Ian Alex and chad vaccarino make up the band A great big world, a two person musical group from New York
Both were business music students at the Steinhardt Music Program at New York University where Alex was said to have convinced vaccarino to write a song together.
They both wrote and performed songs together prior to Axel embarking on a solo career, in which he released an independent album featuring songs that were all co-written by Vaccarino.[5]
They went on tour and performed as openers for Ingrid Michaelson, Matthew Morrison, and Five For Fighting
They renamed themselves themselves A Great Big World in 2012
They released a six-song EP after obtaining funding from the crowd source funding website Kickstarter
In 2013, the group's song This Is The New Year was performed by the cast of Glee and was licensed to various television networks and was used as the theme song for MTV's I Used To Be Fat. It was also featured on on The Amazing Race, ESPN , One Tree Hill, Good Morning America.
In 2013, the group signed with Epic Records and released a a three song EP under the Epic label in May 2013.