Elvis Perkins
Encyclopedia
Elvis Perkins is an American
folk-rock
recording artist. He released his debut studio album, Ash Wednesday
, in 2007. Perkins subsequently toured in support of the album with his band Elvis Perkins in Dearland, composed of Perkins alongside multi-instrumentalists Brigham Brough (bass,vocals, saxophone), Wyndham Boylan-Garnett (organ, harmonium, trombone, guitar, vocals) and Nick Kinsey (drums, clarinet, vocals). The band released their eponymous debut, Elvis Perkins in Dearland
, on March 10, 2009.
The band formed in Providence, RI around 2004 when Elvis moved to the East Coast upon completing Ash Wednesday, although the members have been friends and collaborators for many years. The band are currently based out of the Hudson River Valley of New York State.
and photographer Berry Berenson
. He was raised in Los Angeles
, California
, and New York City
with his older brother, actor Oz Perkins
. Perkins is a great-grandson of the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli
who was a great-niece of Giovanni Schiaparelli
, the Italian astronomer who believed he had discovered the supposed canals of Mars, and a nephew of the actress Marisa Berenson
, Berry's sister. His paternal grandfather Osgood Perkins
, was also an actor. His maternal great grandfather was Count Wilhelm de Wendt de Kerlor, a Theosophist and psychic medium. His mother was also a great-grandniece of art expert Bernard Berenson
(1865–1959) and his sister Senda Berenson (1868–1954), an athlete and educator who was one of the first two women elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Perkins attended Brown University
, in Providence, Rhode Island
, after graduating high school at the Harvard-Westlake School
, which he graduated in 1994.
Perkins' father was a well known Elvis Presley
aficionado and thus named his son Elvis. Perkins took to music at an early age, briefly learning the saxophone before picking up the guitar in high school and taking lessons with Prescott Niles, one-time bassist for The Knack
. While he played in rock bands, Perkins also developed an interest in the classical guitar, and began to compose music in both idioms. He also wrote poetry, and that gradually morphed into lyrics. After a short stint at college, he began to cultivate the idiosyncratic, highly personalized style that distinguishes Ash Wednesday
.
"It's been a long journey, long in the coming," Perkins admits, when he discusses the album, and it took a serious detour on September 11, 2001, when his mother, a passenger on the ill-fated American Airlines Flight 11
from Boston to Los Angeles, perished in the attack on New York City's twin towers a day before the ninth anniversary of his father's death. Ash Wednesday has been shaped in part by this tragic event and its aftermath.
Berry Berenson was the younger daughter of Robert L. Berenson, an American diplomat turned shipping executive, who was of Lithuanian Jewish descent; his mother's family's original surname was Valvrojenski.
Some of his ethnicity is French, Jewish, Egyptian, Italian, and Swiss. His father Anthony Perkins died in 1992 of complications related to AIDS
.
was independently released in 2006 and was subsequently released February 20, 2007 by XL Recordings.
In 2007 he did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by Vincent Moon
.
In 2008 Elvis Perkins in Dearland recorded a cover of the Sacred Harp
song "Weeping Pilgrim" for Awake My Soul, Help Me to Sing the soundtrack to the movie Awake My Soul
.
His band released their debut album Elvis Perkins in Dearland
on 10 March 2009.
Elvis recently worked with the Yellow Bird Project to create a t-shirt to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk-rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
recording artist. He released his debut studio album, Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday (album)
Ash Wednesday is the debut studio album by singer songwriter Elvis Perkins, released on February 20, 2007, on XL Recordings. It is a chronologically sequenced album of songs written before and after the death of his mother, who died on 9/11...
, in 2007. Perkins subsequently toured in support of the album with his band Elvis Perkins in Dearland, composed of Perkins alongside multi-instrumentalists Brigham Brough (bass,vocals, saxophone), Wyndham Boylan-Garnett (organ, harmonium, trombone, guitar, vocals) and Nick Kinsey (drums, clarinet, vocals). The band released their eponymous debut, Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Elvis Perkins in Dearland is the second studio album by Elvis Perkins, and his first with backing band Elvis Perkins in Dearland, released on March 10, 2009, on XL Recordings....
, on March 10, 2009.
The band formed in Providence, RI around 2004 when Elvis moved to the East Coast upon completing Ash Wednesday, although the members have been friends and collaborators for many years. The band are currently based out of the Hudson River Valley of New York State.
Background
Perkins is the son of actor Anthony PerkinsAnthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...
and photographer Berry Berenson
Berry Berenson
Berinthia "Berry" Berenson Perkins was an American photographer, actress, and model. Perkins was also known as the wife of actor Anthony Perkins and died in the September 11 attacks as a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11.-Early life and family:Berinthia Berenson was the younger daughter of...
. He was raised in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with his older brother, actor Oz Perkins
Oz Perkins
Osgood Robert "Oz" Perkins II is an American actor.He was born in New York City, New York, the elder son of the actor Anthony Perkins and the photographer and actress Berry Berenson, who was killed in the 9-11 attacks...
. Perkins is a great-grandson of the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer. Along with Coco Chanel, her greatest rival, she is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in fashion between the two World Wars. Starting with knitwear, Schiaparelli's designs were heavily influenced by Surrealists like her collaborators...
who was a great-niece of Giovanni Schiaparelli
Giovanni Schiaparelli
Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli was an Italian astronomer and science historian. He studied at the University of Turin and Berlin Observatory. In 1859-1860 he worked in Pulkovo Observatory and then worked for over forty years at Brera Observatory...
, the Italian astronomer who believed he had discovered the supposed canals of Mars, and a nephew of the actress Marisa Berenson
Marisa Berenson
Vittoria Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson is an American actress and model.-Early life:She is the elder daughter of Robert L. Berenson, an American diplomat turned shipping executive, who was of Lithuanian Jewish descent; his family's original surname was Valvrojenski...
, Berry's sister. His paternal grandfather Osgood Perkins
Osgood Perkins
Osgood Perkins was an American actor.-Life and career:Perkins was born James Ripley Osgood Perkins in West Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Helen Virginia and Henry Phelps Perkins. He is a descendant of a Mayflower passenger John Howland. Perkins made his Broadway debut in 1924 in the George S...
, was also an actor. His maternal great grandfather was Count Wilhelm de Wendt de Kerlor, a Theosophist and psychic medium. His mother was also a great-grandniece of art expert Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. He was a major figure in pioneering art attribution and therefore establishing the market for paintings by the "Old Masters".-Personal life:...
(1865–1959) and his sister Senda Berenson (1868–1954), an athlete and educator who was one of the first two women elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Perkins attended Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, after graduating high school at the Harvard-Westlake School
Harvard-Westlake School
Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school consisting of two campuses located in Los Angeles, California with approximately 1,600 students enrolled in grades 7 through 12....
, which he graduated in 1994.
Perkins' father was a well known 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"....
aficionado and thus named his son Elvis. Perkins took to music at an early age, briefly learning the saxophone before picking up the guitar in high school and taking lessons with Prescott Niles, one-time bassist for The Knack
The Knack
The Knack was an American New Wave rock quartet based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with their first single, "My Sharona", an international number one hit in 1979.-Founding :...
. While he played in rock bands, Perkins also developed an interest in the classical guitar, and began to compose music in both idioms. He also wrote poetry, and that gradually morphed into lyrics. After a short stint at college, he began to cultivate the idiosyncratic, highly personalized style that distinguishes Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday (album)
Ash Wednesday is the debut studio album by singer songwriter Elvis Perkins, released on February 20, 2007, on XL Recordings. It is a chronologically sequenced album of songs written before and after the death of his mother, who died on 9/11...
.
"It's been a long journey, long in the coming," Perkins admits, when he discusses the album, and it took a serious detour on September 11, 2001, when his mother, a passenger on the ill-fated American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight from Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California...
from Boston to Los Angeles, perished in the attack on New York City's twin towers a day before the ninth anniversary of his father's death. Ash Wednesday has been shaped in part by this tragic event and its aftermath.
Berry Berenson was the younger daughter of Robert L. Berenson, an American diplomat turned shipping executive, who was of Lithuanian Jewish descent; his mother's family's original surname was Valvrojenski.
Some of his ethnicity is French, Jewish, Egyptian, Italian, and Swiss. His father Anthony Perkins died in 1992 of complications related to AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
.
Recordings
Ash WednesdayAsh Wednesday (album)
Ash Wednesday is the debut studio album by singer songwriter Elvis Perkins, released on February 20, 2007, on XL Recordings. It is a chronologically sequenced album of songs written before and after the death of his mother, who died on 9/11...
was independently released in 2006 and was subsequently released February 20, 2007 by XL Recordings.
In 2007 he did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by Vincent Moon
Vincent Moon
Vincent Moon is an independent filmmaker from Paris mainly known for his field work music videos of indie rock related musicians as well as some notable mainstream artists like Tom Jones, R.E.M. or Arcade Fire. Besides making music videos he also makes experimental films and documentaries...
.
In 2008 Elvis Perkins in Dearland recorded a cover of the Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note music.- The music and its notation :...
song "Weeping Pilgrim" for Awake My Soul, Help Me to Sing the soundtrack to the movie Awake My Soul
Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp
Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp is a 2006 documentary film directed by Matt and Erica Hinton, and narrated by Jim Lauderdale. It follows the folk tradition of Sacred Harp singing, a type of shape-note singing, kept alive by amateur singers in the rural American South.-Cast:The Sacred...
.
His band released their debut album Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Elvis Perkins in Dearland is the second studio album by Elvis Perkins, and his first with backing band Elvis Perkins in Dearland, released on March 10, 2009, on XL Recordings....
on 10 March 2009.
Elvis recently worked with the Yellow Bird Project to create a t-shirt to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
.
Albums
- Ash WednesdayAsh Wednesday (album)Ash Wednesday is the debut studio album by singer songwriter Elvis Perkins, released on February 20, 2007, on XL Recordings. It is a chronologically sequenced album of songs written before and after the death of his mother, who died on 9/11...
(February 20, 2007) - Elvis Perkins in DearlandElvis Perkins in DearlandElvis Perkins in Dearland is the second studio album by Elvis Perkins, and his first with backing band Elvis Perkins in Dearland, released on March 10, 2009, on XL Recordings....
(March 10, 2009)
Singles
- "While You Were Sleeping" (July 16, 2007)
- "All the Night Without Love" (November 20, 2007)
External links
- Official website
- UK based Elvis Perkins website
- Elvis Perkins at MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
- Elvis Perkins: Brooding, Thoughtful, Sophisticated from National Public Radio
- Elvis Perkins and Dearland on Letterman performing "While You Were Sleeping"
- Gibson Guitar's Interview with Elvis Perkins by Ellen Mallernee
- Interview with Elvis Perkins on The Line Of Best Fit