John Clayton Mayer born October 16, 1977 is an American pop and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and raised in Fairfield, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlantain 1997, where he refined his skills and gained a following, and he now lives in New York City. His first two studio albums, Room for Squares andHeavier Things, did well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland."

Mayer began his career performing mainly acoustic rock, but gradually began a transition towards the blues genre in 2005 by collaborating with renowned blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton, and by forming the John Mayer Trio. The blues influence can be heard throughout his 2005 live album Try! with the John Mayer Trio and his third studio album Continuum, released in September 2006. At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007, Mayer won Best Pop Vocal Album for Continuum and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". He released his fourth studio album, Battle Studies, in November 2009. His fifth album, Born and Raised, was released in May 2012. He has sold over 10 million albums in the U.S. and 20 million albums worldwide.

"Bigger Than My Body" is the first single released by John Mayer from his second album Heavier Things. As a B-side, the single contained a cover of Radiohead's "Kid A" and a new original song that was not included on Heavier Things, "Tracing". The intro to the song was generated using an Adrenalinn effects processor developed by Roger Linn.

Mayer composed the song after going to a Coldplay concert. He wrote it to explain his desire to write both moving and great music, like what he found in artists like Coldplay, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Pearl Jam. At the same time, he commented on the frustration of not being able to get the music outside of his own body.

"Bigger Than My Body" was performed live on tour following the release of Heavier Things. In that tour, Mayer had several concerts recorded, four of which were then sold online on iTunes as "As/Is". "Bigger Than My Body" appeared on two of these releases, the California performance at Mountain View and the Texas performance at The Woodlands (and runs for 6:17, almost two minutes longer than the album and single version). The concerts were then compiled into a "best of as/is" CD, but "Bigger Than My Body" didn't make the cut. On Mayer's former website, an acoustic version of "Bigger Than My Body" was available to listen to using its music player, but this version has never been made available otherwise.

When played on the radio, the bridge was shortened for radio friendliness, like the bridge in "Your Body Is a Wonderland". Also, some radio stations cut out the end of the song as well.