Drew Shirley

Shirley attended California Baptist University studying a Fine Arts degree with a Music minor. During that time, he also started and led various school bands and shows. He had only started playing guitar as a senior in high school. After graduating from college, he also began working with YFC as the Riverside area Campus Life director, working with local high schools.

Shirley played in the band All Together Separate in the late 1990s along with fellow CBU classmates Dex Alexander (singer), Ben Rayls (drummer), and Charles Rumahlewang (bass). The band toured nationally, but was cut short after breaking up in 2002.

He started touring with Switchfoot soon after their 2003 release The Beautiful Letdown. He became an official member of the band on May 4, 2005.[2] He has recorded seven LP albums with the band: Nothing Is Sound (2005), Oh! Gravity. (2006), Grammy-winning Hello Hurricane (2009), Vice Verses (2011), Fading West (2013), "Where The Light Shines Through" (2016), and “Native Tongue” (2019).

Between leaving All Together Separate and his transition to Switchfoot, Shirley produced and played guitar on many different band projects. He still produces and plays on various musical projects.

Drew grew up in the Rancho Peñasquitos, community in San Diego, California. There, he attended Black Mountain Middle School and graduated from Mt. Carmel High School. Shirley's father was a Navy Chaplain, and his mother, Nancy, is a youth choir teacher who has previously worked with local middle and high schools as well as community organizations including the San Diego Children’s Choir and area churches. He has a younger brother.

Shirley married his wife, Jenna, in 2001. The couple has four daughters: Lauren (born 2004), Violet (born 2008), Isa, and Haven.[2]