Folk rock singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton began life as a computer programmer for a software company in New York. He started writing songs about his self-confessed geek culture, with topics including science fiction, technology and the Internet. Initially, he put his music up online and was discovered by a few unsuspecting podcasters who used Coulton's music as jingles on their shows.
In 2005 Coulton embarked on a project he titled 'Thing a Week' in which he would write and record a new piece of music each week for a year, using the Internet to promote his efforts. With his reputation growing, Coulton was approached by Valve Corporation to write the closing music to their new video game 'Portal'. He went on to pen 'Re: Your Brains' for the game 'Left 4 Dead 2', 'Want You Gone' for 'Portal 2' and 'You Wouldn't Know' for 'Lego Dimensions'.
2006 saw a new collaboration for Coulton as he teamed up with comedy duo Paul and Storm opening up for them on their tour. Two years later, after a successful tour, Coulton performed solo at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and released a DVD and CD titled 'Best. Concert. Ever'. With his foot through the comedy door, he was approached to tour with They Might Be Giants in 2010, an honour he repeated in 2012.
With contacts made through They Might Be Giants, Coulton announced he was working on an album. He teamed up with Giant Marty Beller and their producer John Flansburgh and recorded the album 'Artificial Heart' in 2011. The album reached number one on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart and number 26 on the Rock Albums Chart. This achievement was a big nod to Coulton's success and the exposure led to more job opportunities, with 2012 seeing him begin a tenure as the house musician on the game show 'Ask Me Another'. He also began working with comic book writer Greg Pak on a graphic novel based on characters from his songs, and wrote the lyrics to 'The SpongeBob Musical'.
