matters.If Stve accepted him he must be a great individual also ..rto create a relationship with that man is almost impossible.Great job John You do it right.
Yeah, total douche. The guy should totally have rejected millions of dollars out of principle. I would have, I know you would have to, so why couldn’t John Mayer?Â
I mean just the other day, my girlfriend was like “Eat this ham-on-rye sandwich,” and I was all, “No, I don’t like rye bread,” and she was all “I’ll give you a million bucks,” and I was all, “No deal, sweetie!” So, see, I have principle, unlike that douchey talented, successful dude who maintained his friendship with Jobs even after taking the Blackberry deal.
so im guessing we are more meant to hate this guy then love him??
Well, you definitely ain’t a good writer, bro. Love the irony.
One pair of candy lips andYour bubblegum tongue… writing fail.
I Â love John Mayer.He’s great
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“If my past is any sign of your future you should be warned before I let you inside…”; “Belief is a beautiful armor but makes for the heaviest sword, like punching underwater, you never can hit who you’re trying for…”; not to mention every line in Stop This Train, Don’t Trust Myself, Heart of Life – BRILLIANT songwriter. Â (And I love that line “candy lips and bubblegum tongue.)
Not a douche. Â My son, who is also an Apple freak, also had a Blackberry at one time (then of course went back to Apple). Â He just wanted to add to his electronic knowledge base of what’s good and how they’re different. Â
Yeah, we all really believe that if someone would SERIOUSLY offer you a million dollars to eat rye bread, you wouldn’t take it. Â You just knew she didn’t really have a million dollars!
Yes, Kate, he is, in fact, a douche. I met him once and he has the biggest “holier than thou” attitude of any celebrity I’ve ever met – and I’ve met quite a few in my line of work. My calling him that had nothing to do with him being affiliated with RIM and Blackberry. I understand the guy needs to make a living and took a lucrative endorsement deal that was offered to him. I don’t have a problem with that at all. What I do have a problem with is witnessing a half-assed celebrity snub his nose at a small group of 10 to 14 year old fans who simply wanted to shake his hand and maybe get an autograph after the show. The fans are what allows him to live the lavish lifestyle he has (that he really doesn’t deserve to begin with) – and he apparently lost sight of that. That, my friend, is a douche if I ever saw one.
Wow. I didn’t think it was possible… but you just might be a bigger douche than John Mayer! What a shitty analogy! HA!
sarcasm
All 15 year old girls do love that line, so I’m not surprised. It doesn’t really stand up to the whole timeless aspect of good songs.
I personally think it’s sad that even as he does soo many good things for people, he’s still stuck with this “douche” tag. It’s sad that EVERYONE falls into & believes the fabricated stories from the media. I personally LOVE John Mayer, he’s amazingly talented, with a great heart. unfortunately his good is outgunned by the bad. You all sit here talking about John, yet everyone fucking bows down to Bieber like he’s a fucking princess. Come on. Mayer is one of the few who are keeping music ALIVE.Â
Wait. You think everyone here listens to media stories about John Mayer? You don’t think we can come to a conclusion ourselves? What makes you believe everyone here likes Justin Bieber? You’re delusional to think that, and to think that douches like Mayer are keeping music alive. Go back to your lizard cave, lizard.
John Mayer is an amazingly talented guitarist and writer. I think if you’re going to spend your time reading and blogging about someone you think is a douche, I must say you are the true douche. You are also what I would call a hater. So go on and keep on hatin’ on Mr. John Mayer, while you sit around all douche-like I’m sure he’s somewhere doing something positive and keeping the music alive.
Hmmm…. I wonder if a shitty analogy was part of my point? But wait a second, wouldn’t that mean rockarollr missed my point entirely? Well, either my shitty analogy was a sincere attempt to equate sandwiches to endorsement deals or rockarollr’s sarcasm meter is on the fritz. I guess we’ll never know.
I was spending my time reading about Steve Jobs, actually. I don’t “sit around reading and blogging about someone” I think is a douche. I just figured people should know how John Mayer treats his fans and what he’s really like.
Not that I owe you an explanation or was even talking to you anyway.
If you yourself didnt feed into the media stories about John, why would you think he’s a “douche” in the first place? For what reasoning, hmm? tell me something that isnt already in the media. EXACTLY. my point is proven.
I think he’s a douche because he makes douchey, predictable, radio-friendly music. And I didn’t call him a douche. You’re over-emotional, and lazy at arguing, to boot. Got it? EXACTLY. You have no point.
you call it predictable but if i put you in front of a piano or put a guitar in your hands you would wilt. you can write about music but you cant make it. thats the difference between Mr. Mayer and yourself. And if youre so good at predicting music, where would a I 6/4 chord normally progress?
Mayer has gone on record as saying that he felt Room For Squares was NOT an accurate representation of what he wanted to be writing at the time. It was his first major label effort and it sold well. There were a number of more introspective songs on that album that didn’t feature lyrics about a “bubble-gum tongue”. Try “Stop This Train”, “Had a talk with my old man, said, ‘help me understand’. He said, ‘Turn 68. You’ll renegotiate.'” Not all of his lyrics are the same. If you listened instead of talking shit, you’d see that.
By the way, you show your lack of knowledge when you talk about the “timeless aspect of good songs.” Many writers/poets/authors/composers wrote works that had dismal premieres, only to be accepted as much as hundreds of years later. The idea of what is “good” is fluid and all you can do is be true to who you are, when creating art. John Mayer puts a piece of who he is into his music, as do all good musicians. You may not like him for who he is. What he represents obviously poses a threat to you, because you go so far out of your way to insult him and others who appreciate his work. But, he is creating music and we get to appreciate it. If you dont like it, why are you on here talking all this mess?
Carlos, awful example. If I asked you how to define the scope for an LCA of an electric car, you would also wilt. What’s your point? To suggest that the average person needs to understand music in great detail or necessarily refrain from being able to comment on an obvious pattern of shitty, radio-friendly music is a baseless, emotionally-charged argument.Â