Chance was born on August 16, 1997 in Wichita Falls, Texas, and currently resides in Edmond, Oklahoma. He is the youngest child of Scott and Lisa Chance. Chance has an eighteen-year-old sister, Alexa, and a twenty-year-old brother, Tanner, both of whom also do music. Chance began playing the piano at the age of 8 and has had three years of piano lessons. He, however, had no formal vocal training.
Of his inspiration, Chance said, "I love artists who are able to communicate their emotions through music and sing from the heart. That’s what I’m hoping to do with my songs." He was emboldened by Lady Gaga after seeing her performance of Paparazzi at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. He stated, "I was awestruck by her performance. I love her sense of drama and theatricality. Plus, she’s an amazing singer and piano player." Chance was also inspired by the artists Christina Aguilera, Augustana, John Legend, Elton John, and John Lennon.On the morning of May 11, 2010, Chance's cover video of "Paparazzi" was embedded at RyanSeacrest.com, which reported finding the video via BuzzFeed, a website that attempts to track and predict emerging viral internet memes.[17] Later in the day, TVGuide,[18] The Huffington Post,[19] and Yahoo! Music's video blog, Video Ga Ga,[3] also posted articles embedding the video; TVGuide mentioned in its article that a Facebook fan page had already been started for Chance. That afternoon, Ryan Seacrest and DeGeneres linked the video on their Twitter accounts,[20][21] as did celebrity Ashton Kutcher[22] later that evening.
On May 12, 2010, DeGeneres' announcement of Chance's booking, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, was broadcast at different times across the U.S. and posted to her website.[23] Wall Street Journal[24] and Los Angeles Times,[25] among other mainstream media, posted articles embedding the video and announcing the forthcoming appearance. That evening, ABC World News broadcast a report on Chance which was introduced by Diane Sawyer, who said the story struck ABC News as "part Billy Elliot and part Glee."[26] Also that evening, Guy Oseary, an L.A.-based entertainment manager whose clients include Madonna,Demi Moore, and Ashton Kutcher, recommended Greyson's "Paparazzi" video on Twitter.[27]
On May 13, 2010, Chance's appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show was broadcast, and mainstream media, including CBS[28] and People,[29] reported on the appearance. That morning, Ryan Seacrest posted another link on Twitter, this time to the video of Chance appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[30]Not only has he received attention from DeGeneres and Seacrest but also, on May 14, singer, songwriter, and author David Archuleta linked the video on Twitter claiming that Greyson "is talented."[31]
On May 15, 2010, Greyson Chance created an official MySpace page[32] and an official Twitter[33] account. The same day, Crazed Hits, a music industry "tip-sheet" run by Alex Wilhelm, while citing no sources, reported that Interscope Records had signed 12-year-old Chance to a record deal.[34] The same day, NewsOK posted a video, "Three Things to Know about Greyson Michael Chance", and an article in which Chance's father, was quoted as saying the family would spend the weekend deciding how they wanted to proceed before signing any contracts.[35]
On May 18, 2010, the New York Post reported on the deal with Interscope Records, citing Chance's sister and father as confirming the deal; The Post also reported that calls made to Chance's school were being referred to Guy Oseary.[36] On May 25, Ellen DeGeneres announced that she had formed a record label called eleveneleven and Chance was her first artist.[37] Guy Oseary who manages Madonna's career and Troy Carter, who manages Lady Gaga's career, would be co-managers of Greyson Chance's career, but no partnership with a major recording label had been finalized.[38]
The chronology of events has resulted in media analysis of the marketing phenomenon separately from musical or biographical elements. On May 15, 2010, The Christian Science Monitor published an article by staff writer Gloria Goodale; citing Chance's quick rise to media attention and the establishment of various official and fan websites for Chance, as well as concerns raised by music industry analyst Jeff Snyder about the quality of the video itself, Goodale asked "whether there's a Big Media hand behind sixth grader Greyson Michael Chance."[14] On May 18, 2010, Goodale followed this up with a second article focusing on the modern "age of media manipulation", which she introduced by saying, "Reports so far suggest that the Greyson Chance YouTube video is legit."[39] On May 18, 2010, ITN News posted a video report to its YouTube channel, in which many of the same questions were raised; highlighting aspects of Chance's "Paparazzi" video, media industry analyst Alan Stevens pointed out the growing inability within our modern media culture to distinguish between videos which are produced by amateurs and videos which are produced by professionals but made to appear amateur in origin.[40]
His debut single title "Waiting Outside the Lines" was released to iTunes on October 26, 2010. It was released digitally in the UK on December 9. The single also contained a studio version of his cover of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi". In early December 2010 he visited both Paris and London, appearing on local radio stations and giving private concerts in both cities.[41][42]
On February 5,[43] Greyson Chance entered the National spotlight again with an appearance/performance of "Waiting Outside The Lines" on the CBS Early Show, while stopping through New York on his tour with Miranda Cosgrove.
On May 17, 2011 his new single "Unfriend You" was released to iTunes.[44]
On April 9, he started the Waiting 4U tour with Australian pop/R&B singer Cody Simpson in Ivins, Utah. The tour ended on May 18, 2011 in Portland, Oregon.
On May 23, Greyson visited The Ellen DeGeneres Show to premiere his new single, "Unfriend You". After the performance, Greyson revealed a solid release date for his upcoming debut album, Hold On 'Til the Night, which was released on August 2, 2011. The music video features cameo from Victorious star, Ariana Grande.[45]
On September 15, he again appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about his album, and also revealed that he had taken his first steps into acting, portraying a younger version of Jimmy Chance, the protagonist of Raising Hope, in the series' second season premiere.[46]
In November 2011, Greyson undertook a tour of Southeast Asia to promote his album, which had just been released in the region. Starting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where in addition to a showcase performance he was invited to perform at the Anugerah Industri Muzik (Malaysian Music Industry Awards) show (the first foreign artist so invited since 1999), Greyson also gave performances in Singapore; Kota Kinabalu(Borneo, Malaysia); Manila, Philippines; and Jakarta, Indonesia.[47][48][49]
In March 2012, Greyson returned to Asia, this time with his full four-part band, and gave full concert performances in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, and Manila, before going on without the band on a promotional tour to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Bangkok, Thailand. In early July he was back in the region for promotional and TV appearances in Hong Kong and Changsha (Hunan Province, China).
