Greg Koons was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and moved to Hollywood in his teens, where he worked as a housekeeper at the Chateau Marmont. His responsibilities included cleaning hotel suites for guests, many of whom were celebrities. During off hours, Koons wrote songs at the lobby piano while observing the hotel’s activity and the artists and industry personnel who frequented the space.
His experiences in Los Angeles, combined with his life as a high school dropout, would go on to inform the themes and hardscrabble characters on his lone album to date. After returning to Pennsylvania, Koons wrote much of Welcome to the Nowhere Motel in a U Haul storage unit in Mechanicsburg that he outfitted with recording equipment. Subsequently, the album was recorded at Fireproof Studios in Los Angeles, produced by Matt Keating and engineered by Adam Lasus.
His studio band, The Misbegotten, was composed of musicians including Jason Mercer on bass (Ani DiFranco), Jordan Richardson on drums (Ben Harper and the Relentless Seven), Kirk Swan on guitar (Dumptruck), and the late Duane Jarvis on dobro (Lucinda Williams, the Divinyls). Koons writes, plays, and records his own songs using live instrumentation.
Throughout his career, Koons has performed in hundreds of venues across North America, from CBGB’s Gallery in the East Village to the Basement in Nashville to many rooms in between. He has also been an official showcasing artist at SXSW, AmericanaFest, and the 30A Songwriters Festival. Additionally, he has recorded with Grammy Award–winning producer John Keane (R.E.M., Uncle Tupelo, Widespread Panic).
Greg Koons records and releases all of his music exclusively as Greg Koons and the Misbegotten.
