Pat Monahan

Pat Monahan is an American musician and Broadway performer born on February 28, 1969, in Erie, Pennsylvania. The youngest of seven children, he is the son of Jack Monahan, a clothing store owner and musician, and Patricia Ann Monahan. Of Irish descent, Monahan attended McDowell High School in Millcreek Township before enrolling at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in Edinboro, Pennsylvania.

Monahan launched his musical career in 1988 as the lead vocalist and percussionist of the Erie-based cover band Rogues Gallery, which also included Mark Emhoff on lead guitar, Mike Imboden on bass and keyboards, and brothers John and Matt McElhenny on drums and rhythm guitar, respectively. The band dissolved, and in late 1993 Monahan relocated to California, where he met Rob Hotchkiss. The two worked their way from the San Francisco coffeehouse circuit to the Los Angeles club scene, eventually adding guitarist Jimmy Stafford, bassist Charlie Colin, and drummer Scott Underwood to form Train. Between 1994 and 2006, Monahan and Train released four studio albums. In 2002, the band received two Grammy Awards, one of them for "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)," a song Monahan wrote in tribute to his mother, who had died of cancer.

During Train's three-year hiatus from 2006 to 2009, Monahan released his debut solo album, Last of Seven, on September 18, 2007, and supported it with a nationwide tour followed by a smaller acoustic tour. The acoustic performances were compiled into Last of Seven Acoustic, available exclusively as a digital download. The album's lead single, "Her Eyes," reached the top ten of Billboard's Hot AC chart, and its second single was "Two Ways to Say Goodbye." Last of Seven features a duet with folk rock musician Brandi Carlile and guest appearances by Richie Sambora and Graham Nash. Monahan also co-wrote two songs with Guy Chambers for Tina Turner's hits album Tina!: Her Greatest Hits.

Train reconvened in 2009 to record Save Me, San Francisco. That year, Monahan and several Train bandmates appeared in the CSI: NY episode "Second Chances," in which Monahan played Sam Baker, a former homeless drug addict involved in a murder investigation. In 2010, he performed with the Hollies at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on April 4, singing lead vocals on "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress." The following year, he contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Maybe Baby" to the tribute album Listen to Me: Buddy Holly, released September 6, 2011, and recorded a duet with Martina McBride on Train's "Marry Me," which appeared on McBride's eleventh studio album Eleven. He also performed multiple times with INXS in 2011, including an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and a concert at Chateau Ste Michelle, and appeared on The Voice performing "Drops of Jupiter" alongside contestant Vicci Martinez.

In early 2013, Monahan played Neil Redding in the Hawaii Five-0 episode "Paʻani," which aired on February 18, 2013. That same year he launched Patcast, a podcast focused on interviews with music industry figures and discussions of his work with Train. On April 7, 2017, Monahan inducted Journey into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2018, he joined the Broadway production Rocktopia as a guest singer. In 2021, he starred in and served as executive producer for Christmas in Tahoe, a Hallmark Channel film based on Train's album of the same name.

Monahan has sung the United States national anthem at numerous high-profile sporting events, including the 2012 Daytona 500 on February 26, 2012; Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals on June 12, 2016; Game 1 of the 2017 NBA Finals on June 1, 2017; and Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals on June 13, 2019. On June 20, 2024, he performed the anthem alongside his son Rock at Game 4 of the American Hockey League's Calder Cup Finals at Acrisure Arena.

Monahan has been married twice. He wed his first wife, teacher Ginean Rapp, in August 1990; the two have two children, Patrick and Emelia, and divorced in 2006. He met his second wife, Amber Peterson, on May 14, 2004. They have two children together, Autumn and Rock Richard, and reside in Issaquah, Washington.