David Byrne

At 72 years old, David Byrne has this physical status:

David Byrne (born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-born American singer, guitarist, writer, editor, music critic, and filmmaker who is a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has released solo albums and appeared in a variety of media, including film, photography, opera, fiction, and non-fiction.

He has been recognized by Academy, Grammy, and Golden Globe Awards, as well as inducting him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Early life

David Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, on May 14, 1952, the elder of two children born to Tom (from Lambhill, Glasgow) and Emma Byrne. Byrne's father was Catholic and his mother was Presbyterian. The family immigrated to Canada two years after his birth, settling in Hamilton, Ontario. The family left Scotland in part because of the upheaval of his father's engineering skills and in part because of the strains in the extended family caused by his parents' "mixed marriage." Byrne and her family immigrated to the United States, establishing their home in Arbutus, Maryland, when they were eight or nine years old. His father worked as an electronics engineer at Westinghouse Electric Corporation. His mother became a tutor later in life. Byrne said that he grew up speaking with a Scottish accent but that he switched to an American accent in order to enroll in classes. "I felt like a little bit of an outsider," he said later. But then I realized that the world was made up of people who were all different. But we're still here."

Byrne knew how to play the guitar, accordion, and violin before high school. He was refused from his middle school choir because the parents argued he was "off-key and too withdrawing." He had a keen interest in music from an early age. His parents say he would continue playing his phonograph from age three and that he learned how to play the harmonica at age five. His father converted a reel-to-reel tape recorder so that David could make multitrack recordings.

Personal life

Despite being a resident of the United States since childhood, Byrne was a British citizen until 2012, when he became a dual citizen of both Britain and the United Kingdom. He lives in New York City. Thomas Harris, Thomas' father, died in October 2013. Emma, his mother, died in June 2014. In a 2014 interview with Evening Standard Byrne, "I have lived in the United States for the majority of my life," he said, "but from my parents and everything, there's still an affinity to perhaps a Scottish sense of humor, as well as some of the associated behaviors." Byrne expressed his preference for a No vote and for Scotland to remain a member of the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

Byrne believes he has autism spectrum disorder, but has not been medically diagnosed. In a podcast 3 Girls, 1 Keith, Amy Schumer's podcast, he said that his illness was a great deal because it allows him to concentrate on his creative pursuits. He said in 2012 that music was his way of communicating, but he couldn't do it face to face due to the disorder.

Byrne had a brief acquaintance with Toni Basil in 1981, and he dated Twyla Tharp between 1981 and 1982. Byrne and Adelle Lutz married in 1988 after visiting Japan in 1982. They have a daughter, Malu Abeni Valentine Byrne, born in 1989, and a grandson born in 2018. In a 2016 interview with Elle, Malu discussed Abeni, one of her middle names. "It's Nigerian, and it means we asked for her and she came to us." My parents had a rough time raising children, and when I finally arrived home, their generous friend suggested this name." In 2004, Byrne and Lutz divorced. Louise Neri, the art curator and assistant director of Gagosian Gallery, became romantically involved with her after his divorce. He had worked with Cindy Sherman from 2007 to 2011.

Byrne is known for his activism for increased cycling and for using a bike as his primary mode of transportation throughout his life, particularly in New York. Byrne drives a Citron DS in Los Angeles, but he does not drive one in New York.

He began riding bikes while in high school and then returned to it as an adult in the late 1970s. He likes freedom and exhilaration cycling brings him. He has written extensively on cycling, including a 2009 book, Bicycle Diaries. Byrne auctioned his Montague folding bike in August 2009 to raise money for the London Cycling Campaign.

Byrne created a line 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 who made the racks in exchange for the right to sell them later as art. About a year ago, the racks had been on the streets for about a year.

At the Brooklyn Academy of Music, two bike racks with the interchangeable Byrne Bike Rack Alphabet are still installed.

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Career

Byrne graduated from Lansdowne High School in southwest Baltimore County. He began his musical career in a high school band called Revelation, and later, he was one half of a pair called Bizadi with Marc Kehoe between 1971 and 1972. The majority of their repertoire consisted of songs like "April Showers," "96 Tears," "Dancing on the Ceiling," and Frank Sinatra songs. Byrne attended the Rhode Island School of Design (during the 1970-71 term) and the Maryland Institute College of Art (during the 1971–72 term) before dropping out. He and fellow RISD student Chris Frantz formed the Artistics band in 1973 and formed the Artistics group in Providence. In 1974, the band disbanded. Byrne moved to New York City in May last year, and Frantz and his partner Tina Weymouth followed suit in September. Weymouth discovered the bass guitar after Byrne and Frantz were unable to find a bass player in New York for nearly two years. Many people were considering a band while doing day jobs in late 1974.

They were playing and playing together by January 1975, while still working regular day jobs. They formed Talking Heads, and they had their first show in June. Byrne resigned from his day job in May 1976 and the three-piece band first signed to Sire Records in November. Byrne was the band's youngest member. Jerry Harrison, a multi-instrumentalist who appeared with The Modern Lovers, joined the band in 1977. The band released eight studio albums to widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. Four albums achieved gold status (500K followers) and two others were certified double-platinum (2 million in sales). The Talking Heads pioneered the new wave music scene in the late 1970s and early 80s with blistering music videos on the fledgling MTV network. This success lasted until the band went on hiatus in 1988. Byrne wanted to go solo, but it took three years until the band was officially announced that it was no longer exists in 1991. In 1991, the band had a brief reunion for the single "Sax and Violins" before dissolving again. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, where they reunited to perform three songs, including "Psycho Killer" and "Burning Down the House."

David Byrne worked outside projects, collaborating with Brian Eno during 1979 and 1981 on the album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which received acclaim due to the band's early use of analogue sampling and found sounds. Following this success, Byrne concentrated his attention on Talking Heads. In early 2006, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was re-released for its 25th anniversary, with new bonus tracks. Origins for two of the songs' component tracks were licensed under Creative Commons licenses, as per the original album's spirit, and a remix competition website was launched.

Rei Momo (1989) was Byrne's first solo album after leaving Talking Heads and focusing on Afro-Cuban, Afro-Hispanic, and Brazilian song styles, as well as traditional dances such as merengue, son cubano, samba, mambo, cumbia, bomba, and charanga. "Uh-Oh (1992), his third solo album, featured a brass section, and was fueled by tracks such as "Girls on My Mind" and "The Cowboy Mambo" (Hey Lookit Me Now). David Byrne (1994), his fourth solo album, was a more mature rock record, with Byrne playing the majority of the instruments on it, leaving percussion for session players. The album's two most popular singles, "Angels" and "Back in the Box," were the two main hits. The first one made it to the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, achieving No. 1 position. 24. Byrne used a brass band called Black Cat Orchestra for his fifth studio effort, the emotional Feelings (1997). His sixth Look into the Eyeball (2001) carried on the same musical discovery of Feelings, but with a new collection of more upbeat tracks like those found on Uh-Oh.

Grown Backwards (2004), a non-profit label released by Nonesuch Records, used orchestral string arrangements, and the collection "Lazy" included two operatic arias as well as a rework of X-Press 2's collaboration "Lazy." With the Tosca Strings, he has also launched a North American and Australian tour. In August 2005, this tour came to an end, with Los Angeles, San Diego, and New York shows. "God's Child" was also collaborated with Selena on her 1995 album Dreaming of You. (Baila Conmigo)).

Byrne and Eno's eighth album Everything That Happens Today (2008) was released. He formed a band that toured around the world for six months from late 2008 to early 2009 on the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour.

Love This Giant, an American singer-songwriter, appeared on a compilation album in 2012. Both Byrne and St. Vincent on vocals and guitar were featured on the album, which was supplemented by a brass section. Both artists travelled throughout North America, Europe, and Australia on the Love This Giant Tour in 2012 and 2013, with each artist performing pieces from their career in the album's unique brass band style alongside others created for the album.

Byrne's first solo album in 14 years was released in January 2018. In March, Todo Mundo and Nonesuch Records announced American Utopia. In addition, Eno co-wrote "Everybody's Coming to My House," the album's first single. NME's most recent tour, which included songs from American Utopia as well as highlights from his Talking Heads and solo show of all time, blurring the boundaries "between gig and theatre, poetry, and dance."

Byrne partnered with choreographer Twyla Tharp in 1981, creating a ballet with the same name that appeared on his album The Catherine Wheel, which prominently featured unusual rhythms and lyrics. The Catherine Wheel appeared on Broadway for the first time this year.

He was primarily responsible for the stage design and choreography of the concert film Stop Making Sense (1984).

When it comes down, Byrne wrote the Dirty Dozen Brass Band inspired score for Robert Wilson's epic five-act opera "The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down."

He wrote, produced, and appeared in True Stories (1986), a musical collage of discordant Americana, as well as the majority of the film's soundtrack. He was captivated by the experimental theatre that he saw in New York City in the 1970s and collaborated with several of the city's most influential figures. He performed on "The Knee Plays" and "The Forest" and invited Spalding Gray (of The Wooster Group) to appear in True Stories, while Meredith Monk provided a small piece of the film's soundtrack. After a Mabou Mines theatre performance, the musician produced a soundtrack for JoAnne Akalaitis' film Dead End Kids (1986). Byrne's artistic vision has a lot in common with these artists' work. He also starred "Loco de Amor" with Celia Cruz in Jonathan Demme's film Something Wild (1986).

His work has been extensively used in film soundtracks, most notably in collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su on Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987), which received an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

The Forest, a collection of Byrne's orchestral album The Forest, was first performed in a Robert Wilson-directed theatre performance of the same name. In 1988, The Forest premiered at Theater der Freien Volksbühne in Berlin. The Brooklyn Academy of Music premiered it in December 1988 (BAM). The Forestry Maxi-Single featured dance and industrial remixes of works from Jack Dangers, Rudy Tambala, and Anthony Capel's The Forestry Maxi-Single. In 1991, Byrne released his soundtrack album.

Byrne produced the documentary Île Aiye (1989) and his 1992 Latin-tinged tour, Between the Teeth (1994).

A soundscape Byrne created in 1999 for Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus's dance company Ultima Vez, Spite of Wishing and Wanting.

In 2003, Byrne guest appeared on a season 14 episode of The Simpsons. Lead Us Not Temptation, a year-old film, contained tracks and musical experiments from his score to film Young Adam (2003).

Byrne and Fatboy Slim began working on Here Lies Love, a disco opera or song cycle dedicated to Imelda Marcos, the country's controversial former First Lady. This piece of music was performed at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in Australia in February 2006 and the following year at Carnegie Hall on February 3.

Byrne published Big Love: Hymnal, his soundtrack to season two of Big Love, which aired in 2007. These two albums were the first releases on his own record label Todo Mundo. The film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) was produced by Brian Eno and Margaret Eno.

He produced Contemporary Color, two arena concerts in Brooklyn and Toronto in 2015, for which he brought in ten musical artists who teamed up with ten color guard groups. Bill and Turner Ross directed Bill and Turner Ross' film, and Byrne produced the concerts.

In October 2019, his American Utopia opened at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. Byrne appeared in comedian John Mulaney's children's musical comedy special John Mulaney's John Mulaney's "Pay Attention!" on Saturday, where he performed the song "Pay Attention!" As the special's end credits song, his album "Tiny Apocalypse" was also included.

Byrne appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live with John Mulaney as host on February 29, 2020, following a 30-year absence. Byrne performed "Once in a Lifetime" and "Toe Jam" with the cast of Broadway's American Utopia, and appears in "Airport Sushi" sketch singing a parody of "Road to Nowhere." This was Byrne's third appearance on Saturday Night Live. He appeared as a musical guest on Talking Heads in 1979 and as a solo musical visitor in 1989.

The Storybound (podcast) season 5 premiere in 2022 featured Byrne's interview with Debbie Millman.

Byrne has recorded songs on five Red Hot + Blue albums: Cole Porter's Tribute, Red Hot + Rio, Silencio=Muerte, and Onda Sonora: A Red Hot Soundtrip. During 10,000 Maniacs' MTV Unplugged concert, he performed as a guest vocalist/guitarist, but the songs on which he appeared were removed from the following album were cut from his following album. "Let the Myster Be" by one of them appeared on 10,000 Maniacs' CD single "Few and Far Between" as the fourth track.

He appeared with Richard Thompson in 1992. On March 24th, St. Ann & The Holy Trinity, a burgeoning quartet from Brooklyn Heights, New York, released the album An Acoustic Evening, which was released the same year. Byrne started working with Selena in March 1995; writing, producing, and performing a bilingual duet titled "God's Child (Baila Conmigo)"; Selena's last song was released on March 31, 1995, this was the last song she recorded before she was assassinated. The song was included on the singer's posthumous album Dreaming of You.

In 1997, he hosted Sessions at West 54th for its second year, and he collaborated with members of Devo and Morcheeba to record the album Feelings.

A version of Byrne's single "Like Humans Do" in 2001 was chosen by Microsoft as the sample music for Windows XP to demonstrate Windows Media Player.

Byrne co-wrote and sang of a track entitled "Lazy" by X-Press 2, which debuted at No. 2 in 2002. 2nd in the United Kingdom and number one on the US Dance Charts, and number two in the United Kingdom. In an interview with BBC Four Sessions coverage of his Union Chapel appearance, he said that "Lazy" was the most popular in Syria. On his Grown Backwards (2004) album, the track was later featured in orchestral arrangements.

Byrne co-authored a CD collection and appeared with Gilberto Gil at a benefit concert promoting the Creative Commons license in September 2004.

On "The Heart's a Lonely Hunter" by The Cosmic Corporation in 2006, he performed.

He provided a preview of Fiery Furnaces' song "Ex-Guru" for a compilation titled "Thail Jockey" in 2007. A Chicago-based recording label founded in 2007.

Byrne appeared in the Paul Simon retrospective concert series at BAM in April 2008, performing "You Can Call Me Al" and "I Know What You Know" from Simon's Graceland album. Byrne and his production team converted the Battery Maritime Building, a 99-year-old ferry terminal in Manhattan, into a playable musical instrument later this year. The building was connected electronically to a pipe organ and made playable for a work titled "Playing the Building." This scheme was first introduced in Stockholm in 2005 and then at the London Roundhouse in 2009. According to Byrne, the point of the scheme was to encourage people to experience art first hand by playing with the organ rather than simply looking at it. He also worked with the Brighton Port Authority in 2008, composing the music and singing the lyrics for "Toe Jam."

On N.A., Byrne is featured on the tracks "Money" and "The People Tree." The Spirit of Apollo, a 2009 album by the composer of Apollo. He appeared on the HIV/AIDS charity album Dark Was the Night for Red Hot Organization in 2009. "Knotty Pine" was produced by Jeff Levy and the Dirty Projectors. Byrne appeared at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, in the same year. He was also a signer of a letter condemning the Toronto International Film Festival's decision to select Tel Aviv as the subject of the festival's inaugural City-to-City Spotlight strand.

Byrne contributed backing vocals to the Arcade Fire track "Speaking in Tongues," which appeared on their 2010 album The Suburbs.

Byrne appears on Jherek Bischoff's 2012 album Composed, "Eyes" features him. He also produced a show with Caetano Veloso in 2004 at Carnegie Hall in New York City (Live at Carnegie Hall).

Following its premiere at MoCA earlier this year, he premiered his entire staged production of his 2010 concept album Here Lies Love at New York's Public Theater. In the same month, he and Sakamoto unveiled a re-recorded of their 1994 collaboration "Psychedelic Afternoon" to raise money and awareness for children affected by the 2011 Thoku earthquake and tsunami.

Byrne revealed his association with Anna Calvi's EP Strange Weather in May 2014, performing on two songs: a version of Keren Ann's "Strange Weather" and Connan Mockasin's "I'm the Man, That Will Find You"

He appeared on "Snoopies" on Kickstarter-funded album, And the Anonymous One by De La Soul in August 2016.

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