David Byrne (musician)
Encyclopedia
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave
band Talking Heads
, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography, opera, and non-fiction. He has received Grammy
, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards and been inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
.
, Canada, and then to Arbutus, Maryland
, 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 He was rejected from his middle school’s choir because they claimed he was "off-key and too withdrawn." 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. In his journals he says, "I was a peculiar young man — borderline Asperger's
, I would guess." As revealed by Tina Weymouth
in the commentary for the concert film Stop Making Sense
, Byrne is left handed but plays guitar right handed.
He graduated from Lansdowne High School
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 Sinatra
songs. Byrne then attended the Rhode Island School of Design
and the Maryland Institute College of Art
before dropping out and forming a band called "The Artistics" with fellow RISD student Chris Frantz
. The band dissolved within a year, and the two moved to New York together with Frantz's girlfriend Tina Weymouth. Unable to find a bass player in New York, Frantz and Byrne persuaded Weymouth to learn to play the bass guitar
. She admits that the encouragement she received from Byrne, Frantz, and famed trumpet player Don Cherry
(who lived in their building), was critical as to her grasp of the instrument.
After some practice and playing together they founded the group Talking Heads
which had its first gig in 1975. Multi-instrumentalist Jerry Harrison
joined the group in 1977. During his time in the band, Byrne took on outside projects, collaborating with Brian Eno
in 1981 on the album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
, which attracted considerable critical acclaim and featured a groundbreaking use of sampling
.
While working on the film True Stories
, Byrne met costume designer Adelle Lutz
whom he married in 1987. They have a daughter, Malu Abeni Valentine Byrne, born in 1989. Byrne and Lutz divorced in 2004. Byrne began a relationship with the artist Cindy Sherman
in 2007.
Although a resident of the United States since childhood, Byrne is a British citizen
, and has never applied for U.S. citizenship. He lives in New York City.
In 1981, Byrne partnered with choreographer Twyla Tharp
, scoring
music he wrote that appeared on his album, The Catherine Wheel
for a ballet with the same name, prominently featuring unusual rhythms and lyrics. Productions of The Catherine Wheel appeared on Broadway
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 Sakamoto
and Cong Su
on Bernardo Bertolucci
's The Last Emperor
, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Score
. In 2004, Lead Us Not Into Temptation (music from the film "Young Adam")
included tracks and musical experiments from his score to Young Adam
. Byrne also wrote, directed, and starred in True Stories
, a musical collage of discordant Americana
released in 1986, as well as producing most of the film's music. Byrne also directed the documentary Île Aiye
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 Sense
in 1984. Byrne added "Loco de Amor" (Crazy for Love) with Celia Cruz
to Jonathan Demme
's 1986 film Something Wild.
Byrne wrote the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
-inspired score for Robert Wilson
's Opera The Knee Plays from The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down. Some of the music from Byrne's orchestral album The Forest
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-single contained dance and industrial remixes of pieces from The Forest by Jack Dangers
, Rudy Tambala, and Anthony Capel.
Byrne has contributed songs to five AIDS benefit compilation albums produced by the Red Hot Organization
: Red Hot + Blue
: A Tribute to Cole Porter, Red Hot + Rio
, Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin
, Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
, and Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
. Byrne appeared as a guest vocalist/guitarist for 10,000 Maniacs
during their MTV Unplugged
concert, though the songs in which he is featured were cut from their following album. One of them, "Let the Mystery Be", appeared as the fourth track on 10,000 Maniacs
' CD single "Few and Far Between". Byrne worked with the "Queen of Tex-Mex", Tejano
superstar Selena
, writing, producing and singing a song ("God's Child (Baila Conmigo)"), included on Selena's last album, "Dreaming of You", before her death. Byrne was the host of Sessions at West 54th
during its second of three seasons and collaborated with members of Devo
and Morcheeba
to record the album Feelings in 1997.
In 2008 Byrne collaborated with The Brighton Port Authority, composing the music and singing the lyrics for "Toe Jam".
In May 2011 Byrne contributed backing vocals to the Arcade Fire track "Speaking in Tongues" which appeared on the deluxe edition of their 2011 album The Suburbs
He made most of the music for the movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
in 1990. It was originally created to release Latin American compilations, but it has grown to include music from Cuba, Africa, the Far East and beyond, releasing the work of artists such as Cornershop
, Os Mutantes
, Los De Abajo
, Jim White, Zap Mama
, Tom Zé
, Los Amigos Invisibles
and King Chango
.
Byrne is also a visual artist whose work has been shown in contemporary art galleries and museums around the world since the 1990s. Represented by the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York, he has also created public art installations, many of them anonymously. In 2010 his original art work is due to be featured in the exhibition The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
He says that he cycled when he was in high school and returned to it as an adult 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, Byrne designed a series of bicycle parking racks in the form of image outlines corresponding to the areas in which they were located, such as a dollar sign for Wall Street and an electric guitar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Byrne worked with a manufacturer that would construct the racks in exchange for the chance to sell them later as artworks, and the racks remained on the streets for about a year.
”, edited to remove its drug reference, was selected by Microsoft
as the sample music for Windows XP
to demonstrate Windows Media Player
(not included in SP2 installs). The next year, he provided vocals for a track, "Lazy" by X-Press 2
, which reached number 2 in the United Kingdom and number 1 on the U.S. Dance Charts. Byrne said in an interview in BBC Four Sessions's coverage of his Union Chapel performance that “Lazy” was number 1 in Syria
.
In April 2003, Byrne appeared as himself in an episode of The Simpsons
, "Dude, Where's My Ranch?
". Later in the year, Byrne released the book Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information (ISBN 3-88243-907-6). together with a companion DVD. The work included artwork composed entirely in Microsoft PowerPoint
. It includes one image that depicts, according to Byrne, "Dan Rather
's profile. Expanded to the nth degree. Taken to infinity. Overlaid on the back of Patrick Stewart
's head."
Byrne's solo album, Grown Backwards
, was released on March 16, 2004 by Nonesuch Records
. 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 Corporation
.
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; Country music classics; Vox Humana; Classical opera, and film scores from Italian movies. 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:
Returning to this work in the theatre, in late 2005 Byrne and Fatboy Slim
began work on Here Lies Love
, a disco
opera
or song cycle
about the life of Imelda Marcos
, the controversial former First Lady of the Philippines
. Some music from this piece was debuted at Adelaide Festival of Arts
in Australia in February 2006 and the following year at Carnegie Hall
on February 3, 2007.
Byrne and Eno
's influential 1981 album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
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 Commons
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's
. He also had an exhibition of his chairs — drawings, photographs, sculptures, and embroideries — at Pace/MacGill Gallery, NYC. In 2007, David Byrne provided a cover of The Fiery Furnaces
' song "Ex-Guru" for a compilation to celebrate the 15th birthday of Thrill Jockey
, a Chicago-based label.
In April 2008, Byrne took part in the Paul Simon
retrospective concert series at BAM performing "You Can Call Me Al
" and "I Know What I Know" from Simon's Graceland
album.
In 2008, Byrne and his production team programmed the Battery Maritime Building
, a 99-year-old ferry terminal in Manhattan
, to play music. Essentially Byrne took 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 Building
". This project was also installed in 2005 in Stockholm
, Sweden, and at the London Roundhouse in 2009. It bears similarities 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. 2
. 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 Today
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 Tour
. The day after that album was released, Big Love: Hymnal
- his soundtrack to season two of Big Love
was made available. These two albums constituted the first releases on his personal independent record label Todo Mundo
. In the same year, Byrne performed at the Austin City Limits
festival.
He is featured on the tracks "Money" and "The People Tree", on N.A.S.A.
's 2009 album The Spirit of Apollo. Also in 2009, David Byrne appeared on HIV
/AIDS
charity album Dark Was the Night
for Red Hot Organization
. He collaborated with Dirty Projectors
on the song "Knotty Pine". In the same year, Byrne performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival
in Manchester, Tennessee. He also was a signator of a letter protesting the decision of the Toronto International Film Festival
to choose Tel Aviv
as the subject of its inaugural City-to-City Spotlight strand.
In 2010, David Byrne songs were featured on the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography, opera, and non-fiction. He has received Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards and been inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
.
Biography
Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, to Tom and Emma Byrne. He was the elder of two children. Two years later, his parents moved to Hamilton, OntarioHamilton, Ontario
Hamilton 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...
, Canada, and then to Arbutus, Maryland
Arbutus, Maryland
As of the 2010 Census Arbutus had a population of 20,583. The racial and ethnic compositon of the population was 76.6% non-Hispanic white, 9.5% non-Hispanic black, 0.2% Native American, 2.1% Asian Indian, 6.5% other Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.2% non-Hispanic from some other race, 2.3% from...
, 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
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
. He was rejected from his middle school’s choir because they claimed he was "off-key and too withdrawn." 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
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
at age five. In his journals he says, "I was a peculiar young man — borderline Asperger's
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
, I would guess." As revealed by Tina Weymouth
Tina Weymouth
Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side. Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school...
in the commentary for the concert film Stop Making Sense
Stop Making Sense
Stop 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 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. The movie is notable for...
, Byrne is left handed but plays guitar right handed.
He graduated from Lansdowne High School
Lansdowne High School
Lansdowne 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
96 Tears
"96 Tears" is a popular song recorded by ? in 1966. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and on the RPM 100 in Canada and is ranked #210 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.-History:...
," "Dancing On The Ceiling
Dancing on the Ceiling (song)
"Dancing on the Ceiling" is a 1930 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the 1930 musical Ever Green.-Notable recordings:*June Christy - A Friendly Session, Vol...
," and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis 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 an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
songs. Byrne then attended the Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...
and the Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art is an art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the first and oldest art colleges in the United States. In 2008, MICA was ranked #2 in the nation...
before dropping out and forming a band called "The Artistics" with fellow RISD student Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz is an American musician and record 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 Weymouth. Unable to find a bass player in New York, Frantz and Byrne persuaded Weymouth to learn to play the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
. She admits that the encouragement she received from Byrne, Frantz, and famed trumpet player Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)
Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
(who lived in their building), was critical as to her grasp of the instrument.
After some practice and playing together they founded the group Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 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. Multi-instrumentalist Jerry Harrison
Jerry Harrison
Jerry Harrison is an American songwriter, musician and producer...
joined the group in 1977. During his time in the band, Byrne took on outside projects, collaborating with Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
in 1981 on the album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (album)
The album was recorded entirely with analogue technology, before the advent of digital sequencing and MIDI. The sampled voices were synchronized with the instrumental tracks via trial and error, a practice that was often frustrating, but which also produced several happy accidents.Also according to...
, which attracted considerable critical acclaim and featured a groundbreaking use of sampling
Sampling (music)
In 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 or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
.
While working on the film True Stories
True Stories (film)
True Stories is an American film that spans the genres of musical, art, and comedy, directed by and starring David Byrne of the band Talking Heads. It co-stars John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Spalding Gray. Byrne has described the film as, "A project with songs based on true stories from tabloid...
, Byrne met costume designer Adelle Lutz
Adelle Lutz
Adelle Lutz is a costume designer, model and actress.Lutz 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, Malu Valentine...
whom he married in 1987. They have a daughter, Malu Abeni Valentine Byrne, born in 1989. Byrne and Lutz divorced in 2004. Byrne began a relationship with the artist Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and film director, best known for her conceptual portraits. Sherman currently lives and works in New York City. In 1995, she was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. She is represented by Sprüth Magers Berlin London in and Metro Pictures gallery in...
in 2007.
Although a resident of the United States since childhood, Byrne is a British citizen
British nationality law
British nationality law is the law of the United Kingdom that concerns citizenship and other categories of British nationality. The law is complex because of the United Kingdom's former status as an imperial power.-History:...
, and has never applied for U.S. citizenship. He lives in New York City.
Work in music and film
Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer, who lives and works in New York City.-Early years:Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, and was named after Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana.she spend hours working on it to help her...
, scoring
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
music he wrote that appeared on his album, The Catherine Wheel
The Catherine Wheel (album)
The Catherine Wheel is David Byrne's musical score commissioned by Twyla Tharp for her dance project. The Catherine Wheel premiered September 22, 1981, at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City....
for a ballet with the same name, prominently featuring unusual rhythms and lyrics. Productions of The Catherine Wheel appeared on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in 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 Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
and Cong Su
Cong Su
Cong 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 Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
's The Last Emperor
The Last Emperor
The Last Emperor is a 1987 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. Independently produced by Jeremy Thomas, it was directed by Bertolucci and released in 1987 by Columbia Pictures...
, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
. In 2004, Lead Us Not Into Temptation (music from the film "Young Adam")
Lead Us Not into Temptation
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 Adam
Young Adam (film)
Young 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 Stories
True Stories (film)
True Stories is an American film that spans the genres of musical, art, and comedy, directed by and starring David Byrne of the band Talking Heads. It co-stars John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Spalding Gray. Byrne has described the film as, "A project with songs based on true stories from tabloid...
, a musical collage of discordant Americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics 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, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
released in 1986, as well as producing most of the film's music. Byrne also directed the documentary Île Aiye
Ilê Aiyê
The 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
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
of Stop Making Sense
Stop Making Sense
Stop 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 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 Amor" (Crazy for Love) with Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...
to Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
's 1986 film Something Wild.
Byrne wrote the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The 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 Wilson
Robert Wilson (director)
Robert 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 Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down. Some of the music from Byrne's orchestral album The Forest
The Forest (album)
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...
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-single contained dance and industrial remixes of pieces from The Forest by Jack Dangers
Jack Dangers
Jack 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 has contributed songs to five AIDS benefit compilation albums produced by the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
: Red Hot + Blue
Red Hot + Blue
Red Hot + Blue is the first in the series of compilation albums from the Red Hot Organization. The recording was the first in the Red Hot Benefit Series...
: A Tribute to Cole Porter, Red Hot + Rio
Red Hot + Rio
Red Hot + Rio is a compilation album produced by Paul Heck as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series intended to promote AIDS awareness. This installment is a contemporary tribute to the Bossa nova sound, especially the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim...
, Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin
Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin
Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin, the tenth entry in the Red Hot Benefit Series of compilation albums, takes a post-modern look at the contemporary rock en Español scene...
, Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon is the eleventh entry in the Red Hot Benefit Series of compilation albums. The album and related television special were both created by the Red Hot Organization , an international organization whose objective in this project is to raise AIDS awareness in the...
, and Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip is a compilation album from the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series produced by Paul Heck. It combines elements of ambient, spoken word, and trip hop to expand the ideas of artistic collage and spiritual transcendence of "the Beats"...
. Byrne appeared as a guest vocalist/guitarist for 10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, which formed in 1981 and continues to be active with various line-ups.-1981–1993:...
during their MTV Unplugged
MTV Unplugged
MTV Unplugged is a TV series showcasing many popular musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show has received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...
concert, though the songs in which he is featured were cut from their following album. One of them, "Let the Mystery Be", appeared as the fourth track on 10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, which formed in 1981 and continues to be active with various line-ups.-1981–1993:...
' CD single "Few and Far Between". Byrne worked with the "Queen of Tex-Mex", Tejano
Tejano music
Tejano music or Tex-Mex music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Mexican-American populations of Central and Southern Texas...
superstar Selena
Selena
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez , known simply as Selena, was a Mexican American singer-songwriter. She was named the "top Latin artist of the '90s" and "Best selling Latin artist of the decade" by Billboard for her fourteen top-ten singles in the Top Latin Songs chart, including seven number-one hits...
, writing, producing and singing a song ("God's Child (Baila Conmigo)"), included on Selena's last album, "Dreaming of You", before her death. Byrne was the host of Sessions at West 54th
Sessions at West 54th
Sessions 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. It was called Sessions at West 54th...
during its second of three seasons and collaborated with members of Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
and Morcheeba
Morcheeba
Morcheeba are a British band, mixing influences from trip hop, rock, R&B, and pop.They have produced 7 albums since 1995, two of which reached the UK top ten.-Biography:...
to record the album Feelings in 1997.
In 2008 Byrne collaborated with The Brighton Port Authority, composing the music and singing the lyrics for "Toe Jam".
In May 2011 Byrne contributed backing vocals to the Arcade Fire track "Speaking in Tongues" which appeared on the deluxe edition of their 2011 album The Suburbs
The Suburbs (Arcade Fire album)
The Suburbs is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released in August 2010. Coinciding with the announcement the band released a limited edition 12-inch single containing two tracks from the album, “The Suburbs” and “Month of May”. The album debuted at #1 on the Irish...
He made most of the music for the movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
Other work
Byrne founded the world music record label Luaka BopLuaka Bop
Luaka 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 has been a wholly independent label since leaving V2 in 2006. Previous distribution relationships included Warner and Virgin...
in 1990. It was originally created to release Latin American compilations, but it has grown to include music from Cuba, Africa, the Far East and beyond, releasing the work of artists such as Cornershop
Cornershop
Cornershop are a British indie rock band formed 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 1991...
, Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes
Os 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 Abajo
Los de Abajo (band)
Los 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 White, Zap Mama
Zap Mama
Zap 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 Zé
Tom Zé
Tom Zé is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who was influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. After the peak of the Tropicália period, Zé went into relative obscurity: it was only in the 1990s, when the musician and label head David Byrne discovered an album recorded...
, Los Amigos Invisibles
Los Amigos Invisibles
Los Amigos Invisibles is a multiple-Grammy nominated and Latin Grammy winning Venezuelan band that plays a blend of disco, acid jazz and funk mixed with Latin rhythms...
and King Chango
King Changó
King Changó is a Latin ska band from New York City, New York with roots in Venezuela. Its name comes from Changó, the Afro-Cuban god of war.King Changó is back; check .- Members :* José Andrés Blanco, Blanquito Man -...
.
Byrne is also a visual artist whose work has been shown in contemporary art galleries and museums around the world since the 1990s. Represented by the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York, he has also created public art installations, many of them anonymously. In 2010 his original art work is due to be featured in the exhibition The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
Cycling
Byrne is 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. He has a regular cycling column in the New York Times.He says that he cycled when he was in high school and returned to it as an adult 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, Byrne designed a series of bicycle parking racks in the form of image outlines corresponding to the areas in which they were located, such as a dollar sign for Wall Street and an electric guitar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Byrne worked with a manufacturer that would construct the racks in exchange for the chance to sell them later as artworks, and the racks remained on the streets for about a year.
Musical activity since 2001
In 2001 a version of Byrne's single “Like Humans DoLike 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...
”, edited to remove its drug reference, was selected by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
as the sample music for Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
to demonstrate Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a 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 2
X-Press 2
X-Press 2 is an English electronic and dance music duo. The members are DJ Diesel and DJ Rocky . Ashley Beedle left to pursue solo projects in 2009.-History:...
, which reached number 2 in the United Kingdom and number 1 on the U.S. Dance Charts. Byrne said in an interview in BBC Four Sessions's coverage of his Union Chapel performance that “Lazy” was number 1 in Syria
Syria
Syria , 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 Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated 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 family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, "Dude, Where's My Ranch?
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:...
". Later in the year, Byrne released the book Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information (ISBN 3-88243-907-6). together with a companion DVD. The work included artwork composed entirely in Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint, usually just called PowerPoint, is a non-free commercial presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X operating system...
. It includes one image that depicts, according to Byrne, "Dan Rather
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the 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,...
's profile. Expanded to the nth degree. Taken to infinity. Overlaid on the back of Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
's head."
Byrne's solo album, Grown Backwards
Grown Backwards
Grown Backwards is an album by David Byrne, released March 16, 2004.-Track listing:All tracks written by David Byrne, except where noted.#"Glass, Concrete & Stone" – 4:13...
, was released on March 16, 2004 by Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
. 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 Corporation
Thievery Corporation
Thievery Corporation is a Washington, D.C. based recording artist and DJ duo consisting of Rob Garza, Eric Hilton, and their supporting artists, including current drummer Jeff Franca...
.
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; Country music classics; Vox Humana; Classical opera, and film scores from Italian movies. 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:
Returning to this work in the theatre, in late 2005 Byrne and Fatboy Slim
Fatboy Slim
Norman Quentin Cook better known by his former stage name Fatboy Slim, is a British DJ, electronic dance music musician, and record producer. He is a pioneer of the big beat genre that achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s...
began work on Here Lies Love
Here Lies Love
Here Lies Love is a concept album and rock musical made in collaboration between David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, about the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos along with the woman who raised her—Estrella Cumpas—and follows Marcos until she and her family were forced to leave...
, a disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
or song cycle
Song cycle
A 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
Imelda Marcos
Imelda R. Marcos is a Filipino politician and widow of 10th Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Upon the ascension of her husband to political power, she held various positions to the government until 1986...
, the controversial former First Lady of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. Some music from this piece was debuted at Adelaide Festival of Arts
Adelaide Festival of Arts
The Adelaide Festival of Arts is an arts festival held biennially in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Although locally considered to be one of the world's greatest celebrations of the arts, that is internationally renowned and the pre-eminent cultural event in Australia, it is actually...
in Australia in February 2006 and the following year 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....
on February 3, 2007.
Byrne and Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
's influential 1981 album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (album)
The album was recorded entirely with analogue technology, before the advent of digital sequencing and MIDI. The sampled voices were synchronized with the instrumental tracks via trial and error, a practice that was often frustrating, but which also produced several happy accidents.Also according to...
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 Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States 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 and a remix contest site was launched. Later that same year, Byrne released Arboretum, a sketchbook facsimile of his Tree Drawings, published by McSweeney's
McSweeney's
McSweeney's is an American publishing house founded by editor Dave Eggers.Apart from its book list, McSweeney's is responsible for four regular publications: the quarterly literary journal,...
. He also had an exhibition of his chairs — drawings, photographs, sculptures, and embroideries — at Pace/MacGill Gallery, NYC. In 2007, David Byrne provided a cover of The Fiery Furnaces
The Fiery Furnaces
The Fiery Furnaces are a U.S. indie rock band formed in 2000 in Brooklyn, New York. The band's primary members are Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. The siblings are originally from Oak Park, Illinois, a near-western suburb of Chicago.- Band biography :...
' song "Ex-Guru" for a compilation to celebrate the 15th birthday of Thrill Jockey
Thrill Jockey
Thrill 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 Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
retrospective concert series at BAM performing "You Can Call Me Al
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 No. 44 in October 1986 but it was reissued with greater promotion in March 1987 and hit No. 23. In the UK it peaked at No. 4, while in Sweden and the...
" and "I Know What I Know" from Simon's Graceland
Graceland (album)
Graceland was Paul Simon's highest charting album in the U.S. in over a decade, reaching #3 in the national Billboard charts, receiving a certification of 5× Platinum by the RIAA and eventually selling over 14 million copies, making it Simon's most commercially successful album...
album.
In 2008, Byrne and his production team programmed the Battery Maritime Building
Playing the Building
Playing the Building is an art installation by David Byrne, ex singer of Talking Heads, and Färgfabriken, an independent art venue in Stockholm. The concept would later be realized in New York City, in parts of the Battery Maritime Building, and in London in The Roundhouse...
, a 99-year-old ferry terminal in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, to play music. Essentially Byrne took 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 Building
Playing the Building
Playing the Building is an art installation by David Byrne, ex singer of Talking Heads, and Färgfabriken, an independent art venue in Stockholm. The concept would later be realized in New York City, in parts of the Battery Maritime Building, and in London in The Roundhouse...
". This project was also installed in 2005 in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden, and at the London Roundhouse in 2009. It bears similarities 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. 2
Long Wires in Dark Museums, Vol. 2
Long 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.-Track...
. 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 Today
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. The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and optimism in spite of bleak circumstance through the blending of electronic...
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 Tour
Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour
The Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour is a 2008–2009 promotional concert tour of music co-written by David Byrne and Brian Eno with performances by Byrne...
. The day after that album was released, Big Love: Hymnal
Big Love: Hymnal
Big 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 Love
Big Love
Big Love is an American television drama that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. The show is about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy...
was made available. These two albums constituted the first releases on his personal independent record label Todo Mundo
Todo Mundo
Todo Mundo is an independent record label founded by David Byrne in 2008. 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...
. In the same year, Byrne performed at the Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States...
festival.
He is featured on the tracks "Money" and "The People Tree", on N.A.S.A.
N.A.S.A. (musical group)
N.A.S.A. is a hip hop music duo, consisting of L.A.-based producers Squeak E. Clean and the Brazilian 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...
's 2009 album The Spirit of Apollo. Also in 2009, David Byrne appeared on HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
/AIDS
AIDS
Acquired 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 Night
Dark Was the Night
Dark 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 Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
. He collaborated with Dirty Projectors
Dirty Projectors
The Dirty Projectors aka David Longstreth includes Amber Coffman , Angel Deradoorian , Brian McOmber , Nat Baldwin , and Haley Dekle during live performances...
on the song "Knotty Pine". In the same year, Byrne performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival
Bonnaroo Music Festival
The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an annual four day music festival created and produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment, held at Great Stage Park on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee. It hosted its tenth annual event June 9–12, 2011...
in Manchester, Tennessee. He also was a signator of a letter protesting the decision of the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
to choose Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
as the subject of its inaugural City-to-City Spotlight strand.
In 2010, David Byrne songs were featured on the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
Selected discography
- My Life in the Bush of GhostsMy Life in the Bush of Ghosts (album)The album was recorded entirely with analogue technology, before the advent of digital sequencing and MIDI. The sampled voices were synchronized with the instrumental tracks via trial and error, a practice that was often frustrating, but which also produced several happy accidents.Also according to...
(with Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
) (1981) - Rei MomoRei MomoRei 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, Cuban Son, samba, mambo, cumbia, cha-cha-chá, bomba, and charanga....
(1989) - The ForestThe Forest (album)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 ByrneDavid Byrne (album)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 EyeballLook Into the EyeballLook 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 BackwardsGrown BackwardsGrown Backwards is an album by David Byrne, released March 16, 2004.-Track listing:All tracks written by David Byrne, except where noted.#"Glass, Concrete & Stone" – 4:13...
(2004) - Everything That Happens Will Happen TodayEverything 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. The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and optimism in spite of bleak circumstance through the blending of electronic...
(with Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
) (2008)
Books
- True Stories (1986)
- Strange Ritual, Chronicle Books (1995)
- Your Action World (1999)
- The New Sins (Los Nuevos Pecados) (2001)
- David Byrne Asks You: What Is It? Smart Art Press (2002)
- Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information with DVD (2003)
- Arboretum, (2006)
- Bicycle Diaries (2009)
Film
- Stop Making SenseStop 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 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. The movie is notable for...
- concert movie from Talking HeadsTalking HeadsTalking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
tour (1984) - True StoriesTrue Stories (film)True Stories is an American film that spans the genres of musical, art, and comedy, directed by and starring David Byrne of the band Talking Heads. It co-stars John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Spalding Gray. Byrne has described the film as, "A project with songs based on true stories from tabloid...
(1986) - Ile Aiye (The house of life) - Documentary (1989)
- Here Lies LoveHere Lies LoveHere Lies Love is a concept album and rock musical made in collaboration between David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, about the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos along with the woman who raised her—Estrella Cumpas—and follows Marcos until she and her family were forced to leave...
- concept album in collaboration with Norman Cook (released 2010) - Ride, Rise, RoarRide, Rise, RoarRide, Rise, Roar is a documentary film chronicling the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour conducted by David Byrne in 2008–2009. The film includes concert footage, footage of the planning and rehearsals for the tour, and exclusive interviews with Byrne, Eno, and the supporting musicians and...
- music documentary of his concert tour with Brian EnoSongs of David Byrne and Brian Eno TourThe Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour is a 2008–2009 promotional concert tour of music co-written by David Byrne and Brian Eno with performances by Byrne...
(released 2010) - This Must Be the PlaceThis Must Be the Place (film)This Must Be the Place is a 2011 drama film directed by Paolo Sorrentino, written by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello. It stars Sean Penn and Frances McDormand...
- 2011
Further reading
- Sytze Steenstra: Song and Circumstance. The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present. New York and London: Continuum Books, 2010.
- John Howell: David Byrne. (American Originals Series) New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1992.
- Ian Gittin: Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime: The Stories Behind Every Song.
External links
- His journal
- Byrne, Baby Byrne, Guernica MagazineGuernica MagazineGuernica / A Magazine of Art and Politics is a biweekly online site that publishes art and photography, fiction, and poetry, from around the world, along with nonfiction such as letters from abroad, investigative pieces and opinion pieces on international affairs and U.S. domestic policy...
's Michael Archer interviews David Byrne - David Byrne Carl Jung Lecture
- 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 theatre. Maastricht: Mixed Media, 2003.
- The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl