Elliott Murphy
Encyclopedia
Elliott James Murphy is an American
rock singer-songwriter
, novelist, producer
and journalist
living in Paris
.
to a show business family. His mother Josephine was a former actress while his father was a well-known impresario, whose multi-faceted Aquashow ran all through the 1950s on the site of the 1939 New York World's Fair
. The show was staged in an Art Deco
outdoor theatre and featured diving clowns, ballet swimmers, jugglers, comedians and The Duke Ellington
Orchestra. Later, Elliott Sr. opened the Sky Club in Roosevelt Field, Long Island
not far from where Charles Lindbergh
took off for his historic flight to Europe. The Sky Club was a politically connected restaurant/private club hosting such famous politicians of the time as Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller
. But more impressive to the young Elliott were the Sky Club's dance soirees, which featured The Ronettes
, Jay and the Americans
and The Seeds
.
Elliott grew up in nearby Garden City
with two siblings and started playing the guitar at 12 years old. His band The Rapscallions he won the 1966 New York State Battle of the Bands. He began writing songs while singing on the streets of Europe in 1971 (where he had a bit part in Fellini's Roma) and returned to New York
after a brief stay in San Francisco to secure a record contract with Polydor Records after being discovered by legendary rock critic Paul Nelson
.
His debut album Aquashow
(1973) was a critical success landing on many "best of" lists for the year and feature stories on Murphy appeared in Rolling Stone
, Newsweek
and The New Yorker
. Aquashow
was reviewed in Rolling Stone
by Paul Nelson along with Bruce Springsteen
's second album The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle where they were proclaimed "The Best Dylan since 1968" and beginning the "New Dylan" tag that both cursed and blessed many prominent singer-songwriters of the 1970s. Follow up albums Lost Generation (1975) produced by Doors Producer Paul Rothschild, Night Lights (1976) and Just a Story from America (1977) received equal acclaim. Special guests on Murphy's album have included Bruce Springsteen
, Mick Taylor
, Billy Joel
, Phil Collins
, Sonny Landreth
, David Johansen
, The Violent Femmes, Cindy Bullens
and Shawn Colvin
. His music was post-Bob Dylan
poetic rock heavily influenced by New York's Velvet Underground and propelled by Murphy's driving electric guitar, harmonica and,occasionally, keyboards. After four albums on major labels Murphy was one of the first American artists to go independent (by both choice and necessity) with the release of the EP
Affairs (1980) that sold well in Europe and set the stage for the successful Murph the Surf (1982) and an appearance at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival
.
In 1985 the Jerry Harrison
(Talking Heads
) produced Milwaukee began his long relationship with New Rose Records in France. By this time Murphy was touring Europe constantly and finally moved to Paris
in 1989 where he continues to live with his wife, actress Françoise Viallon-Murphy and son Gaspard
. Selling the Gold (1995) featured a duet with Bruce Springsteen
, who often has invited him on stage during his European shows.
The following albums Beauregard, Rainy Season, Soul Surfing and La Terre Commune (a duo with Iain Matthews
) marked a renaissance in his recording career, with many critics calling his double album Strings of the Storm his finest up to this point. With French
guitar wizard Olivier Durand he tours constantly, playing well over 100 shows a year all over Europe and to sum up their 10 years together, Never Say Never...The Best of 1995-2005, a CD + bonus DVD package of performances, videos and a discography showing all 26 album covers was released in 2005. The year ended with Murphy Gets Muddy, an album of 9 classic blues covers and 5 Murphy blues originals, accompanied by a bonus DVD honoring blues songsmith Willy Dixon with 5 live interpretations. In early 2007 the album Coming Home Again was released in Europe and on iTunes
. Murphy's 30th studio album, Notes from the Underground, came out in 2008 and received 4 stars on the prestigious All Music Guide, In fact, 18 of Murphy's albums have received 4 or 5 stars on All Music Guide. 2008/2009 saw Murphy back in the United States for a duo and a band tour. A live CD/DVD-set documenting a Paris concert is scheduled for release in fall 2009.
"Rock'n roll is my addiction and literature is my religion", Murphy likes to confess in interviews and articles. In addition to his music and song lyrics Murphy has written for Rolling Stone
, Spin, Mucchio Selvaggio and various European magazines and has published Cold & Electric, a semi-autobiographical novel, in French, German and Spanish editions, as well as two short story collections (The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Where the Women Are Naked And The Men Are Rich) and in 2003 Café Notes (Hachette, France). In 2005 his neo-western novel Poetic Justice (Hachette, France) came out in a French translation. English and Italian editions are in preparation.
In 2008 The Mayor of the 8th Arrondisement in Paris celebrated Elliott Murphy's career with a month long exhibition "Elliott Murphy - Last of the Rock Stars" featuring hundreds of items from his career including posters, lyric notes, rare photographs and reviews and a personal letter from Federico Fellini. The Exhibition culminated with a concert in the ornate "Salle de Fete" of the town hall and was captured on the CD/DVD "Alive in Paris" released one year later.
Murphy's son, Gaspard Murphy, plays in a French band The Dukes as well as his own band Duplex.
Murphy's maternal grandfather was born and raised in Tupelo,
Mississippi, Elvis Presley
's hometown.
Laurent Pardo
on bass and cello, and Alan Fatras on drums
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, novelist, producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
living in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Biography
Elliott James Murphy, Jr. was born in Rockville Centre, New YorkRockville Centre, New York
Rockville Centre is a village located in Nassau County, New York, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the village had a total population of 24,023. The town is made up of middle to upper middle class residents, most of the wealthier residents residing on the north side of town near the...
to a show business family. His mother Josephine was a former actress while his father was a well-known impresario, whose multi-faceted Aquashow ran all through the 1950s on the site of the 1939 New York World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
. The show was staged in an Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
outdoor theatre and featured diving clowns, ballet swimmers, jugglers, comedians and The Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
Orchestra. Later, Elliott Sr. opened the Sky Club in Roosevelt Field, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
not far from where Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
took off for his historic flight to Europe. The Sky Club was a politically connected restaurant/private club hosting such famous politicians of the time as Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
. But more impressive to the young Elliott were the Sky Club's dance soirees, which featured The Ronettes
The Ronettes
The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...
, Jay and the Americans
Jay and the Americans
Jay and the Americans was a pop music group popular in the 1960s. Their initial lineup consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane , Kenny Vance and Sandy Deanne , though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black.-Early years:They were...
and The Seeds
The Seeds
The Seeds were an American rock band. The group, whose repertoire spread between garage rock and acid rock, are considered one of the pioneers of punk rock.-History:...
.
Elliott grew up in nearby Garden City
Garden City, New York
Garden City is a village in the town of Hempstead in central Nassau County, New York, in the United States. It was founded by multi-millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart in 1869, and is located on Long Island, to the east of New York City, from mid-town Manhattan, and just south of the town of...
with two siblings and started playing the guitar at 12 years old. His band The Rapscallions he won the 1966 New York State Battle of the Bands. He began writing songs while singing on the streets of Europe in 1971 (where he had a bit part in Fellini's Roma) and returned to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
after a brief stay in San Francisco to secure a record contract with Polydor Records after being discovered by legendary rock critic Paul Nelson
Paul Nelson (critic)
Paul Nelson was a folk and rock music critic who wrote for Sing Out! and Rolling Stone. He was instrumental in launching and supporting the careers of Bob Dylan, The New York Dolls, Elliott Murphy, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon...
.
His debut album Aquashow
Aquashow
Aquashow was the debut album by singer-songwriter Elliott Murphy and was reviewed by Paul Nelson in Rolling Stone along with Bruce Springsteen's The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle under the headline "The Best Dylan since 1968" which earned them both the "New-Dylan" tag.-Track...
(1973) was a critical success landing on many "best of" lists for the year and feature stories on Murphy appeared in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
and The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
. Aquashow
Aquashow
Aquashow was the debut album by singer-songwriter Elliott Murphy and was reviewed by Paul Nelson in Rolling Stone along with Bruce Springsteen's The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle under the headline "The Best Dylan since 1968" which earned them both the "New-Dylan" tag.-Track...
was reviewed in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
by Paul Nelson along with Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
's second album The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle where they were proclaimed "The Best Dylan since 1968" and beginning the "New Dylan" tag that both cursed and blessed many prominent singer-songwriters of the 1970s. Follow up albums Lost Generation (1975) produced by Doors Producer Paul Rothschild, Night Lights (1976) and Just a Story from America (1977) received equal acclaim. Special guests on Murphy's album have included Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
, Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, Sonny Landreth
Sonny Landreth
Sonny Landreth is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, but soon after, his family moved to Jackson, Mississippi, before settling in Lafayette, Louisiana...
, David Johansen
David Johansen
David Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues, and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in...
, The Violent Femmes, Cindy Bullens
Cindy Bullens
Cindy Bullens is an American singer and songwriter who grew up in Massachusetts. She released two albums in the late 1970s on United Artists and Casablanca and another on MCA in 1989...
and Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
. His music was post-Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
poetic rock heavily influenced by New York's Velvet Underground and propelled by Murphy's driving electric guitar, harmonica and,occasionally, keyboards. After four albums on major labels Murphy was one of the first American artists to go independent (by both choice and necessity) with the release of the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Affairs (1980) that sold well in Europe and set the stage for the successful Murph the Surf (1982) and an appearance at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
.
In 1985 the Jerry Harrison
Jerry Harrison
Jerry Harrison is an American songwriter, musician and producer...
(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...
) produced Milwaukee began his long relationship with New Rose Records in France. By this time Murphy was touring Europe constantly and finally moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1989 where he continues to live with his wife, actress Françoise Viallon-Murphy and son Gaspard
Gaspard
Gaspard is a Francophone male given name or family name and may refer to:* Gaspard Dughet , French painter* Gaspard de Coligny , French Huguenot leader* Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac , French mathematician...
. Selling the Gold (1995) featured a duet with Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, who often has invited him on stage during his European shows.
The following albums Beauregard, Rainy Season, Soul Surfing and La Terre Commune (a duo with Iain Matthews
Iain Matthews
Iain Matthews is an English musician and songwriter. He was born Iain Matthew McDonald, in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He was known in the 1960s first as Ian McDonald, then as the 1960s progressed, as Ian Matthews...
) marked a renaissance in his recording career, with many critics calling his double album Strings of the Storm his finest up to this point. With French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
guitar wizard Olivier Durand he tours constantly, playing well over 100 shows a year all over Europe and to sum up their 10 years together, Never Say Never...The Best of 1995-2005, a CD + bonus DVD package of performances, videos and a discography showing all 26 album covers was released in 2005. The year ended with Murphy Gets Muddy, an album of 9 classic blues covers and 5 Murphy blues originals, accompanied by a bonus DVD honoring blues songsmith Willy Dixon with 5 live interpretations. In early 2007 the album Coming Home Again was released in Europe and on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. Murphy's 30th studio album, Notes from the Underground, came out in 2008 and received 4 stars on the prestigious All Music Guide, In fact, 18 of Murphy's albums have received 4 or 5 stars on All Music Guide. 2008/2009 saw Murphy back in the United States for a duo and a band tour. A live CD/DVD-set documenting a Paris concert is scheduled for release in fall 2009.
"Rock'n roll is my addiction and literature is my religion", Murphy likes to confess in interviews and articles. In addition to his music and song lyrics Murphy has written for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Spin, Mucchio Selvaggio and various European magazines and has published Cold & Electric, a semi-autobiographical novel, in French, German and Spanish editions, as well as two short story collections (The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Where the Women Are Naked And The Men Are Rich) and in 2003 Café Notes (Hachette, France). In 2005 his neo-western novel Poetic Justice (Hachette, France) came out in a French translation. English and Italian editions are in preparation.
In 2008 The Mayor of the 8th Arrondisement in Paris celebrated Elliott Murphy's career with a month long exhibition "Elliott Murphy - Last of the Rock Stars" featuring hundreds of items from his career including posters, lyric notes, rare photographs and reviews and a personal letter from Federico Fellini. The Exhibition culminated with a concert in the ornate "Salle de Fete" of the town hall and was captured on the CD/DVD "Alive in Paris" released one year later.
Murphy's son, Gaspard Murphy, plays in a French band The Dukes as well as his own band Duplex.
Murphy's maternal grandfather was born and raised in Tupelo,
Mississippi, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's hometown.
Albums and EPs
- AquashowAquashowAquashow was the debut album by singer-songwriter Elliott Murphy and was reviewed by Paul Nelson in Rolling Stone along with Bruce Springsteen's The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle under the headline "The Best Dylan since 1968" which earned them both the "New-Dylan" tag.-Track...
(1973) - Lost Generation (1975)
- Night Lights (1976)
- Just a Story from America (1977)
- Affairs (1980)
- Murph the Surf (1982)
- Party girls / Broken Poets (1984)
- Milwaukee (1985)
- Change Will Come (1987)
- Aprés le déluge (1987)
- 12 (1990) US re-edition: Unreal City (1993)
- If Poets Were Kings (1992)
- Paris/New York (1993)
- Selling the Gold (1995)
- Beauregard (1998)
- Rainy Season (2000)
- La terre commune (with Iain MatthewsIain MatthewsIain Matthews is an English musician and songwriter. He was born Iain Matthew McDonald, in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He was known in the 1960s first as Ian McDonald, then as the 1960s progressed, as Ian Matthews...
(2001) - Soul Surfing (2002)
- Soul Surfing - the Next Wave EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
(2002) - Strings of the Storm (2003)
- Murphy Gets Muddy CD/DVD (2005)
- Never Say Never CD/DVD (2006)
- Coming Home Again (2007)
- Notes from the Underground (2008)
- Alive in Paris CD/DVD (2009)
- Elliott Murphy (2010)
Compilations
- Diamonds by the Yard (1991)
- Going Through Something - the Best of 1982-1991 (1996)
- Never Say Never - the Best of 1995-2003 & Live DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(2005)
Live
- Live Hot Point (1991)
- April - a Live Album (1999)
- The Last of the Rock Stars... and Me and You (2001)
- Alive in Paris (2009)
- Just A Story From New York (2011)
Books
- Cold and Electric" (1989)
- Where the Men are Rich and the Women are Naked (1992)
- The Lion Sleeps Tonight (1992)
- Café Notes (2002)
- Poetic Justice (2005)
Tributes
A tribute song, "Johan & Elliott", was released by French singer Jessepop.Current band
His current backing band, sometimes referred to as The Normandy All Stars, consists of Olivier Durand on guitar and harmonica,Laurent Pardo
Laurent Pardo
Laurent Pardo is a French bass guitarist, violoncellist, and background singer. He is best known for playing in the rock band of US-singer Elliott Murphy.-Career:Pardo emerged on the French rock music scene in 1977 with Bruno Lefaivre's highschool band Tush...
on bass and cello, and Alan Fatras on drums