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David A. Stewart
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David Allan Stewart, often known as Dave Stewart (born September 9, 1952 in Sunderland) is an English born British musician and record producer, best known for his work with Eurythmics. Stewart has written songs with many famous musicians, including Gwen Stefani, Mick Jagger and Bono, and cites as one of his strengths his ability to coax personal stories from his co-writers. He is normally credited as David A. Stewart, to avoid confusion with another English musician also named Dave Stewart.
Stewart was married to a woman named Pam from 1973 to 1977.
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Encyclopedia
David Allan Stewart, often known as Dave Stewart (born September 9, 1952 in Sunderland) is an English born British musician and record producer, best known for his work with Eurythmics. Stewart has written songs with many famous musicians, including Gwen Stefani, Mick Jagger and Bono, and cites as one of his strengths his ability to coax personal stories from his co-writers. He is normally credited as David A. Stewart, to avoid confusion with another English musician also named Dave Stewart.
Personal life
Dave Stewart was married to a woman named Pam from 1973 to 1977. Stewart married former Bananarama member Siobhan Fahey (who later formed Shakespears Sister) in 1987. The couple have two children (Sam and Django) but divorced in 1996. On August 4 2001, Stewart married Dutch photographer Anoushka Fisz with whom he has two daughters, Kaya and India.
During the time that they were in The Tourists, Stewart had been in a relationship with Annie Lennox, though they had broken up by the time they formed Eurythmics.
In 2004, Stewart and his wife relocated to Hollywood so Stewart could concentrate on his soundtrack work.
Biography
In 1971, whilst still in his teens, Dave Stewart secured a record deal as part of folk-rock band Longdancer, but they did not achieve commercial success. In the mid-1970s he was promoted through the progressive rock band 'Child' just as the market for progressive rock died. Stewart then spent several years living in squats in London.
Promotional literature released in 2006 states that Stewart belonged to a band named Platinum Weird in 1973-1974. This group was in fact formed in 2004, with the 1970s history a story recently admitted to by Stewart as "80% true".
In late 1976, he was introduced to Annie Lennox by a mutual friend. Soon Stewart and Lennox became lovers. By 1977, the pair had teamed up with Sunderland musician Peet Coombes, releasing a single on Logo Records as The Catch. This band developed into The Tourists who enjoyed modest success, including a hit with a cover of the Dusty Springfield hit "I Only Want To Be With You".
Eurythmics period
Both the Tourists and Stewart & Lennox's romantic liaison ended in 1980. At this point, Stewart began a new musical project with Lennox, Eurythmics. Eurythmics proved to be one of the most consistent pop-rock duos of the 1980s. The group split after the release of We Too Are One and the subsequent tour in 1990, renuniting in 1999 for the album Peace and a world tour. Lennox and Stewart last worked together on two tracks that appeared in the 2005 greatest hits package Ultimate Collection.
Post-Eurythmics
When Eurythmics dissolved in 1990, Stewart immediately released a solo album with the Spiritual Cowboys. Throughout the 1990s, Stewart released albums, including Greetings from the Gutter, in 1994 and a 'fictional autobiography' Sly-Fi in 1999. Stewart was married for several years to Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama with whom he has two children. When Fahey left Bananarama and formed Shakespears Sister, Stewart co-wrote some of the songs on Shakespears Sister album Hormonally Yours—including their biggest international hit "Stay"—(UK No 1 for 8 weeks/US Billboard No 4) under the pseudonym Manu Guiot.
In 1999, Eurythmics reunited to release Peace. Stewart continues to be involved in a variety of projects, relocating to the United States in 2004 to concentrate on soundtrack work.
In 2007, he announced on his MySpace page that he would be playing live concerts showcasing his entire career. According to the announcement, he will be accompanied by various guest musicians as well as a 30 piece orchestra. Additionally, Stewart has stated that for the first time in many years, he has been writing new songs on his guitar, although there are no plans for a new solo album.
Stewart "re-produced" as stated in the album details the 2008 released Ringo Starr album Liverpool 8. Stewart was brought in after the album's original producer, Mark Hudson, had a falling out with Ringo. Because Hudson did produce some tracks before the arrival of Stewart, both Stewart and Hudson (and Starr himself) are credited as co-producers on the album. The album was released in January, 2008.
On February 7, 2008, mobile phone manufacturer Nokia announced Dave Stewart to join its new Nokia Entertainment & Communities Group, to "create The Nokia Artists' Advisory Council, tasked with helping to create an artist friendly environment inside the company, ensuring the artists' point of view is represented in creating new content business paradigms."
On his recent project The Dave Stewart Songbook he re-recorded 21 hit songs which have been co-written or co-produced by him during the past decades and originally released by artists such as Jon Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Bob Geldof, Shakespear's Sister, No Doubt, Bryan Ferry, Tom Petty and Eurythmics. Also included is the song American Prayer written by Dave Stewart and Bono of U2 to which Dave Stewart shot a video clip in support of the campaign of presidential candidate Barack Obama featuring various film and music stars premiered on August 23, 2008, on YouTube.
Stewart released his new song "Let's Do It Again" in the form of a £1,000 diamond-studded vibrator with attached lyrics, a guitar pick, and free digital download code called Little Steel Tonight in December 2008.
Other projects
Soundtrack
Dave Stewart started his involvement in the film industry in 1989 by writing the soundtrack Lily Was Here for the Dutch movie De Kassière. The single with the same name topped the Dutch charts at number one for five weeks and was a collaboration with saxophone player Candy Dulfer, who up to then had not released any of her material. The same song peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1990. He also peformed the song Everybody, All Over The World (Join The Celebration) for the 2004 remake of the film Around the World in 80 Days.
Cameos in film and advertising
Stewart appeared in an Apple Computer advertisement in 1993 for the Power Macintosh in which he riffed on the word "power". He also had a small cameo as a British hacker in the 1995 film Hackers.
Documentary film producer
Stewart in conjunction with his brother John J. Stewart of the Oil Factory, and in collaboration with music critic and author Robert Palmer and documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge made the documentary Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads, released in 1991. The film deals with the Delta Blues music. The documentary was filmed in Memphis, Tennessee and various north Mississippi counties. Palmer narrated.
Film directing
He made his directorial debut in 2000 with Honest, a black comedy set in Swinging London in the late 1960s featuring members of the British/Canadian girl group All Saints. The movie received abysmal reviews, with one critic remarking, "It is the worst kind of rubbish, the kind that makes you angry you have wasted 105 minutes of your life." The Times however called the movie a "cult classic".
46664 campaign
In November 2002, former South African president Nelson Mandela gave his prison number 466/64 to Dave Stewart so that he could use it to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa by raising money for the Nelson Mandela Foundation, leading to the 46664 campaign and series of concerts.
Musical
Recently Stewart wrote a musical, Barbarella, based on the 1968 film. The musical premiered in Vienna on March 11, 2004. On 4 April 2005 a Bechstein grand piano owned by Stewart was auctioned by Bonhams for £3,600. The piano had been used by Bob Dylan and Sir Paul McCartney.
Collaborations
Stewart has production and multiple song writing credits on the Jon Bon Jovi solo album "Destination Anywhere" (1997).
Stewart collaborated with Rolling Stones vocalist Mick Jagger to record songs which appear on the soundtrack to the movie Alfie, released in 2004. The soundtrack includes the critically acclaimed "Old Habits Die Hard", which won a Golden Globe award for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture. He also recently co-wrote "Friend or Foe" for the Russian pop duo t.A.T.u., which is on their 2005 album Dangerous and Moving.
He co-wrote the theme song for the comedy Ruthless People with Mick Jagger and Daryl Hall.
He co-wrote and played on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Don't Come Around Here No More as well as appeared in the video for the song.
He has been described by friend and collaborator, Bob Dylan, as a "fearless innovator".
He currently manages up and coming star Nadirah X amongst others.
He is also the creator of the comic books Walk-In and Zombie Broadway, both published by Virgin Comics.
On March 21, 2007 Stewart unveiled an initiative called "Greenpeace Works," which he labelled a sort of "think tank" to dream up ways celebrities and Greenpeace can work together on green issues.
Television
One of his current projects is as the main interviewer for an HBO series called Off the Record which is a show that highlights song writing and is slated to feature some very prominent musicians. The pilot aired on HBO November 24 2006 and featured Bono and Edge from U2
Record label
Stewart also formed a record label called Anxious Records.
Dave Stewart's catalogue from the final Tourists album and Eurythmics, to hits he has written for other artists, to film scores, has been released by BMG Music Publishing since 1982, with the sole exception of Eurythmics' 1984 soundtrack album 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother), which was released by Virgin Records as the film was released by Virgin Films.
The Traveling Wilburys
The original tracks for the Traveling Wilburys were recorded in Stewart's kitchen.
Platinum Weird
In 2006, Stewart resurrected Platinum Weird, a band he allegedly formed in the early 1970s in London with singer Erin Grace, but which was in reality created in 2004. According to the fictional account, Erin was moody and mysterious, and disappeared shortly before the band's eponymous album was due to be released in 1974. Platinum Weird features noted songwriter Kara DioGuardi on vocals and the band has re-recorded some of the fictional original band's songs and some new ones as well for an upcoming album. The album was produced by John Shanks.
In July 2006, VH1 premiered a mockumentary entitled Rock Legends – Platinum Weird, an examination of the band’s unusual story, complete with cameo appearances from such rock legends as Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox, Elton John, and Ringo Starr, all reminiscing about the former band’s short-lived heyday and their impressions of the mysterious Erin Grace. The album was further promoted by a series of bogus World Wide Web fan sites, some of which are registered by the New Media Department of Interscope Records and hosted on the same server as interscope.com, and related false documents for the "lost" group.
Much of the Platinum Weird story line is apparently identical to an earlier promotion by the unrelated band Unicorn.
Discography
For Dave Stewart's discography with The Tourists, please see The Tourists.
For Dave Stewart's discography with Eurythmics, please see Eurythmics Discography.
For Dave Stewart's discography with Platinum Weird, please see Platinum Weird.
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Notes |
|---|
| 1990 | Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys | as Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys | | 1991 | Honest | as Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys | | 1994 | Greetings from the Gutter | | | 1998 | Sly-Fi | | | 2008 | The Dave Stewart Songbook Vol. 1 | | | 2008 | Let's Do It Again | |
Collaborations & Soundtrack albums
| Year | Album | Collaborator | Notes |
|---|
| 1989 | Lily Was Here | Candy Dulfer | Soundtrack album to the Dutch film De Kassière | | 1991 | Jute City | | Soundtrack album to the BBC film Jute City | | 1992 | Vegas | Terry Hall | released under the name "Vegas" | | 1993 | Jack and the Beanstalk | Michael Palin | Stewart provided music to this audiobook version of Jack and the Beanstalk | | 1994 | The Ref | | Soundtrack album to the 1994 film The Ref (alternately known as Hostile hostages in some regions) | | 1999 | Cookie's Fortune | | Soundtrack album to the Robert Altman film, Cookie's Fortune | | 2001 | Stay younger, live longer | Deepak Chopra | | | 2002 | D.U.P. | Gary "Mudbone" Cooper | released under the name "Da Univerzal Playaz" | | 2004 | Alfie | Mick Jagger | Soundtrack to the film Alfie | | 2008 | Liverpool 8 | Ringo Starr | Co-produced and played guitar on the album and, played live promotional shows |
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