David Byrne
David Byrne | |
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 Byrne in April 2018 | |
| Born | 14 May 1952 Dumbarton, Scotland |
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| Years active | 1971–present |
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| Children | 1 |
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| Origin | Arbutus, Maryland, U.S. |
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| Website | davidbyrne |
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David Byrne (/bɜːrn/; born May 14, 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist, and filmmaker, who is well known as the founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of Talking Heads.
Byrne has released solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography, opera, fiction, and non-fiction. He has received an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, a Special Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award, and he is an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Talking Heads.
Early life and education
On May 14, 1952, David Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland to parents Emma Byrne, who came from a Presbyterian home, and Tom Byrne, whose family was Catholic. David's parents would leave Scotland for a number of reasons. In a 2018 interview, David discussed their reasoning including his father looking for a new job and the stigma they faced in Scotland because of their mixed religious household, saying “Looking back I sense that they wanted economic betterment and I think they probably wanted to be free of all the mixed marriage religious stuff. It was quite oppressive.”[1]
The family moved to Hamilton, Ontario when he was 2 years old, and while there his sister Celia was born. Around the age of 9, his family moved to Arbutus near Baltimore, Maryland in the US. His thick Scottish accent meant that classmates struggled to understand him.[2]
Early music career
Byrne began recording in his youth on a reel to reel tape recorder in his basement, helped by his father.[2] He performed in various small bands prior to forming The Artistics with Chris Frantz while at Rhode Island School of Design, which would lead to the two forming Talking Heads after moving to New York City.
Talking Heads
Solo career
Byrne has been releasing music outside of Talking Heads since 1981, when all members of the band worked on side projects. He released My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, a collaborative album with Brian Eno who had produced the three most recent Talking Heads albums, as well as The Catherine Wheel, a soundtrack to a dance performance by Twyla Tharp. Since then, he has created or contributed to soundtrack albums for many other projects, including The Knee Plays in 1985, the score to his self-directed film True Stories in 1986, The Last Emperor in 1987, The Forest in 1991, Lead Us Not Into Temptation in 2003, and Big Love: Hymnal in 2008.
Since 1989's Rei Momo, Byrne has regularly released studio albums across a diverse range of styles including Latin music, electronic, alt-rock, baroque pop, and art pop, most recently releasing American Utopia in 2018, which led to a Broadway residency. In May 2024, he began recording a new album with Ghost Train Orchestra and producer Kid Harpoon.[3]
Personal Life
David Byrne is autistic, which he began to discuss in interviews in the 2010s. He has expressed that autism has influenced his writing and stage persona, primarily in his early career, but has also provided challenges socially.[4]
Byrne was married to Adelle Lutz from 1987 to 2004. They have a daughter, Malu Byrne, and a grandson, Bo Byrne.
Political Activism
Byrne has been an activist for causes such as the importance of voting, climate change prevention, bicycle usage, AIDS awareness, abortion rights, fair pay for artists, and racial justice. He particular brought politics to the stage during his 2018 American Utopia Tour, and the following Broadway residency, where he talked between songs to discuss voting in local elections and police violence in the United States.[5]
In 2024, Byrne travelled to Washington, D.C. to lobby for the American Music Fairness Act, which Byrne argues would allow musicians to get paid for radio play. Byrne discussed his reasoning and visit in an opinion piece published in USA Today.[6]
Discography
- My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) (with Brian Eno)
- Rei Momo (1989)
- Uh-Oh (1992)
- David Byrne (1994)
- Feelings (1997)
- Look into the Eyeball (2001)
- Grown Backwards (2004)
- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (2008) (with Brian Eno)
- Love This Giant (2012) (with St. Vincent)
- American Utopia (2018)
Filmography
Other projects
Sources
- ↑ Byrne, David. David Byrne’s Desert Island Discs. 18 Mar. 2018, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09vz6r1. Accessed 30 July 2024.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cooper, Anderson. “David Byrne on Talking Heads and Following His Own Beat”, www.cbsnews.com, 5 Mar. 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-byrne-60-minutes-2023-03-05/.
- ↑ Ghost Train Orchestra. “Instagram.” https://www.instagram.com, 26 May 2024, www.instagram.com/p/C7dFlA-gGAr/. Accessed 30 July 2024.
- ↑ “How David Byrne helped to change public perception of Autism”, Faroutmagazine.co.uk, 2 April 2021, https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-david-byrne-helped-to-change-public-perception-of-autism/. Accessed 15 September 2024
- ↑ “David Byrne Sings about Philando Castile during His Encore at the Orpheum.” Startribune.com, 18 May 2018, https://www.startribune.com/david-byrne-sings-about-philando-castile-during-his-encore-at-the-orpheum/483062661. Accessed 12 Aug. 2024.
- ↑ Byrne, David. “David Byrne: Why Radio Should Pay Singers like Beyoncé and Willie Nelson.” USA TODAY, 8 July 2024, https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2024/07/08/beyonce-willie-nelson-pink-rihanna-radio-songs-david-byrne/74284981007/. Accessed 11 July 2024.