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David Byrne

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

David Byrne was born in 1952 in Dumbarton, Scotland. The family moved to Canada and then to Maryland in the United States, where his father was an electronics engineer. He played harmonica, guitar, accordion and violin from an early age, and his father converted a tape recorder for him so that he could make multitrack recordings. He studied briefly at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he met Chris Frantz.

Music and breakthrough

In 1974 Byrne moved to New York. Frantz and his girlfriend Tina Weymouth followed, and Weymouth learned to play bass. In 1975 the band, Talking Heads, played its first gig. Jerry Harrison joined later. Talking Heads became one of the important groups of new wave, with songs such as Psycho Killer, Life During Wartime, Burning Down the House and a version of Take Me to the River. The music was nervous and angular, with influences from funk and African rhythms. Byrne often sang in a jerky, strange way, like an outsider observing the world. In 1991 the band stopped.

Influence

Byrne worked a great deal with Brian Eno. Their 1981 album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts used samples and found sounds at an early date. As a solo artist he made, among other things, Rei Momo, full of Latin American dance styles, and American Utopia. He founded the label Luaka Bop and made films, opera, theatre and visual art. Among other honours he received an Oscar, for the music of The Last Emperor.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads. Notice the funky, repeating groove and the way Byrne delivers the verses almost like a sermon.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: Artists