William Fitzsimmons
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William Fitzsimmons (* 1978 ) is an American singer-songwriter . He lived in Jacksonville , Illinois for a while, but is originally from Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . He now lives in Springfield , Illinois. The best-known songs by Fitzsimmons are Passion Play and Please Don't Go , which were used as background music for key scenes in the US television series Grey's Anatomy . The first two albums Until When We Are Ghosts (2005) and Goodnight (2006) are a self-production and were recorded by Fitzsimmons in his then home in Pittsburgh. The album The Sparrow and the Crow , released in 2008, was his first studio album, which reached number 1 on the iTunes Top Folk Albums Charts (US) and number 56 in the iTunes Top Albums Charts (US).
His music has also been featured on the American television series Brothers & Sisters , MTV 's Life of Ryan, One Tree Hill , Family's Greek and Lifetime's Army Wives . He was referred to in Billboard , Rolling Stone , Paste , Spin , Musikexpress , Uncut , Q Magazine, and Performing Songwriter Magazine .
biography
William was born the youngest son of a blind couple and grew up in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . He says his parents gave him the talent for playing a variety of instruments. Since the family cannot communicate through visual impressions like others, his parents' house was filled with innumerable sounds that replace what the eye cannot see. They even owned an organ that his father had built himself. During his primary school years, William learned to play the piano and the trombone. He taught himself to play guitar during his junior high school years . He also masters the banjo , ukulele , mandolin and melodica . Fitzsimmons is known for mixing folk with electronic music. He is compared to Iron & Wine , Simon & Garfunkel , Cat Stevens , Sufjan Stevens or Elliott Smith .
William began his career after studying psychology at Geneva College and working as a psychologist . During the summer vacation, Fitzsimmons recorded his first own songs at home, which were later released on his debut album.
His songs are usually about personal and family events. In the 2006 album Goodnight , he processed the divorce of his parents from his youth. The songs on the album The Sparrow and the Crow , released in 2008, came about during his own divorce.
Fitzsimmons' music first became known through the social network site MySpace and through a tour with colleagues such as Ingrid Michaelson and Cary Brothers , but also through series such as Grey's Anatomy . In June 2011 Fitzsimmons was on a European tour. His album Lions was released in February 2014 and the release was accompanied by a European tour.
On May 12th, 2015 Fitzsimmons released his seventh album, the EP Pittsburgh with 7 songs.
William Fitzsimmons lives in Springfield, Illinois with his second wife Erin and their two adopted daughters .
Awards
- iTunes US Best Singer / Songwriter Album 2008: The Sparrow and the Crow
- iTunes Australia Best International Singer / Songwriter Album 2009: The Sparrow and the Crow
- iTunes UK Best of 2009 Singer / Songwriter category: Goodnight
- The poster for the European tour for The Sparrow and the Crow (designed by Stefan Guzy and Björn Wiede from the Berlin design office Zwölf ) was voted one of the 100 best posters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2009.
Discography
Albums
- 2005: Until When We Are Ghosts
- 2006: Goodnight
- 2008: The Sparrow and the Crow
- 2010: Derivatives
- 2011: Gold in the Shadow (Greenland 1146493, Rough Trade )
- 2014: Lions
- 2015: Pittsburgh
- 2016: Charleroi - Pittsburgh, Vol. 2
- 2017: Live
- 2018: Mission Bell
Further
- 2008: You Can Close Your Eyes
- 2009: Heartless
- 2009: Covered in Snow
- 2009: If You Would Come Back Home
swell
- ↑ Chart sources: Germany - Switzerland - USA
- ↑ aufgemischt.com ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Grey's Anatomy Music Season 3 TV Fanatic (accessed May 8, 2010)
- ↑ a b WSJ Rock and Pop Critic Jim Fusilli on William Fitzsimmons - WSJ.com Online.wsj.com (accessed May 8, 2010)
- ^ Biography of William Fitzsimmons allmusic (accessed May 8, 2010)
- ↑ New 7 Song Album - Pittsburgh - Out NOW! williamfitzsimmons.com, accessed October 3, 2015 .
- ↑ Folk singer William Fitzsimmons Cave Child. tagesspiegel.de, February 17, 2014, accessed October 3, 2015 .
- ↑ Interview WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS. eclat-mag.de, accessed on October 3, 2015 .
- ↑ Grönland Records news entry ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Review of the CD In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. August 12, 2011.
Web links
- Literature by and about William Fitzsimmons in the catalog of the German National Library
- William Fitzsimmon's profile on MySpace
- Official website
- The Guardian: New Band of the Day: William Fitzsimmons
- Interview with William Fitzsimmons in Benzol-Mag
- Interview with William Fitzsimmons as part of his second tour of Germany
- Detailed interview with William Fitzsimmons (August 2011)
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Fitzsimmons, William |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer-songwriter |
DATE OF BIRTH | 1978 |