Fame, music and life on the road with Jason Mraz

On stage, Jason Mraz looks as though he has never been more comfortable.

He smiles, not quite boyishly, between songs, listening to the cheering of thousands of fans, most of them singing along with his every word.

With the success of his single, "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)," Jason Mraz became an overnight pop sensation around the country.

Mraz said fame changes people, but mostly it's a shock to the system.

Every day he wakes up in a bunk inside a tour bus on the way to a different city or state from the where he fell asleep. He goes into his private room in the rear of the bus, and there is a note from his tour manager saying where he is going.

"It's weird," Mraz said. "I say that every day."

He said fame is not at all what he expected it to be. Musicians aspire to that kind of success imagining a life of glamour and leisure.

Once his dreams started coming true, Mraz said he discovered a workload he never fantasized about. As the new guy, he was sent out to all of the early morning radio shows - a spot no one likes to do.

He does radio interviews, phone interviews and takes every opportunity he can to thank the fans for buying the record and the radio stations for playing his music.

"It's very political," Mraz said. "It took me awhile to get used to it, you know, I always wanted to go home. I always thought, OK, this is fun, let's go home now, and we haven't. We've been touring straight through for 15 months now."

Mraz tries to discipline himself to go to bed each night, drink the right amount of water, and to eat right. He also focuses on staying relaxed, taking time for private meditation before each show.

"It really is true to stay mentally healthy; you've got to be physically healthy," he said. "It all works together in harmony."

While touring in England, Mraz ran out of his vitamins. Mraz said he does not like the food in England, and consequently lived off of Burger King alone for nearly two weeks. The effects on his system and attitude, he said, were devastating.

After returning to the United States, Mraz went to visit a nutritionist. A few weeks after getting back on his vitamins and taking some time to relax, Mraz said he was back to normal and ready to hit the road again.

The reactions of fans across the globe amaze him.

He said the reactions of fans in Japan to "The Remedy" struck him particularly hard.

"I had a flash in my head, with all of the territories we haven't been to where the album is just coming out, I might have to sing this song for the next five to 10 years, and it made me wonder if I was ready for that," Mraz said.

The first time he heard "The Remedy" on the radio, he was in Australia.

"It was like a totally bizarre world," Mraz said. "I hear my own voice and I'm like does this really fit on the radio? It makes you question why it's happening. Do people really like it? And do they want to participate and get to know me and know the group and be inspired by it? Or is my record label doing a damn good job promoting it? I can't figure it out, it's a tough thing."

"The Remedy," the first single off Mraz's debut album Waiting for my Rocket to Come was inspired by his best friend, Charlie Mingroni's, battle to beat cancer.

"When I hear that song, I think to myself it pretty much boils down to this, you can do anything you want to do, you just have to do it," Mingroni said. "It makes it easier to understand that there is nothing out here on this planet that you can't do if you want to. I beat cancer because I wanted to, and I did. Jason moved out to California because he wanted to and he did, and look at where he is now."

Mingroni also said his experience battling cancer and Mraz's music have helped him develop a new outlook on life.

"There is no reward without struggle," he said. "The good times are good because the bad times are bad."

Mingroni said fame has not changed Mraz much at all.

"Jason is still Jason," he said. "I've known him for 10 years now, and he's the same friend he's always been."

To stay balanced and keep himself grounded, Mraz said it is necessary to try and separate his personal self from the figure heard on the radio.

"There are a lot of people coming to the shows who only want to hear that song, and they just want to get their picture with me because I sing that song on the radio," he said.

Mraz's rise to fame has had an impact on his family as well. June Tomes, Mraz's mother has been going to her son's shows since the beginning.

She watched him play in coffee shops in California with just a few people in the audience. She was also at the Landmark Theater in Richmond, Va., near Mraz's hometown of Mechanicsville, to see him play in front of thousands of fans.

"It's kind of surreal to be quite honest," Tomes said. "I love to see people's expressions when they see him perform and hear their comments. I'm extremely proud. It gets pretty emotional."

She said since her son's music became popular, family from across the country have been contacting her.

"Everywhere we go people will stop us and say 'are you Jason's mom?'" Tomes said. "It's really nice, it hasn't become overwhelming."

After graduating from Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville, in 1995, Mraz moved to New York City to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. It was in New York, at age 18, that Mraz first learned to play the guitar.

In New York, he said he realized that as a singer who didn't play an instrument, he would always need an accompanist.

An old girlfriend then provided the inspiration for him to start writing music. "You and I Both," the next single to be released from Mraz's album, is dedicated to her, and the inspiration she provided him, he said.

"She was an amazing writer," he said. "She really taught me the importance of practicing and really exercising the work and your brain. We wrote some songs together and she just really inspired me, because without her I wouldn't be who I am and even though we're not together anymore we still have a lot to be proud of."