 Born February 4, 1977, DeGraw grew up in South Fallsburg, New York.His mother, Lynne (née Krieger) (1951-2017), was a detox specialist, and his father, Wayne DeGraw, was a prison guard; he referenced his father's and mother's respective occupations in the song "I Don't Want to Be".His father is of Irish descent and his mother was of Russian Jewish ancestry.