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| Name | Thom Yorke |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Thomas Edward Yorke |
| Alias | Tchock, Tchocky, Dr. Tchock |
| Born | October 07, 1968 Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England |
| Alma mater | University of Exeter |
| Instrument | Vocals Guitar Piano Keyboards Percussion Bass guitar Programming Drums |
| Genre | Alternative rock Electronica |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Label | XL |
| Associated acts | Radiohead, Atoms for Peace, Unkle, Björk |
Thomas Edward "Thom" Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar (notably during the Kid A and Amnesiac sessions). In July 2006, he released his debut solo album, The Eraser.
Yorke has been cited among the most influential figures in the music industry: in 2002, Q Magazine named Yorke the most powerful British musician and in 2005, Radiohead were ranked #73 in Rolling Stones "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list. Yorke has also been cited among the greatest singers in the history of popular music: in 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Yorke voted the 18th greatest singer of all time, and in 2008, he was ranked 66th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Singers of all Time." Allmusic wrote: "Few rock singers of the '90s were as original and instantly unforgettable as Thom Yorke."
Yorke's family moved frequently; Yorke would move from school to school, where classmates teased him because of his eye problems. The family finally settled in Oxfordshire in 1978. He attended the all boys public school Abingdon where he met future band members Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway, Colin Greenwood and Colin's younger brother, Jonny. Yorke and his friends formed a band named On A Friday, as Friday was the only day on which the members were allowed to rehearse.
After leaving school, Yorke postponed going to university for a year. During that time he worked in a few jobs and was involved in a car accident that made him wary of any kind of mechanised transport. Yorke left Oxford to study at the University of Exeter in late 1988, which as a result put On a Friday on hiatus aside from holiday break rehearsals. While at Exeter, Yorke worked as a DJ at Guild nights in the Lemon Grove and played briefly with the band Headless Chickens. Yorke also met Rachel Owen, whom he began dating.
Radiohead first gained notice with the worldwide hit single "Creep", which later appeared on the band's 1993 debut album Pablo Honey. Yorke admitted later that the success had fed his ego; he tried to project himself as a rock star, which included bleaching his hair and wearing extensions. He said, "When I got back to Oxford I was unbearable . . . [A]s soon as you get any success you disappear up your own arse and lost it forever."
By the time of their second album, The Bends (1995), the band, through frequent touring and greater attention to detail in the recording studio, had picked up a large cult fan base and had begun to receive wider critical acclaim. After the album's release, the American group R.E.M. picked Radiohead as its opening act for the European leg of their tour. While on tour Yorke and R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe became close friends; in particular, Stipe gave him advice on how to deal with the demands of being in a rock band. During the production of the band's third album, OK Computer (1997), all five members had differing opinions and equal production roles, with Yorke having "the loudest voice," according to guitarist Ed O'Brien. After the album was finished, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood contributed to the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack along with other musicians under the moniker Venus in Furs. Upon release, OK Computer was heralded as a landmark album by nearly every publication that reviewed it, establishing Radiohead as one of the leading alternative rock acts of the 1990s. But Yorke was ambivalent about this success. Some of these concerns were voiced in the documentary film Meeting People Is Easy, which focused on the period. Yorke has explained in various interviews that he dislikes the "mythology" within the rock genre, and hates the media's obsession with celebrities.
Yorke and the band adopted a more radical approach on 2000's Kid A and 2001's Amnesiac, processing vocals, obscuring lyrics, and departing from rock for a more varied musical landscape including electronic, jazz and avant-garde classical influences. The albums expanded Radiohead's sales while earning acclaim for experimentation, but also divided fans and critics. In 2003, Radiohead released their sixth album, Hail to the Thief, a blend of rock and electronica that Yorke described as a reaction to the events of the early 2000s and newfound fears for his children's future, though he denied a specific political intent. The band has continued to tour, and in 2005 they undertook recording sessions for a seventh album, In Rainbows, released as a DRM-free download in October 2007.
Yorke rarely plays as a solo act, having never embarked on a solo tour. He has sometimes played short acoustic sets of Radiohead songs in the band's webcasts and television appearances, and occasionally on his own at rallies. However, he did play solo sets at the 2002 Bridge School Benefit concerts organised by Neil Young. In 2006, he performed stripped-down versions of several songs from The Eraser ("Analyse," "The Clock, " "Skip Divided" and "Cymbal Rush") on radio and TV programmes, and since then he has played and sung "Cymbal Rush" as an encore at some Radiohead concerts. In July 2009, Yorke played a rare solo performance at the Latitude Festival in England. In February 2010, Yorke played a solo show for the Green Party at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, where he played select Radiohead songs and songs from The Eraser, as well as five entirely new songs: "The Daily Mail", "Lotus Flower", "Give Up The Ghost", "I Froze Up", and "Mouse, Dog, Bird".
On 21 September 2009 Yorke released a new double-A side single, "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses / The Hollow Earth". It was later announced that he has established an unnamed band with Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joey Waronker of R.E.M. and Beck, Mauro Refosco of Forro in the Dark and producer Nigel Godrich. They played two sold out shows at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on 4 and 5 October 2009. Two days before, Yorke also played a "warm-up" show at the Echoplex in Los Angeles. On 25 February 2010, Yorke officially gave the band the name Atoms for Peace.
In June 2010, Yorke attracted some notoriety when he stated in an interview that "It will be only a matter of time - months rather than years - before the music business establishment completely folds" and that such an event will be of "no great loss to the world." Yorke's quote quickly caused a stir of buzz on the blogosphere, with critics both praising and criticising his frankness.
Yorke also sang covers of the Roxy Music songs "2HB", "Ladytron" and "Bitter-Sweet" for the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, as part of Venus in Furs. The band existed solely for the film's soundtrack and also consisted of Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, Suede's Bernard Butler, and Roxy Music's Andy Mackay. Yorke was duplicating Bryan Ferry's original vocals. Two other cover songs were performed by Venus in Furs, with vocals by actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the film; Yorke never appeared onscreen.
Examples of Yorke's other collaborations are the 1998 single "Rabbit in Your Headlights", which he sang and co-wrote with DJ Shadow and which closes Psyence Fiction, the debut album by the group UNKLE; "El President," a 1998 duet with Isabel Monteiro of the band Drugstore, which was also released as a single; and vocals on the 2007 track "The White Flash," by the electronic music group Modeselektor, from their album Happy Birthday. Yorke has also collaborated with Stanley Donwood on a picture book entitled Dead Children Playing. Yorke also covered lead vocal duties on "...And the World Laughs with You" from the 2010 Flying Lotus album Cosmogramma.
In 2010, Yorke worked with Bryan Ferry, Mark Ronson, Bob Hoskins, Andy Murray, and David Cameron to release the charity single "2 Minute Silence"—a track composed entirely of silence—to raise money for the families of British troops released on Remembrance Day, 7 November. The song peaked in the UK Singles Chart at number 20.
In 2005, Yorke became a spokesman for Friends of the Earth and their campaign to reduce carbon emissions, The Big Ask.
Yorke often pays tribute to his children while performing live; during songs at the 2006 Bonnaroo Festival, Yorke played with guitar picks imprinted with Agnes' fingerprints.
Yorke, unlike the other members of Radiohead, has never learned how to read music. He said, "If someone lays the notes on a page in front of me, it's meaningless... because to me you can't express the rhythms properly like that. It's a very ineffective way of doing it, so I've never really bothered picking it up." His solo effort The Eraser featured piano, bass and guitar, but was built primarily around electronics.
In interviews Yorke has cited a variety of personal musical heroes and influences, including jazz composer and bassist Charles Mingus, Neil Young, Miracle Legion, singer Scott Walker, electronic acts Aphex Twin and Autechre, and Krautrock band Can. Talking Heads, Queen, Joy Division, Magazine, Elvis Costello, The Smiths and Sonic Youth were early influences on Radiohead and Yorke. In 2004, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Yorke mentioned to the crowd, "When I was in college, the Pixies and R.E.M. changed my life," and he has often mentioned both bands as examples.
Yorke is also notable as a political activist on behalf of other causes, including human rights and anti-war movements such as Jubilee 2000, Amnesty International and CND, and Friends of the Earth's Big Ask campaign. Radiohead played at the Free Tibet concert in both 1998 and 1999, and at an Amnesty International concert in 1998. In 2005, Yorke performed at an all-night vigil for the Trade Justice Movement. In 2006, Jonny Greenwood and Yorke performed a special benefit concert for Friends of the Earth. Yorke made headlines the same year for refusing Prime Minister Tony Blair's request to meet with him to discuss climate change, declaring Blair had "no environmental credentials". Yorke has subsequently been critical of his own energy use. He has said the music industry's use of air transport is dangerous and unsustainable, and that he would consider not touring if new carbon emissions standards do not force the situation to improve. Radiohead commissioned a study by the group Best Foot Forward which the band claims helped them choose venues and transport methods that will greatly reduce the carbon expended on their 2008 tour. The band also made use of a new low-energy LED lighting system and encouraged festivals to offer reusable plastics.
In December 2009, Yorke gained access to the COP 15 climate change talks in Copenhagen, posing as a member of the media.
A number of celebrities have been upset by Yorke's public persona. In 2001, Kelly Jones, the lead singer of the Welsh band Stereophonics, referred to Thom Yorke as a "miserable twat" (a comment he later retracted). In 2002, Jack Black claimed to have approached Yorke to congratulate him on his solo show at the Bridge School benefit concert in San Francisco, only for Yorke to ignore him and walk away. Referring to the incident, Black stated in an interview: "I heard later that he's famously cold, and it wasn't just me that he despises, but the whole world." After completing a trek of Kilimanjaro in 2009, Ronan Keating was asked by an interviewer which celebrity he would most like to throw off a mountain. Keating named Yorke, and referred to him as a "muppet", stating that Yorke was once rude to him, although he did admit to still liking his music. In the same year, Miley Cyrus and Kanye West also complained about Yorke's alleged rudeness. In a response to these complaints, Yorke wrote on Radiohead's Dead Air Space website, "wish us all a safe journey if you still like us and you're not one of those people I have managed to offend by doing nothing."
Category:1968 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:English activists Category:English environmentalists Category:Anti-globalization activists Category:English male singers Category:English rock singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English tenors Category:English vegans Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Wellingborough Category:Radiohead members Category:Alumni of the University of Exeter Category:Music from Oxford Category:Old Abingdonians Category:Rhythm guitarists
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Billy Crystal |
|---|---|
| Caption | Crystal at the 2008 All Stars and Legends Softball game at Yankee Stadium |
| Birth date | March 14, 1948 |
| Birth name | William Edward Crystal |
| Birth place | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Spouse | Janice Goldfinger (1970-present) |
| Active | 1975–present |
Billy Crystal and his wife Janice have two daughters, actresses Jennifer and Lindsay, and are now grandparents. They reside in Pacific Palisades, California.
Crystal's earliest prominent role was as Jodie Dallas on Soap, one of the first gay characters portrayed on American television. He continued in the role the series' entire 1977-1981 run.
After hosting Saturday Night Live in 1984, he joined the regular cast.
Crystal has participated in the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Portraying himself in a video, Crystal introduces museum guests to the genealogy wing of the museum.
In the movie City Slickers, Crystal wears a New York Mets baseball cap.
Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:American film actors Category:American impressionists (entertainers) Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American writers Category:Jewish comedians Category:Mark Twain Prize recipients
Category:Marshall Thundering Herd baseball players Category:New York University alumni Category:People from Long Beach, New York Category:The Princess Bride Category:American Jews
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| Name | Iron & Wine |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Samuel Beam |
| Born | July 26, 1974 South Carolina, U.S. |
| Instrument | Vocals, Guitar, Banjo |
| Genre | Folk Folk rock |
| Label | Sub Pop Warner Bros./4AD |
| Associated acts | Calexico |
| Url | www.ironandwine.com |
Beam was raised in South Carolina before moving to Florida to attend school and now resides outside of Austin, Texas. The name Iron & Wine is taken from a dietary supplement named "Beef Iron & Wine" that he found in a general store while shooting a film.
Beam earned a bachelor's degree in art from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He had been writing songs for over seven years before a friend loaned him a four-track recorder. He began making demos and gave one to his friend Michael Bridwell, brother of Band of Horses lead singer, Ben Bridwell. Michael handed it to Mike McGonigal, editor of Yeti magazine, who chose "Dead Man's Will," later released on In the Reins, for inclusion on one of his magazine's compilation CDs. Beam later came to the attention of Sub Pop Records co-owner, Jonathan Poneman, who contacted Beam to propose a deal.
Also in 2002, Beam recorded a cover of The Postal Service's then-unreleased song "Such Great Heights". Rather than being included on an Iron & Wine release, the track was initially included as a b-side of the original version by The Postal Service. It was later included on the B-sides and rarities album, Around the Well. He then followed up on his debut album in 2003 with The Sea & The Rhythm, an EP containing other home-recorded tracks with a similar style to the songs on the debut.
Beam's second full-length album, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004), was recorded in a professional studio with a significant increase in fidelity. Produced in Chicago by Brian Deck, the focus was still on acoustic material, but the inclusion of other band members gave rise to a slightly different sound. That same year, he recorded the song "The Trapeze Swinger" for the film In Good Company, and had his version of "Such Great Heights" featured in an advertisement for M&M;'s and in the film and soundtrack for Garden State. This version was later used in a 2006 Ask.com advertisement, and eventually released as a single in 2006 backed with recordings of "The Trapeze Swinger" and "Naked as We Came" made for Radio Vienna.
In February 2005, he released an EP entitled Woman King, which expanded on the sounds of his previous LP, and added electric guitars. Each track featured a spiritual female figure, and had subtle Biblical undertones.
The EP In the Reins, a collaboration with the Arizona-based rock band Calexico, was released in September 2005. Beam wrote all of the EP's songs years earlier, but Calexico added their trademark fusion of southwestern rock, traditional Mexican music and jazz to the songs' arrangements. Several tracks feature brass instruments, a first for Beam's music.
The third full-length Iron & Wine album, entitled The Shepherd's Dog, was released September 25, 2007. This album was voted one of the ten best of 2007 by Paste magazine. Contributors included Joey Burns and Paul Niehaus of Calexico, as well as jazz musicians Matt Lux and Rob Burger. When asked to describe the album to The Independent, Beam remarked that "it's not a political propaganda record, but it's definitely inspired by political confusion, because I was really taken aback when Bush got reelected."
Beam has released most of his music on iTunes, including several exclusive EPs. The Iron & Wine iTunes Exclusive EP features unreleased studio recordings, including a Stereolab cover and two tracks which had previously only appeared on vinyl. The Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) features Beam and his sister, Sarah Beam, performing a number of tracks from his albums, as well as a cover of New Order's "Love Vigilantes". Sarah Beam has contributed backing vocals on many of Beam's studio recordings.
Beam's music has appeared in television series such as Grey's Anatomy, The L Word and House, M.D.. "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" was used in the film Twilight. The song was specifically chosen for the film's prom scene by Kristen Stewart, the female lead, and appears on the film's soundtrack.
The B-sides and rarities album Around the Well was released in 2009. Iron & Wine also contributed the song "Stolen Houses (Die)" to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization.
On November 26, 2010 Iron & Wine released a special edition Record Store Day Black Friday 12" vinyl and CD single called, Walking Far From Home for independent record stores.
Iron & Wine's next album, Kiss Each Other Clean, will be released on January 25. 2011 on Warner Bros. Records in North America and 4AD for the rest of the world.
Category:American folk guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Florida State University alumni Category:Musicians from South Carolina Category:Sub Pop artists Category:Living people Category:1974 births Category:People from Lexington County, South Carolina
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