Gary Jules Aguirre Jr. was born on March 19, 1969 in Fresno, California and is an American singer-songwriter known for his cover versions of popular songs. He attended The Bishop's School in La Jolla, California. Despite having released his debut album Greetings from the Side in 1998, his breakthrough moment came with the release of "Mad World", a cover version of the Tears for Fears song recorded with Michael Andrews for the 2001 film Donnie Darko. Released as a single in December 2003, it became the UK Christmas Number 1 single that year. The track was originally included in Gary Jules' second studio album Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets, which peaked at number 144 on the Billboard 200. His cover of "Mad World" gained significant popularity and was featured in various television programs such as General Hospital, Without a Trace, The O.C., Smallville, Jericho, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, House and Riverdale. Over the the next few years, he released a self-titled studio album in 2006 and Bird in 2008. In 2013, Gary Jules performed "Mad World" as a guest with French singer Mylène Farmer during her Timeless tour. Other notable songs include "Something Else", which was featured on the NBC show Scrubs, and "Gone Daddy", inspired by his relocation from Southern California to North Carolina following a neighborhood shooting.
