What is Conan Gray’s ethnicity? Everything we know about his parents
Conan Gray is an American singer who rose to fame as a social media personality on YouTube. Gray attracted millions of views by posting vlogs, covers, and original songs. Gray’s debut single Idle Town became a viral hit on Spotify and YouTube. His success grabbed the attention of Republic Records, which signed him in 2018.
Gray released his debut EP Sunset Season in 2018 to viral success. His debut album, Kid Krow, debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the US Pop Albums chart. It was the highest new artist debut of 2020.
Conan Gray was born on 5th December 1998 in Lemon Grove, California, to an American father and a Japanese mother. Conan’s father is mostly Irish. The family moved to Japan when Gray was an infant to take care of his ailing grandfather.
Japanese was, therefore, Conan’s first language. However, he lost his grasp of Japanese when the family moved back to California. The family rarely settled in one place as Conan’s dad worked in the military.
Gray’s mixed heritage became a problem when he went to school. He hang out with the Asian kids because he shared common interests with them. “They were very smart and they liked to read and that is how I was when I was a kid,” Conan said in a video titled Being Mixed Race.
“I hang out with the Asian kids because it was more what they expected of me.” However, he never fit in with the group. “I never completely fit in with the Asians and I never really completely fit in with the white people, either,” Conan said. “Even though I’ve been in both of the friend groups.”
Gray stuck out like a sore thumb once the family relocated to Texas. He was the only person with Asian roots in his grade. Conan said that he couldn’t understand why some kids bullied him sorely because he was Asian. “Why are you bullying me? I’m basically half you,” Gray lamented.
“You are making fun of yourself.” Conan suffered an identity crisis because he couldn’t figure out where he belonged. Luckily, the isolation and bullying pushed him to songwriting. By the time he got to high school, he’d quit trying to fit in. Conan told Sidewalk Talk Pop:
“It was a weird thing growing up. I didn’t really know who I was and I think I spent a lot of my childhood just thinking about what I was. By the time I got to high school, I just realized like I am what I am. That’s it, really. All mixed kids are kind of confused for a large majority of their childhood.”
Conan’s parents met at a party in Tijuana and got married. They had a Conan and his sister before they divorced when Conan was three. “They got divorced and got married a billion other times,” Conan said. “They had a funny little love story.”
Conan’s dad worked many jobs and made most of his income as an arm wrestler. His mom worked in food safety. Their jobs didn’t attract an income that could comfortably support the family. “Me and my siblings were just broke our whole life,” Conan said.
Despite the divorce, Conan’s parents raised the kids as a couple. Gray’s mother tried to impart religion on the kids. Conan revealed that his mother threw away his Vampire Weekend CD because she thought the music to be satanic. Gray’s dad, however, didn’t care much about religion. Conan said:
“My dad was like super and really crazy and arm-wrestled and like did a bunch of crazy and me and my sister would go over to his house and just kind of go wild. And then at my mom’s I’d be back home and she’d cook us dinner every night and read us the Bible.”
