Formation and Up-Lifted EP (2009–2010) Fortunate Youth was formed in 2009 in
Hermosa Beach, California by Travis Walpole, Dan Kelly, Jered Draskovich, Corey Draskovich and Greg Gelb during the birthday party of their friend and longtime manager, Jared Segawa. Gelb, Walpole, and Gonzales, along with Jered and Corey Draskovich, attended
Mira Costa High School together prior to the band's formation. While in Rude Boy Roots Travis Walpole & Manager Jared Segawa witnessed singer Dan Kelly perform at an Open Mic Night in Hermosa Beach and recruited him to join the band. After their disbandment the remaining members (Walpole, Draskovich and Kelly) brought on Jered's younger brother Corey and Greg Gelb, who were members of the band Irie State of Mind, to play bass. They also added Ryan "Gonzo" Gonzales on guitar and Myles Poydras on drums. Ever since the band's formation, Fortunate Youth is devoted to its roots with one simple mission; "spread peace, love, and unity with music". They released their first EP,
Up-Lifted, on January 8, 2010.
Irie State of Mind and ''It's All A Jam'' (2011–2013) One year later on July 11, 2011, Fortunate Youth released their debut album
Irie State of Mind, premiering at #2 on the
iTunes reggae charts and peaking at #13 on
Billboard's Top 100 Reggae Albums Chart. The artwork and conceptual layout for the album was developed and created by
Redondo Beach, California artist and photographer Mike Davids, a close friend of the band. That same year, Fortunate Youth supported
Tribal Seeds during their Tribal Youth Tour, and released their first single "One Love" in November 2011. The band also toured briefly with Hawaii-based reggae band
The Green. In 2012, Fortunate Youth toured with
The Expendables and Tribal Seeds while heavily promoting
Irie State of Mind. In September that year, Fortunate Youth performed a stripped-down acoustic set featuring songs from both the
Up-Lifted EP and
Irie State of Mind during a Moboogie Loft Session. They released an album version of this performance titled,
Moboogie Loft Session with Fortunate Youth on December 18, 2012. During 2012, the band headlined their own Nationwide Sweet Summer Love Tour, as well as four shows in
Costa Rica, marking their first overseas performances. They released their sophomore album, ''It's All A Jam'' on March 19, 2013. The album peaked at number one on the Billboard Reggae chart, number 10 at the Billboard Pacific Heatseekers Chart, number 23 at the Billboard National Heatseekers Chart, number one on the iTunes Reggae Charts and number 46 on the iTunes Overall chart. In 2013, Fortunate Youth headlined a nationwide tour with fifty-five shows and played the
California Roots Music and Arts Festival.
''Don't Think Twice'' (2014–2016) Fortunate Youth headlined a tour in the spring of 2014, and headlined the 2014 Fall With Friends Tour accompanied by supporting acts such as The Steppas,
New Kingston, Ashes of Babylon, Thrive, and
The Expanders. The band released a six-song extended play,
The Dub Collections, Vol. 1 that same year and began recording their third album, ''Don't Think Twice'', which was released on May 5, 2015. The album hit the #1 spot on both the Billboard and iTunes Reggae charts at the time of its release, and kicked off a "Don't Think Twice Fall Tour" that October. While discussing the album, Kelly stated the meaning behind the record was, "Don't think twice, we all end up at the same place. If you look at the back of the album, two roads come back into each other. Y'know, no matter what you think, it's all gonna be...alright." In 2016, the band released their first official music video entitled "Burn One". The video was filmed at the members' place of residence in
Redondo Beach by Jeff Pliskin of Raised Fist Propaganda. A second video for the album,"One Love," was filmed by the same director. That same year, they released
Love Is The Most High, a compilation of love songs near
Valentine's Day. Then quickly released their third EP,
Dub Collections, Vol. 2 and began recording their self-titled fourth album at 17th Street Recording Studio in
Costa Mesa, California, where they had previously recorded
Irie State of Mind, ''It's All A Jam
, and Don't Think Twice''. Fortunate Youth was added as a supporting act in
Stick Figure's 2016 Set In Stone tour.
Self-titled album & Live From California (2017–2020) In January 2017, they released a music video for "Left My Love In California." On February 3, they released another music video for the song "Friends and Family." On February 10, Fortunate Youth released their eponymous fourth album. The album peaked at #1 on the iTunes and Billboard Reggae Albums charts, and #29 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart. It remained in the Top 10 for five weeks. The album featured artists such as
Slightly Stoopid and Kumar Bent. On March 2, the band released yet another music video, "Things", and launched their Spring Tour to promote their fourth album on March 16, 2017, in
Ventura, California, with supporting acts such as
Josh Heinrichs,
Iya Terra, and For Peace Band. On May 26, 2017, they released the music video for "Vibes". In 2019, they collaborated with reggae musician
Half Pint to record on their instrumental of "Pass the Herb." The collaboration was released as a limited edition
vinyl on Raised Fist Records during their subsequent tour, in addition to a music video being released by Jeff Pliskin. The band added Hawaii's Revelation Kalauli on drums after the departure of Jordan Rosenthal. The band held an annual Thanksgiving show at Hermosa Beach venue Saint Rocke as a tribute to their city of origin from 2011 to 2019. Saint Rocke closed in 2020 as a result of statewide closures during the
COVID-19 pandemic. On May 22, 2020, Fortunate Youth released a live album titled,
Live From California, a 20-song live performance set featuring the band's greatest hits. In January 2021, Fortunate Youth was one of several reggae and punk bands on
The House That Bradley Built, a charity compilation honoring
Sublime's lead singer
Bradley Nowell, helping musicians with substance abuse. They covered Sublime's song "Jailhouse" on Disc 2 of the Deluxe Edition.
Good Times (Roll On) (2021–present) in
Asbury Park, NJ in 2022. Fortunate Youth recorded their fifth album,
Good Times (Roll On), which released on September 30, 2021. Starting in July 2020, mid-lockdown during the
COVID-19 pandemic, the album went through pre-production recordings at Kona Town Studio in
Redondo Beach, California and then they tracked key essentials at the legendary
Total Access Recording (
Sublime,
Pennywise). The band also worked with reggae producer Lewis Richards at 17th Street Studios in
Costa Mesa, California and tracked the horns remotely at Kromatic Sound recording studio on the east coast. Jered Draskovich describes the album's title, "We are all living through this global event and to me we chose the title to help ensure that 'Good Times' are indeed going to 'Roll On' regardless of all the hardships that our recent environment has provided for everyone." Instead of three to four weeks, they worked on the album for nine months. Cory Draskovich adds, "2020 was a tough year, especially for the touring music industry. With the down time at home, we were able to spread out the sessions and take our time." The 12 track album features special guests including, FY's touring horn section (trumpet and saxophone), Nathan Feinstein of
Iya Terra, former FY guitarist, Gonzo currently of
Tribal Seeds on background vocals, Italy's reggae twins
Mellow Mood, and
Skillinjah & Dread Kennedy. According to FY's
Facebook page,
Good Times (Roll On) is being considered for the
64th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Reggae Album. ==Musical Influences==