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{{otherpersons|David Byrne}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2009}}
David Byrne (born May 14, 1952) is a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
-
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician and artist best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the new wave band
Talking HeadsTalking Heads was an American rock band formed in 1974 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
, which was active between 1974 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo projects on record, and worked in a variety of media, including
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
,
photographyPhotography is the process, activity and art of creating still or moving pictures by recording radiation on a sensitive medium, such as a photographic film, or an electronic sensor...
,
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, and
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-based projects. He has received
GrammyThe Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry...
, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards for his achievements.
Early years
Byrne was born in
DumbartonDumbarton is a burgh in Scotland, lying on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. Dumbarton is in West Dunbartonshire...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Two years later, his parents moved to
Hamilton, OntarioHamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and then to
Arbutus, MarylandArbutus is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 20,116 at the 2000 census. The census area also contains the communities of Halethorpe and Relay, in which all three names were used during the 1960 census when the...
, when he was 8 or 9 years old. His father worked as an electronics engineer. Before high school, David Byrne already knew how to play the guitar, accordion, and violin. He was rejected from his middle school’s choir because they claimed he was “off-key and too withdrawn”. He has a younger sister named Celia, and his parents’ names are Emma and Tom Byrne. From a young age, Byrne had a strong interest in music. His parents say that he would constantly play his phonograph from age three and he learned how to play the harmonica at age five.He graduated from
Lansdowne High SchoolLansdowne High School , formerly known as Lansdowne Sr. High School, and currently known as the Lansdowne High School Academy for Advanced Professional Studies, is a four-year public high school in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States....
in southwest Baltimore County. Byrne started his musical career in a high school duo named Bizadi with Mark Kehoe. Their repertoire consisted mostly of songs such as "April Showers", "96 Tears", "Dancing On The Ceiling", and
Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers." His professional career had stalled by the...
songs. Byrne then attended the
Rhode Island School of DesignThe Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877 and is currently located at the base of College Hill and contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources...
for one year before dropping out and forming a band called "The Artistics" with fellow RISD student
Chris FrantzChris Frantz is an American musician and producer. He was the drummer for both Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club.- Career :...
. The band dissolved within a year, and the two moved to New York together with Frantz's girlfriend
Tina WeymouthMartina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the influential New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side...
. Unable to find a bass player in New York, Frantz and Byrne persuaded Weymouth to start playing bass guitar, and together with
Jerry HarrisonJerry Harrison is an American songwriter, musician and producer...
they formed the group
Talking HeadsTalking Heads was an American rock band formed in 1974 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
which had its first gig in 1975.
During his time in the band, Byrne took on outside projects, collaborating with
Brian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as simply Brian Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist and singer, who, as a solo artist, is best known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at art school, taking...
in 1981 on the album
My Life in the Bush of GhostsMy Life in the Bush of Ghosts is a 1981 album by Brian Eno and David Byrne, titled after Amos Tutuola's 1954 novel of the same name. The album was re-released in expanded form in 2006....
, which attracted considerable critical acclaim and featured a groundbreaking use of
samplingIn music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song. This is typically done with a sampler, which can be a piece of hardware or a computer program on a digital computer. Sampling is also...
.
While working on the film True Stories, Byrne met costume designer
Adelle LutzAdelle Lutz is a costume designer, model and actress. She is a daughter of a Japanese mother, Mona Lutz and a German father, Walter E. Lutz. She was the wife of David Byrne, but divorced in 2004 with a daughter...
whom he married in 1987. They have a daughter, Malu Abeni Valentine Byrne, born in 1989. Byrne and Lutz divorced in 2004. Byrne currently lives in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
.
Varied work
In 1981, Byrne partnered with choreographer
Twyla TharpTwyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer. She has won Emmy and Tony awards, and currently works as a choreographer in New York City.-Early years:...
,
scoringA film score is an alternative word used for the background music of a film . The term soundtrack is often confused with film score, though a soundtrack may also include songs featured in the film as well as previously released music by other artists, while the score does not...
"The Catherine Wheel," a ballet prominently featuring unusual rhythms and lyrics. Productions of "The Catherine Wheel" appeared on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
that same year.
In Spite of Wishing and Wanting is a soundscape David Byrne produced for the Belgian dance company Ultima Vez.
His work has been extensively used in movie soundtracks, most notably in collaboration with
Ryuichi Sakamotois an Academy Award-, Grammy-, and Golden Globe-winning Japanese musician, composer, record producer and actor, based in New York and Tokyo. He played the keyboards in the influential electropop band Yellow Magic Orchestra. His 1999 musical composition "Energy Flow" is the first number-one...
and
Cong SuCong Su is a Chinese composer.He studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, then in Germany. He has lectured on music theory, music analysis, film music and ballet music at the Musikhochschule in Munich...
on
Bernardo BertolucciBernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, probably best known for such films as Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor, Stealing Beauty, and The Dreamers.-Early years and background:...
's
The Last EmperorThe Last Emperor is a biopic about the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of China, whose autobiography was the basis for the screenplay written by Mark Peploe and Bernardo Bertolucci. It was directed by Bertolucci and released in 1987 by Columbia Pictures...
, which won an Oscar for Best Original Score. In 2004,
Lead Us Not Into Temptation (music from the film "Young Adam")Lead Us Not into Temptation is an album by David Byrne, released in 2003 for the movie Young Adam, a film directed by David MacKenzie.-CD track listing:#"Body in a River" – 2:53#"Mnemonic Discordance" – 2:43#"Seaside Smokes" – 3:08...
included tracks and musical experiments from his score to
Young AdamYoung Adam is a 2003 British drama film written and directed by David Mackenzie. The screenplay is based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Alexander Trocchi.-Plot:...
. Byrne also wrote, directed, and starred in
True StoriesTrue Stories is an American musical film directed by and starring musician David Byrne. It also stars John Goodman and Swoosie Kurtz, and was released in the US, Canada and Sweden in 1986 ....
, a musical collage of quirky
AmericanaAmericana is an amalgam of roots music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, rhythm & blues, rock & roll and other external influential styles...
released in 1986. He wrote and produced most of the music in the movie as well. Byrne also directed the documentary
Île AiyeThe Afro-Brazilian group Ilê Aiyê was founded on 1974 by Antônio Carlos “Vovô” and Apolônio de Jesus in the neighborhood of Liberdade, the largest black population area of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil....
and the concert film of his 1992 Latin-tinged tour titled
Between the Teeth. He was chiefly responsible for the stage design and choreography of
Stop Making SenseStop Making Sense is a concert movie featuring Talking Heads live on stage. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December of 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. The movie is notable for...
in 1984. Byrne added
Loco de Mor (Crazy for Love) with
Celia CruzCelia Cruz was a Cuban salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, with twenty-three gold albums to her name...
to Jonathan Demme's 1986 film
Something WildSomething Wild is the debut album by Finnish heavy metal band Children of Bodom, released in 1997.The album presents a darker and generally more experimental sound than the one present in their later albums, and contributed most to the infamous genre controversy of their classification as a death...
.
Byrne wrote the
Dirty Dozen Brass BandThe Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a New Orleans, Louisiana, brass band. The ensemble was established in 1977 by Benny Jones together with members of the Tornado Brass Band...
-inspired score for
Robert WilsonRobert Wilson is an American avant-garde stage director and playwright who has been called "[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theater artist'". Over the course of his wide-ranging career, he has also worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video...
's Opera
The Knee Plays from
The CIVIL warSthe CIVIL warS: a tree is best measured when it is down is an opera created in the early 1980s by director Robert Wilson to music by Philip Glass, David Byrne, Gavin Bryars and others. The vast five-act work has never been performed whole....
. Some of the music from Byrne's orchestral album
The ForestThe Forest is an instrumental album by recording artist David Byrne, and released in 1991. Some of the music from this orchestral album was originally used in a Robert Wilson directed theatre piece with the same name...
was originally used in a Wilson-directed theatre piece with the same name.
The Forest premiered at the Theater der Freien Volksbühne, Berlin in 1988. It received its New York premiere in December 1988 at BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The
Forestry Maxi-singleThe Forest may refer to:Entertainment:*The Forest , a 1991 album by David Byrne*The Forest, a 1903 novel by Stewart Edward White*The Forest , a 2000 novel by Edward Rutherfurd...
contained dance and industrial remixes of pieces from The Forest by
Jack DangersJack Dangers is an electronic musician, DJ, producer, and remixer best known for his work as the primary member of Meat Beat Manifesto. He lives in San Francisco.-Career:...
, Rudy Tambala, and Anthony Capel.
Byrne also appeared as a guest vocalist/guitarist for
10,000 Maniacs10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, formed in 1981 and continues to be active with various line-ups.-1981-1993:The band was formed as Still Life in 1981 in Jamestown, New York, by Dennis Drew , Steve Gustafson , Chet Cardinale , Robert Buck , and Terry Newhouse...
during their
MTVMTV is a cable television network based in New York City and launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs...
UnpluggedUnplugged may refer to:*Unplugged *Unplugged *Unplugged *Unplugged *Unplugged *Unplugged...
concert, though the songs in which he is featured were cut from its album. One of them, "Let the Mystery Be", appeared as the fourth track on
10,000 Maniacs10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, formed in 1981 and continues to be active with various line-ups.-1981-1993:The band was formed as Still Life in 1981 in Jamestown, New York, by Dennis Drew , Steve Gustafson , Chet Cardinale , Robert Buck , and Terry Newhouse...
' CD single "Few and Far Between".
Byrne also worked with "Queen of Tex-Mex",
TejanoTejano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican and/or Latin-American descent.-History:...
superstar
SelenaSelena Quintanilla-Pérez , best known mononymously as Selena, was a Mexican American singer who has been called "The Queen of Tejano music". The youngest child of a Mexican-American couple, Selena released her first album at the age of twelve...
, writing, producing and singing a song ("God's Child (Baila Conmigo)"), included on Selena's last album, "Dreaming of You", before her untimely death.
Byrne was the host of "
Sessions at West 54thSessions at West 54th was an American television program that featured music performances, and was in some ways a pop music variation on the theme set by the long-lived Austin City Limits, though the featured musicians represented a number of musical genres...
" during its second of three seasons.
Byrne also collaborated with members of Devo and Morcheeba to record an album called Feelings in 1997.
Luaka Bop
Byrne founded
Luaka BopLuaka Bop is a world music-oriented record label established by David Byrne, former guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer of the art rock/new wave band Talking Heads. It is considered a semi-independent label, since it receives major-label distribution...
, a
world musicWorld music is the traditional music or folk music of a culture that is created and played by indigenous musicians that is closely related to the music of the regions of their origin.-Terminology:...
record label which releases the work of artists
CornershopCornershop are a British indie band formed in Leicester in 1991 by Wolverhampton-born Tjinder Singh , his brother Avtar Singh , David Chambers and Ben Ayres , the first three having previously been members of Preston-based band General Havoc, who released one single in...
,
Os MutantesOs Mutantes are an influential Brazilian psychedelic rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s. It was formed by two brothers and a vocalist, but has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout its existence...
,
Los De AbajoLos de Abajo are a band from Mexico City founded in 1992 as a Latin Ska four-piece. Since then they have expanded to eight members and widened their musical influences to include rock, salsa, reggae, ska, cumbia, Son Jarocho and banda sinaloense...
,
Jim WhiteJim White is a Southern American singer-songwriter and guitarist. White's music can be loosely described as alternative country, but veers off in different, sometimes experimental directions with occasional nods to Tom Waits and the literary narratives of Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy, and...
,
Zap MamaZap Mama is a Belgian musical group founded and led by Marie Daulne. Daulne says her mission is to be a bridge between the European and the African and bring the two cultures together with her music...
,
Tom ZéTom Zé is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who was influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil...
,
Los Amigos InvisiblesLos Amigos Invisibles is a Venezuelan band that plays a blend of disco, acid jazz and funk mixed with Latin rhythms.-History:In 1995 they released their debut album, A Typical and Autoctonal Venezuelan Dance Band, which was a huge success in Venezuela. The band comprises Julio Briceño , José Luis...
among others.
Byrne is also a visual artist, and has shown his work in
contemporary artContemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced since...
galleries and museums around the world since the 1990s. He has also created a number of public art installations, many of them anonymous. He is represented by Pace/MacGill Gallery, NYC. In 2008 he designed nine bike racks around Brooklyn and Manhattan:
"David Byrne bike racks".
Recent musical activity
In 2001 a censored version of Byrne's single "
Like Humans Do"Like Humans Do" is the fourth track from David Byrne's 2001 album Look into the Eyeball and was also released as a single that year. The radio edit version of the song was selected by Microsoft as the sample music for Windows XP to demonstrate the new Windows Media Player....
" was selected by
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices...
as the sample music for
Windows XPWindows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, and media centers. The name "XP" is short for "eXPerience"...
to demonstrate
Windows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a digital media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
(not included in SP2 installs). The next year, he provided vocals for a track, "Lazy" by
X-Press 2X-Press 2 is an electronic and dance music trio from England. The members are Ashley Beedle, DJ Diesel and DJ Rocky .-History:X-Press 2 first rose to underground prominence through the tracks "Muzik Express" and "London Xpress"...
, which reached number 2 in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and number 1 on the U.S. Dance Charts. David said in an interview in BBC Four Sessions's coverage of his Union Chapel performance that Lazy was number 1 in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
.
In April 2003, Byrne appeared as himself in an episode of
The SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie...
, "
Dude, Where's My Ranch?"Dude, Where's My Ranch?" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons
' fourteenth season. The episode aired on April 27, 2003. It was written by Ian Maxtone-Graham and was the first episode directed by Chris Clements.-Plot:...
".
In late 2003, Byrne released a book with a companion DVD called
Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information (ISBN 3-88243-907-6). The work included artwork composed entirely in
Microsoft PowerPointMicrosoft PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X computer operating systems....
. It includes one image that depicts, according to Byrne, "
Dan RatherDaniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is a journalist and former news anchor for the CBS Evening News and is now managing editor and anchor of a television news magazine, Dan Rather Reports, on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9, 1981, to March...
's profile. Expanded to the nth degree. Taken to infinity. Overlaid on the back of
Patrick StewartPatrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor. He has had a distinguished career in theatre for nearly fifty years, including performances as various characters in Shakespearean productions...
's head."
Byrne's latest solo album,
Grown BackwardsGrown Backwards is an album by David Byrne, released March 16, 2004.-Track listing:Tracks written by David Byrne, except where noted.#"Glass, Concrete & Stone" – 4:13#"The Man who Loved Beer" – 2:41...
, was released on March 16, 2004 by Nonesuch. This album used orchestral string arrangements, and includes two operatic arias. He also launched a North American and Australian tour with the Tosca Strings. This tour ended with Los Angeles, San Diego and New York shows in August 2005. The following year, his singing was featured on "The Heart's a Lonely Hunter" on
The Cosmic Game by
Thievery CorporationThievery Corporation is a Washington, D.C.-based recording artist and DJ duo consisting of Rob Garza, Eric Hilton, and their supporting artists...
.
In 2005, Byrne initiated his own internet radio station, Radio David Byrne. Each month, Byrne posts a playlist of music he likes, linked by themes or genres. Byrne's playlists have included African Popular Music; Rednecks, Racists, & Reactionaries: Country Classics; Vox Humana; Classical Opera; Italian Movie Music. Byrne also posts personal comments on the music and, occasionally, on the state of the recorded music industry. In July 2007, Byrne posted the following comment: {{blockquote|There was another piece in the Times today about yet another 20 percent drop in CD sales. (Are they running the same news piece every 4 months?) Jeez guys, the writing's on the wall. How long do the record execs think they'll have those offices and nice parking spaces? (Well, more than half of all record A&R and other execs are gone already, so there should be plenty of parking space). They, the big 4 or 5, should give the catalogues back to the artists or their heirs as a gesture before they close the office doors, as they sure don't know how to sell music anymore. (I have Talking Heads stuff on the shelf that I can't get Warner to release.) The "industry" had a nice 50-year ride, but it's time to move on. Luckily, music remains more or less unaffected — there is a lot of great music out there. A new model will emerge that includes rather than sues its own customers, that realizes that music is not a product in the sense of being a thing — it's closer to fashion, in that for music fans it tells them and their friends who they are, what they feel passionately about and to some extent what makes life fun and interesting. It's about a sense of community — a song ties a whole invisible disparate community together. It's not about selling the (often) shattered plastic case CDs used to come in.}}
Returning to this work in the theatre, in late 2005 Byrne and
Fatboy SlimNorman Quentin Cook , also known by the stage name Fatboy Slim, is a British DJ, big beat musician, record producer and pioneer of the electronic dance genre which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s...
began work on
Here Lies LoveHere Lies Love is an upcoming concept album made in collaboration between David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, about the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos and her relationship with a servant from her childhood. The album will feature 22 guest vocalists and it is expected to be...
, a
discoDisco is a genre of dance music that that had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, psychedelic and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
or
song cycleA song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
about the life of
Imelda Marcos{{Redirect|Imelda}}{{Redirect|Imelda}}{{Redirect|Imelda}}{{Redirect|Imelda}}{{Redirect|Imelda}}{{Redirect|Imelda}}{{Infobox officeholder|name = Imelda R...
, the controversial former
First LadyFirst Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state. In the United States, it is also used for the spouse of the governor.-Origin:...
of the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
. Some music from this piece was debuted at
Adelaide Festival of ArtsThe Adelaide Festival of Arts is an arts festival held biennially in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. One of the world's greatest celebrations of the arts, it is internationally renowned and the pre-eminent cultural event in Australia....
in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
in February 2006 and the following year at
Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
on February 3, 2007.
Byrne and
EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as simply Brian Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist and singer, who, as a solo artist, is best known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at art school, taking...
's influential 1981 album
My Life in the Bush of GhostsMy Life in the Bush of Ghosts is a 1981 album by Brian Eno and David Byrne, titled after Amos Tutuola's 1954 novel of the same name. The album was re-released in expanded form in 2006....
was re-released for its 25th anniversary in early 2006, with new bonus tracks. In keeping with the spirit of the original album, two of the songs' component tracks were released under
Creative CommonsCreative Commons is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons licenses...
licenses and a remix contest site was launched. Later that same year, Byrne released
Arboretum, a sketchbook facsimile of his Tree Drawings, published by
McSweeney'sMcSweeney's is an American publishing house founded by editor Dave Eggers, author of the books You Shall Know Our Velocity, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, How We Are Hungry,...
. He also had an exhibition of his chairs — drawings, photographs, sculptures, and embroideries — at Pace/MacGill Gallery, NYC.
Byrne was profiled in the New York Times in January, 2007. The article refers to his April 15, 2006 journal entry, in which he wrote: "I was a peculiar young man — borderline
Asperger'sAsperger syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder, and people with it therefore show significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and...
, I would guess."
In 2007, David Byrne provided a cover of
The Fiery FurnacesThe Fiery Furnaces are a U.S. indie rock band formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 2000. They played twice in Brooklyn as The Suckers before performing as The Fiery Furnaces . The band's primary members are Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger...
' song "Ex-Guru" for a compilation to celebrate the 15th birthday of
Thrill JockeyThrill Jockey Records is an American independent record label established in 1992 in New York City by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards.-History:...
, a Chicago-based label.
In April 2008 Byrne took part in the
Paul SimonPaul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter. He entered the public consciousness in 1965 as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, along with longtime artistic partner Art Garfunkel. Simon solely wrote most of duo's songs, including such memorable songs as "The Sound of Silence", "The Boxer",...
retrospective concert series at BAM performing "
You Can Call Me Al"You Can Call Me Al" is a song by Paul Simon, the first single released from his album Graceland. The song originally charted in the U.S. at #44 in October, 1986 but it was reissued with greater promotion in March, 1987 and hit #23...
" and "I Know What I Know" from Simon's
GracelandGraceland is an album released by Paul Simon in 1986. It was a hit in the UK topping the charts at #1. It also reached #3 in the US. The album won the Album of the Year Grammy award, while the title song won the Record of the Year Grammy award, for 1986 and 1987 respectively. The title track was...
album.
In 2008, Byrne and his band programmed the Battery Maritime Building, a 99-year-old
ferryA ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
terminal in
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
, to play music. Essentially Byrne has taken the old New York City building, hooked the entire structure - pipes, heaters, pillars and all, electronically to an old pipe organ, and made a playable musical instrument of it, for a piece called "
Playing the BuildingPlaying the Building is an art installation by David Byrne, ex singer of Talking Heads, and Creative Time. Playing the Building is installed in an unused building and the building's infrastructure is turned into several musical instruments, including an organ, a giant flute, and many other...
". This project is markedly similar to an installation of his that ran in 2005 in
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
, and to a series of installations performed by New Zealand and Detroit based artists Alastair Galbraith and Matt De Genaro, recorded on their 1998 record
Wire Music and 2006 follow-up
Long Wires in Dark Museums, Vol. 2Long Wires in Dark Museums, Vol.2 is the second part of a project by Alastair Galbraith and Matt De Genaro. In the project, wires are affixed throughout a building, and consequently pulled and stroked with many different mediums. During this procedure, all the lights in the building are off....
.
Byrne says that the point in this project was to allow people to experience art first hand, by creating the music with the organ, rather than simply looking at it.
Byrne and Eno reunited for 2008's
Everything That Happens Will Happen TodayEverything That Happens Will Happen Today is the second album made in collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno, released on August 18, 2008, by Todo Mundo....
and Byrne assembled a band to tour the album and other collaborations between the two through late 2008. He assembled a band to tour worldwide for the album for a six-month period from late 2008 through early 2009 on the
Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno TourThe Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour is a promotional concert tour of music co-written by David Byrne and Brian Eno.-Material:Byrne has assembled a band to tour for the album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today performing music from this collaboration as well as the duo's previous My...
. The day after that album was released,
Big Love: HymnalBig Love: Hymnal – Music Written for the HBO Series Plus Other Recent Compositions is a soundtrack album by David Byrne including music composed for the HBO television drama Big Love released on August 19, 2008...
- his soundtrack to season two of
Big LoveBig Love is an American television drama on HBO about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy. Big Love stars Bill Paxton, Chloë Sevigny, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ginnifer Goodwin, Harry Dean Stanton, Amanda Seyfried, Douglas Smith, Grace Zabriskie, and Matt Ross.The...
was made available. These two albums constituted the first releases on his personal
independent record labelAn independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels.-Overview:...
Todo MundoTodo Mundo is an independent record label founded by David Byrne. The first releases from the label were Byrne's soundtrack to season two of Big Love - Big Love: Hymnal - and his collaboration with Brian Eno Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, both from 2008. The name is Spanish for...
.
He is featured on the tracks "Money" and "The People Tree", on
N.A.S.A.N.A.S.A. is a hip hop indie music duo, consisting of L.A.-based producers Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon. N.A.S.A. stands for North America/South America and, in addition to the two principals, includes approximately three dozen other artists from both coasts of the U.S. and abroad.-History:N.A.S.A...
's 2009 album
The Spirit of Apollo.
David Byrne appeared on
HIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid,...
/
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
charity album
Dark Was the NightDark Was the Night is the twentieth compilation release benefiting the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS...
for
Red Hot OrganizationRed Hot Organization is an international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since 1989, Red Hot has produced many compilation albums, related television programs and media events incorporating the talents of leading performers, visual artists, producers and directors to...
in 2009. He collaborated with
Dirty ProjectorsDirty Projectors are a Brooklyn-based experimental rock band led by Dave Longstreth. The band currently consists of Longstreth alongside Amber Coffman , Angel Deradoorian , Brian Mcomber , Nat Baldwin and Haley Dekle .-Biography:Longstreth's first album, The Graceful Fallen Mango, was released in...
on the song "Knotty Pine".
David Byrne performed at the 2009
Bonnaroo Music FestivalThe Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an annual, four to five-day music festival, created and produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment, first held in 2002. The festival is held at Great Stage Park on a 700 acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, southeast of Nashville, Tennessee...
in Manchester, Tennessee.
Cycling
Byrne is also known for his activism in support of increased cycling, and for having used a bike as his main means of transport for most of his life, especially cycling around New York, where he has designed innovative bicycle parking racks, as image outlines. He says that he cycled when he was in high school and was able to get back into the sport in the late 1970s. He likes the freedom and exhilarating feeling cycling gives him. He has written widely on cycling, including a 2009 book,
Bicycle Diaries. In August 2009, he auctioned his Montague folding bike in order to raise money for the London Cycling Campaign.
In 2008, The Department of Transportation in New York asked Byrne if he would help judge a competition for bike rack designs in the city and he eagerly accepted. Enthusiastic about the competition, Byrne sent in some designs of his own for bike racks that would correspond with the area they were located. For example a dollar sign for Wall Street and an electric guitar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The Department of Transportation loved the designs and said that they would allow him to put them up, if he could find someone to make them. Sure enough, Byrne found a place that would make the racks in exchange for the chance to sell them later as pieces of art. The racks ended up staying on the streets for about a year.
Discography
{{Main|David Byrne discography}}
Byrne has released a number of studio albums as well as scores and soundtracks, live albums, a remix album, and several singles. His main studio albums include:
- My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is a 1981 album by Brian Eno and David Byrne, titled after Amos Tutuola's 1954 novel of the same name. The album was re-released in expanded form in 2006....
(with Brian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as simply Brian Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist and singer, who, as a solo artist, is best known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at art school, taking...
) (1981)
- Rei Momo
Rei Momo is an album by David Byrne, released on October 3, 1989 that features many Afro-Cuban, Afro-Hispanic, and Brazilian song styles including merengue, salsa, samba, mambo, cumbia, cha-cha-cha, bomba, and charanga....
(1989)
- The Forest
The Forest is an instrumental album by recording artist David Byrne, and released in 1991. Some of the music from this orchestral album was originally used in a Robert Wilson directed theatre piece with the same name...
(1991)
- Uh-Oh (1992)
- David Byrne
David Byrnes self-titled album was released in 1994. "Angels" and "Back in the Box" were the two main singles released from the album...
(1994)
- Feelings (1997)
- Look into the Eyeball
Look into the Eyeball is an album by musician David Byrne, released on May 8, 2001. The radio edit of the hit of the CD, "Like Humans Do", is a sample track of Windows XP Home Edition , that can be played on Windows Media Player...
(2001)
- Grown Backwards
Grown Backwards is an album by David Byrne, released March 16, 2004.-Track listing:Tracks written by David Byrne, except where noted.#"Glass, Concrete & Stone" – 4:13#"The Man who Loved Beer" – 2:41...
(2004)
- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is the second album made in collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno, released on August 18, 2008, by Todo Mundo....
(with Brian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as simply Brian Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist and singer, who, as a solo artist, is best known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at art school, taking...
) (2008)
Controversy
In the summer of 2009 Byrne was a signator of a protest letter against the spotlight on Israel at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.
Further reading
External links
{{Wikiquote|David Byrne}}
{{David Byrne}}
{{Talking Heads}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, David}}