The Bird and the Bee
Encyclopedia
The Bird and the Bee is an American indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...

 musical duo from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, consisting of musicians Inara George
Inara George
Inara Maryland George is a Los Angeles, California-based singer-songwriter, one half of The Bird and the Bee, a member of the band Merrick, with Bryony Atkinson, and a member of the trio The Living Sisters, with Eleni Mandell and Becky Stark...

 ("the bird") and Greg Kurstin
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen "Greg" Kurstin is an award-winning American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009 Kurstin received a Grammy Award nomination for Producer of the Year. That same year he won three Ivor Novello awards for his work with Lily Allen, including Songwriters of the Year for "The Fear"...

 ("the bee"). Kurstin, a producer and keyboardist who has worked with artists such as Lily Allen
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...

, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

, Little Boots
Little Boots
Victoria Christina Hesketh, also known by her stage name/pseudonym Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter. Her stage name comes from a nickname given to her by a friend, a reference to her unusually small feet...

, Ladyhawke, Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor is an English singer, songwriter, model and occasional DJ. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s, as the lead singer of the indie rock band Theaudience. After the group disbanded, Ellis-Bextor went solo, achieving widespread success in the early 2000s...

, Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

, Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...

, The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...

 and Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

, is also a member of the band Geggy Tah
Geggy Tah
Geggy Tah is a band initially composed of writer/singer Tommy Jordan and keyboard/guitarist Greg Kurstin. Each of them has a younger sister who was unable to pronounce her brother's name when very young; "Geggy" and "Tah" were the baby girls' mispronunciations of their brothers' names.Their first...

. George and Kurstin met while the two were working on her debut album and they decided to collaborate on a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

-influenced electropop project. Their debut EP, Again and Again and Again and Again
Again and Again and Again and Again
Again and Again and Again and Again is the debut EP by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee. It was released on October 31, 2006 by Blue Note Records, three months before the duo's debut album The Bird and the Bee, and contains three tracks from the album...

, was released on October 31, 2006, followed by their self-titled debut album on January 23, 2007.

History

According to their Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 page, "Greg and Inara met a few years ago. Discovered a common love of jazz standards... nerded out for a couple of hours playing every song they knew... and then wrote and recorded a record together." That record was the four-track EP Again and Again and Again and Again
Again and Again and Again and Again
Again and Again and Again and Again is the debut EP by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee. It was released on October 31, 2006 by Blue Note Records, three months before the duo's debut album The Bird and the Bee, and contains three tracks from the album...

, released on October 31, 2006 by Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...

. The EP includes the single "Fucking Boyfriend
Fucking Boyfriend
"Fucking Boyfriend" is the name of an electronica/house/indie pop track from the American duo The Bird and the Bee. The single, which topped the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart in December 2006, is featured on the acts' 2006 EP Again and Again and Again and Again and their 2007 full length CD The...

", which topped the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Dance Club Play chart on the issue dated December 2, 2006.

The duo's self-titled debut studio album, The Bird And The Bee
The Bird and the Bee (album)
The Bird and the Bee is the self-titled debut studio album by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee, released on January 23, 2007 by Blue Note Records. Containing three tracks which appeared on the band's 2006 EP Again and Again and Again and Again, the album received positive reviews from...

was released on January 23, 2007 to positive reviews; Allmusic described it as "irresistible" and "charming and delightful at every turn".

Summer of 2007 saw the band touring as the opening act for English singer Lily Allen
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...

, while their music was heard twice that year in the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 drama series Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

, with "Again & Again" featured in the April 26 episode titled "Desire", and "Polite Dance Song" featured in the October 25 episode "Haunt You Every Day"; the former was also included on the third volume of the show's soundtrack. With the holiday season came additional exposure for the group, when Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

 chose "Carol of the Bells
Carol of the Bells
"Carol of the Bells" is the common English language title of a Christmas carol of Ukrainian origin, which has in recent years grown in popularity, particularly in English-speaking countries. The work was originally a choral miniature composition by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych based on...

" to be the featured "Free Single of the Week" for the week of November 27.

In 2008 the duo's third EP One Too Many Hearts
One Too Many Hearts
One Too Many Hearts is the third EP by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee. It was released digitally on February 12, 2008 by Blue Note Records. Inara "Bird" George provided lead vocals for the four tracks, while Greg "Bee" Kurstin plays the guitar and also produces the EP.-Track listing:...

was released exclusively in digital format on February 12, 2008 to coincide with Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...

. The four-song collection featured a rendition of the 1920s standard "Tonight You Belong to Me".

The Bird and the Bee appeared repeatedly on TV and in films during 2008, with "Fucking Boyfriend" appearing in the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand...

and "How Deep Is Your Love" included in the film adaptation of Sex and the City and VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

 promos for their reality show lineup. On July 8 a performance recorded at Pearl Concert Theater in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 was released as a digital EP titled Live from Las Vegas at the Palms, including live versions of "Again & Again" (Bossa Nova Version), "Fucking Boyfriend", "Autumn Leaves
Autumn Leaves (song)
"Autumn Leaves" is a much-recorded popular song. Originally it was a 1945 French song "Les Feuilles mortes" with music by Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert. Yves Montand introduced "Les feuilles mortes" in 1946 in the film Les Portes de la Nuit...

", "Man", and "Preparedness".

In 2009 the Bird and the Bee marked the release of their second studio album, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future is the second studio album by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee, released on January 27, 2009 by Blue Note Records...

, with two national television appearances: January 26 on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...

and February 4 on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Following its January 27 release, the album debuted atop Billboards Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...

 chart on sales of 5,000 copies. In support of the album, the duo embarked on a ten-date US tour, which kicked off at The Casbah in San Diego on February 5, 2009 and ended at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, 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....

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on March 7. On March 14, The Bird and the Bee performed at the Tricot Showroom in Los Angeles as part of a FMLY show.

On March 23, 2010, the band released Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates
Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates
Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates is the third studio album by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee. It was released on March 23, 2010 by Blue Note Records and is a tribute album to Hall & Oates....

, an album of Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates are an American musical duo composed of Daryl Hall and John Oates. They achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Both sing and play instruments. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."...

 cover songs.

"What's in the Middle" was featured in the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of Bones
Bones (season 5)
The fifth season of the American television series Bones premiered on September 17, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2010, on the Fox Network. The show maintained its previous time slot, airing on Thursdays at 8:00 pm ET for the entire season...

. "4th of July" was featured in the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is an American sketch comedy television series, created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim comedy block and ran until May 2010...

episode titled "Larry". Their song "Diamond Dave" appeared in Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is well known for his work in comedy films, especially for films he has been involved with throughout the latter half of the 2000s. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, a film production company that also developed the...

's 2009 film Funny People
Funny People
Funny People is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written, co-produced and directed by Judd Apatow, and starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Leslie Mann. The film was released on 31 July 2009 in North America, and on 28 August 2009 in the United Kingdom. Funny People uses considerably more...

.

The Bird and the Bee announced on their official Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 page on September 26, 2011 that they were no longer signed to Blue Note Records. They also stated, "We don't have an exact release date for the album yet, but it'll most likely be early 2012." On November 18, 2011, the duo released a digital-only Christmas single titled "Wishes" through their website.

Studio albums

Title Album details Peak chart positions
US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...


JPN
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...


The Bird and the Bee
The Bird and the Bee (album)
The Bird and the Bee is the self-titled debut studio album by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee, released on January 23, 2007 by Blue Note Records. Containing three tracks which appeared on the band's 2006 EP Again and Again and Again and Again, the album received positive reviews from...

  • Released January 23, 2007
  • Label: Metro Blue, Blue Note
    Blue Note Records
    Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...

  • Formats: CD
    Compact Disc
    The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

    , LP
    LP record
    The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

    , digital download
    Music download
    A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

108
Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future is the second studio album by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee, released on January 27, 2009 by Blue Note Records...

  • Released: January 27, 2009
  • Label: Blue Note
  • Formats: CD, LP, digital download
  • 78 236
    Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates
    Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates
    Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates is the third studio album by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee. It was released on March 23, 2010 by Blue Note Records and is a tribute album to Hall & Oates....

  • Released: March 23, 2010
  • Label: Blue Note
  • Formats: CD, LP, digital download
  • 75 145
    "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released.

    Extended plays

    Title Album details
    Again and Again and Again and Again
    Again and Again and Again and Again
    Again and Again and Again and Again is the debut EP by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee. It was released on October 31, 2006 by Blue Note Records, three months before the duo's debut album The Bird and the Bee, and contains three tracks from the album...

    • Released: October 31, 2006
    • Label: Metro Blue, Blue Note
    • Formats: CD, digital download
    Please Clap Your Hands
    Please Clap Your Hands
    Please Clap Your Hands is the second EP by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee, released on September 25, 2007 by Blue Note Records. It contains four original tracks and a cover of The Bee Gees' 1977 song "How Deep Is Your Love", which features backing vocals from Australian singer Sia.In...

  • Released: September 25, 2007
  • Label: Metro Blue, Blue Note
  • Formats: CD, digital download
  • One Too Many Hearts
    One Too Many Hearts
    One Too Many Hearts is the third EP by American indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee. It was released digitally on February 12, 2008 by Blue Note Records. Inara "Bird" George provided lead vocals for the four tracks, while Greg "Bee" Kurstin plays the guitar and also produces the EP.-Track listing:...

  • Release: February 12, 2008
  • Label: Blue Note
  • Format: digital download
  • Live from Las Vegas at the Palms
  • Release: July 8, 2008
  • Label: Blue Note
  • Format: digital download

  • Singles

    Title Year Peak chart positions Album
    US
    dance
    JPN
    Japan Hot 100
    The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com ....


    "Fucking Boyfriend
    Fucking Boyfriend
    "Fucking Boyfriend" is the name of an electronica/house/indie pop track from the American duo The Bird and the Bee. The single, which topped the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart in December 2006, is featured on the acts' 2006 EP Again and Again and Again and Again and their 2007 full length CD The...

    "
    2006 1 Again and Again and Again and Again
    "Again & Again" 2007 The Bird and the Bee
    "La La La"
    "Polite Dance Song" Please Clap Your Hands
    "Carol of the Bells
    Carol of the Bells
    "Carol of the Bells" is the common English language title of a Christmas carol of Ukrainian origin, which has in recent years grown in popularity, particularly in English-speaking countries. The work was originally a choral miniature composition by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych based on...

    "
    Stockings by the Fire
    Stockings By the Fire
    Stockings By the Fire is a holiday compilation album, released in the United States under Starbucks' Hear Music label on November 1, 2007. The album reached a peak position of #34 on the Billboard 200 on December 15, 2007, and was ranked #10 on the magazine's list of 2008's Top Independent...

    "Love Letter to Japan" 2009 82 Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future
    "My Love"
    "Diamond Dave"
    Diamond Dave (song)
    Diamond Dave is a single by the American indie/pop music duo The Bird and the Bee off of their 2009 album Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future....

    "I'm into Something Good
    I'm into Something Good
    "I'm into Something Good" is a song composed by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and made famous by Herman's Hermits. The song was originally recorded by Cookies member Earl-Jean McCrea in 1964 and reached number 38 on the US pop singles chart...

    "
    2010 Valentine's Day
    Valentine's Day (soundtrack)
    -Chart performance:...

    "Wishes" 2011 Non-album release
    "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released.

    Other charted songs

    Year Title Peak chart positions Album
    JPN
    Japan Hot 100
    The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com ....


    2010 "Private Eyes
    Private Eyes (song)
    "Private Eyes" is the hit 1981 single by Hall & Oates and the title track from their album of that year. The song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for two weeks, from November 7 through November 20, 1981. This single was the band's third of six number one hits , and their second...

    "
    18 Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates

    Other appearances

    Year Song Album
    2007 "Again & Again" Grey's Anatomy: Original Soundtrack 3
    "Carol of the Bells
    Carol of the Bells
    "Carol of the Bells" is the common English language title of a Christmas carol of Ukrainian origin, which has in recent years grown in popularity, particularly in English-speaking countries. The work was originally a choral miniature composition by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych based on...

    "
    Stockings by the Fire
    Stockings By the Fire
    Stockings By the Fire is a holiday compilation album, released in the United States under Starbucks' Hear Music label on November 1, 2007. The album reached a peak position of #34 on the Billboard 200 on December 15, 2007, and was ranked #10 on the magazine's list of 2008's Top Independent...

    2008 "Fucking Boyfriend" Forgetting Sarah Marshall
    Forgetting Sarah Marshall
    Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand...

    "How Deep Is Your Love
    How Deep Is Your Love
    "How Deep Is Your Love" is a pop song recorded by the Bee Gees in 1977 and released as a single in September. Originally intended for Yvonne Elliman, it was ultimately used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever. It was a number three hit in the United Kingdom and Australia...

    "
    Sex and the City: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
    "The Races" The Women
    The Women (2008 film)
    The Women is a 2008 American comedy film written, produced and directed by Diane English. The screenplay is an updated version of the George Cukor-directed 1939 film of the same name based on a 1936 play by Clare Boothe Luce....

    2009 "What Happened to It" Post Grad
    "A Christmas Compromise" Safety Harbor Kids Holiday Collection
    2010 "I'm into Something Good
    I'm into Something Good
    "I'm into Something Good" is a song composed by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and made famous by Herman's Hermits. The song was originally recorded by Cookies member Earl-Jean McCrea in 1964 and reached number 38 on the US pop singles chart...

    "
    Valentine's Day
    Valentine's Day (soundtrack)
    -Chart performance:...


    External links

    • Photo feature in Spin
      Spin (magazine)
      Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

    • Interview in Spin
    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
     
    x
    OK