David Byrne (musician)
David Byrne (born May 14, 1952 in Dumbarton , Scotland ) is a British - American musician (vocals and guitar) of Scottish origin. In 1975 he co-founded the post-punk and new wave group Talking Heads and became known as their front man .
Life
David Byrne came to the United States with his parents as a child , but did not take US citizenship until 2016 at the age of 64. In retrospect, he described himself as a "strange young man [...] on the verge of Asperger's Syndrome ".
Byrne was not only successful with Talking Heads , but also with his solo career, which he started in 1981. His first album, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts , recorded together with Brian Eno , is considered to be groundbreaking for the use of (then analog) sampling of predominantly traditional ethnic music.
In 1986, Byrne was the director, producer, and screenwriter of the film True Stories ; he also played the leading role alongside John Goodman . In the same year he also worked with Philip Glass on the Songs from Liquid Days , for which he partly wrote the lyrics. For the soundtrack to The Last Emperor in 1988 he received together with Ryūichi Sakamoto and Cong Su the Oscar .
In 1990, Byrne founded the world music label Luaka Bop . Originally, samplers with Latin American music were supposed to be published there, then the spectrum expanded to include music from Cuba , Africa and Asia . There were u. a. Works by Silvio Rodríguez , Cornershop , Os Mutantes, Los De Abajo, Jim White, Zap Mama, Tom Zé , Los Amigos Invisibles and King Chango published.
His song Like Humans Do was shipped with Microsoft Windows XP as a music sample for Windows Media Player .
In 2003, Byrne had a guest appearance on the television series The Simpsons . He produced and sang Homer's song I Hate Ned Flanders .
With Norman Cook , Byrne founded the music project The Brighton Port Authority , which attracted attention with a music video for the song Toe Jam .
David Byrne puts most of his daily journeys by bicycle and sets up for the better conditions cycling one. In September 2009 his book Bicycle Diaries was published , in which he describes his experiences as a cyclist in various cities around the world such as Berlin , Buenos Aires , Manila and Sydney .
In 2010, Byrne published a pop opera with Fatboy Slim , with which he set a musical memorial to the former Filipino first wife Imelda Marcos . There are 23 guest singers, including Tori Amos and Cyndi Lauper . In the same year he worked with Will Oldham on the soundtrack for the film Cheyenne - This Must Be the Place in which he also has a guest appearance.
In 2011 he was appointed to the competition jury of the 68th Venice International Film Festival .
Besides being a musician, Byrne also works as a conceptually motivated photographer and artist. He has published several art books and writes columns for the New York Times .
In addition to his preference for compositional collaborations with other musicians on his album projects, he occasionally promotes less prominent visual artists by personally awarding the artwork. For example, on his album American Utopia , released in 2018, eight tracks are based on compositions by Brian Eno and two tracks on templates by keyboardist Daniel Lopatin , according to the CD information insert . The paintings used for the image design of the album come from the New York painter Purvis Young .
Discography
For publications with Talking Heads see here .
Studio albums
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
1981 | My Life in the Bush of Ghosts | - | - | - |
UK29 (8 weeks) UK |
US44 (13 weeks) US |
with Brian Eno
|
1989 | Rei Momo | - | - | - |
UK52 (2 weeks) UK |
US71 (18 weeks) US |
|
1992 | Uh-oh | - | - | - |
UK26 (5 weeks) UK |
US125 (6 weeks) US |
|
1994 | David Byrne | - | - | - |
UK43 (3 weeks) UK |
US139 (6 weeks) US |
“Byrne” is written mirrored, hence Davidenryb sometimes
|
1997 | Feelings | - | - | - |
UK91 (1 week) UK |
US155 (1 week) US |
|
2001 | Look into the eyeball | - | - | - |
UK58 (1 week) UK |
US120 (4 weeks) US |
|
2004 | Grown backwards | - | - | - |
UK88 (1 week) UK |
US178 (1 week) US |
|
2008 | Everything That Happens Will Happen Today | - | - | - | - |
US174 (2 weeks) US |
with Brian Eno
|
2010 | Here read love | - | - | - |
UK76 (1 week) UK |
US96 (2 weeks) US |
with Fatboy Slim
|
2012 | Love This Giant | - |
AT70 (1 week) AT |
- |
UK40 (1 week) UK |
US23 (5 weeks) US |
with St. Vincent
|
2018 | American utopia |
DE31 (1 week) DE |
AT22 (2 weeks) AT |
CH21 (1 week) CH |
UK16 (1 week) UK |
US3 (2 weeks) US |
Todomundo / Nonesuch Records
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
Live albums
- 2009: Everything That Happens Will Happen on This Tour - David Byrne on Tour: Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno (with Brian Eno)
- 2012: Live at Carnegie Hall (with Caetano Veloso )
- 2018: ... The Best Live Show Of All Time
Remix albums
- 1998: The Visible Man (contains Feelings remixes)
Stage and film music
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
US | |||
1981 | The Catherine Wheel |
US104 (12 weeks) US |
Music for the ballet of the same name by Twyla Tharp
|
1985 | Music for "The Knee Plays" |
US141 (6 weeks) US |
Music for Robert Wilson's opera The Knee Plays
|
1988 | The Last Emperor OST |
US152 (10 weeks) US |
Further stage and film music
- 1986: True Stories, soundtrack
- 1991: Music for Robert Wilson's opera The Forest
- 1999: In Spite of Wishing and Wanting (ballet music for the dance group Ultima Vez )
- 2003: Lead Us Not into Tempation, soundtrack to Young Adam
- 2008: Big Love: Hymnal, Soundtrack
- 2011: Score for Cheyenne - This Must Be the Place , with Will Oldham
Guest Posts
year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
UK | |||
2002 | Lazy |
UK2 (13 weeks) UK |
X-Press feat. David Byrne
|
Video albums
- 1993: Between the Teeth (VHS)
- 2001: David Byrne Live at Union Chapel (DVD)
- 2007: Live from Austin, Texas (DVD)
Filmography
- 1986: True Stories , screenplay, director, actor, soundtrack (Talking Heads)
Books
- True Stories (1986)
- Strange Ritual: Pictures and Words (1995)
- Your Action World (1998)
- The New Sins (2001)
- Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information (2003)
- Arboretum (2006)
- Bicycle Diaries (2009; German translation by Brigitte Jakobeit: Bicycle Diaries: Ein Fahrrad, nine Metropolen. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2012, ISBN 978-3-10-004416-7 )
- How Music Works (2012; German translation by Achim Stanislawski: How music works. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2019, ISBN 978-3-10-397417-1 )
Awards
Awards
- 1985: MTV Video Music Awards : Video Vanguard Award
- 1988: Oscar : Best Score for The Last Emperor
- 1988: Golden Globe : Best Score for The Last Emperor
- 1989: Grammy : Best album with original instrumental background music written for film or television for The Last Kaiser
- 2002: Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Talking Heads
- 2012: David di Donatello Award: Best Score for Cheyenne - This Must Be The Place
Nominations
- 1987: Independent Spirit Award : Best Debut Film for True Stories (with Gary Kurfirst)
- 1989: BAFTA Award : Best Film Music for The Last Emperor
- 2010: Grammy : Best Alternative Album for Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (with Brian Eno )
literature
- Sytze Steenstra: Song and Circumstance. The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present . Continuum Books, New York / London 2010.
- Sytze Steenstra: We Are The Noise Between Stations. A philosophical exploration of the work of David Byrne, at the crossroads of popular media, conceptual art, and performance theater . Mixed Media, Maastricht 2003.
- John Howell: David Byrne . (American Originals Series) Thunder's Mouth Press, New York 1992.
Web links
- Media by David Byrne in the catalog of the German National Library
- David Byrnes website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nothin 'Could Be Fine-Ah Than To Be In Carolina . davidbyrne.com; accessed on August 27, 2017
- ↑ "I was a peculiar young man, [...] borderline Asperger's, I would guess." Will Hermes: Indie Rock's Patron Saint Inspires a New Flock . nytimes.com , January 14, 2007, accessed November 2, 2019.
- ^ Tonspion.de , accessed on February 19, 2010
- ↑ see album CD insert American Utopia
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US US soundtracks
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Byrne, David |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British-American musician (vocals and guitar) of Scottish descent |
DATE OF BIRTH | May 14, 1952 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Dumbarton , Scotland |