name	Blue
director	Derek Jarman
producer	James Mackay Takashi Asai
writer	Derek Jarman
narrator	Derek Jarman Tilda Swinton Nigel Terry John Quentin
music	Simon Fisher Turner John Balance Momus Peter Christopherson Karol Szymanowski Erik Satie
studio	Channel Four Films BBC Radio 3 Arts Council of Great Britain
distributor	Basilisk Communications Ltd
released	Venice Biennale, June 1993, Edinburgh International Film Festival, August 1993, 3 October 1993 (New York Film Festival)
runtime	79 min.
country	United Kingdom
language	English
followed by	}}

''Blue'' is the twelfth and final feature film by director Derek Jarman, released four months before his death from AIDS-related complications. Such complications had already rendered him partially blind at the time of the film's release.

The film was his last testament as a film-maker, and consists of a single shot of saturated blue colour filling the screen, as background to a soundtrack where Jarman's and some of his favourite actors' narration describes his life and vision.

On its premiere, Channel 4 and BBC Radio 3 collaborated on a simultaneous broadcast so viewers could enjoy a stereo soundtrack. Radio 3 subsequently broadcast the soundtrack separately as a radio play and it was later released as a CD.

The film ends with the words:

In time, No one will remember our work Our life will pass like the traces of a cloud And be scattered like Mist that is chased by the Rays of the sun
For our time is the passing of a shadow And our lives will run like Sparks through the stubble.

I place a delphinium, Blue, upon your grave

The film has been released on DVD in Germany and in Italy. On 23 July 2007 British distributor Artificial Eye released DVD tying ''Blue'' together with ''Glitterbug'', a collage of Jarman's Super 8 footage.

Notes

See also

''Themes For Derek Jarman's Blue''

External links

A review of ''Blue''

Text of Jarman's soundtrack for the film ''Blue''

''Blue'' DVD page

Category:1993 films Category:Avant-garde and experimental films Category:Films directed by Derek Jarman Category:British LGBT-related films

de:Blue (1993) fr:Blue (film, 1993) it:Blue (film 1993) ja:ブルー (映画) pl:Blue (film)

birth date	March 09, 1964
birth place	Paris, France
years active	1983–present
other names	"La Binoche"
occupation	Actress, artist, dancer, poet, designer, human rights campaigner
partner	Leos Carax (1986–1991)André Hallé (1991–1993)Benoît Magimel (1998–2003)Santiago Amigorena (2005–2009)
children	Raphaël Hallé (b 1993)Hana Magimel (b 1999)
signature	Binochejuliette.svg }}

Juliette Binoche (French pronunciation: [ʒylˈjɛt biˈnɔʃ]; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 40 feature films, been recipient of numerous international accolades, is a published author and has appeared on stage across the world. Coming from an artistic background, she began taking acting lessons during adolescence. After performing in several stage productions, she was propelled into the world of auteurs Jean-Luc Godard (''Hail Mary'', 1985), Jacques Doillon (''Family Life'', 1985) and André Téchiné, who made her a star in France with the leading role in his 1985 drama ''Rendez-vous''. Her sensual performance in her English-language debut ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being'' (1988), directed by Philip Kaufman, launched her international career.

She sparked the interest of Steven Spielberg, who offered her several parts including a role in ''Jurassic Park'' which she declined, choosing instead to join Krzysztof Kieślowski on the set of ''Three Colors: Blue'' (1993), a performance for which she won the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actress and a César. Three years later Binoche gained further acclaim in Anthony Minghella’s ''The English Patient'' (1996), for which she was awarded an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress in addition to the Best Actress Award at the 1997 Berlin Film Festival. For her performance in Lasse Hallström’s romantic comedy ''Chocolat'' (2000) Binoche was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

During the 2000s she maintained a successful, critically acclaimed career, alternating between French and English language roles in both mainstream and art-house productions. In 2010 she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Abbas Kiarostami’s ''Certified Copy'' making her the first actress to win the European “best actress triple crown”.

Throughout her career Binoche has intermittently appeared on stage, most notably in a 1998 London production of Luigi Pirandello’s ''Naked'' and in a 2000 production of Harold Pinter's ''Betrayal'' on Broadway for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2008 she began a world tour with a modern dance production ''in-i'' devised in collaboration with Akram Khan. Affectionately referred to as ''"La Binoche"'' by the French press, her other notable performances include: ''Mauvais Sang'' (1986), ''Les Amants du Pont-Neuf'', ''Damage'' (1992), ''The Horseman on the Roof'' (1995), ''Code Unknown'' (2000), ''Caché'' (2005), ''Breaking and Entering'' (2006) and ''Flight of the Red Balloon'' (2007).

Biography

Early life and career

Juliette Binoche was born in Paris, the daughter of Jean-Marie Binoche, a director, actor and sculptor, and Monique Stalens, a teacher, director and actress. Her mother is of Polish descent. Her maternal Polish Catholic grandparents were imprisoned at Auschwitz because they were considered to be intellectuals by the Nazi occupiers. She also has French, Flemish, Brazilian and Moroccan ancestry. When her parents divorced in 1968, four year old Binoche and her sister Marion were sent to a provincial boarding school. During their teens, the Binoche sisters spent their school holidays with their maternal grandmother, not seeing either parent for months at a time. Binoche has stated that this perceived parental abandonment had a profound effect on her.

She was not particularly academic and in her teenage years she began acting at school in amateur stage productions. At 17, she directed and starred in a student production of the Eugène Ionesco play, ''Exit the King''. She studied acting at the ''Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique'' (CNSAD), but quit after a short time as she disliked the curriculum. In the early 1980s, she found an agent through a friend and joined a theater troupe with which she toured France, Belgium and Switzerland under the pseudonym "Juliette Adrienne". Around this time she began lessons with the famed acting coach Vera Gregh.

Her first professional screen experience was as an extra in the three part TF1 television series ''Dorothée, danseuse de corde'' (1983) directed by Jacques Fensten, which was followed by a similarly small role in the provincial television film ''Fort bloque'' directed by Pierrick Guinnard. Following this Binoche secured her first feature film appearance with a minor role in Pascal Kané's ''Liberty Belle'' (1983). Her role required just two days on set, but was enough to inspire Binoche to pursue a career in film.

1984–1991

Binoche's early films would see her established as a French star of some renown. In 1983, she auditioned for the female lead in Jean-Luc Godard's' controversial ''Hail Mary'', a modern retelling of the Virgin birth. Godard requested a meeting with Binoche having seen a photo of her taken by her boyfriend of the time. She has said that she spent six months on the set of the film in Geneva, although her role in the final cut is contained to only a few scenes. Further supporting roles followed in a variety of French films: Annick Lanoë's ''Les Nanas'' was to give Binoche her most noteworthy role to date, playing opposite established stars Marie-France Pisier and Macha Meril, in a mainstream comedy. However, she has stated that the experience was not particularly memorable or influential. She gained more significant exposure in Jacques Doillon's critically acclaimed ''Family Life'', which cast her as the volatile teenage step-daughter of Sami Frey's central character. This film was to set the tone of her early career. Doillon has commented that in the original screenplay her character was written to be 14 years old, he was so impressed with Binoche's audition he changed the character's age to 17 to allow her take the role. In April 1985, Binoche followed this with another supporting role in Bob Decout's ''Adieu Blaireau'', a ''policier'' thriller starring Philippe Léotard and Annie Girardot. ''Adieu Blaireau'' failed to have much impact with critics or audiences.

It was to be later in 1985 that Binoche would fully emerge as a leading actress with her role in André Téchiné's ''Rendez-vous''. She was cast at short notice when Sandrine Bonnaire had to abandon the film due to a scheduling conflict. ''Rendez-vous'' premiered at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival, winning Best Director. The film was a sensation and Binoche became the darling of the festival. ''Rendez-Vous'' is the story of a provincial actress, Nina (Binoche), who arrives in Paris and embarks on a series of dysfunctional liaisons with several men, including the moody, suicidal Quentin (Lambert Wilson). However it is her collaboration with theatre director Scrutzler, played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, which comes to define Nina. In a review of ''Rendez-Vous'' in Film Comment, Armond White described it as "Juliette Binoche's career defining performance". In 1986, Binoche was nominated for her first César for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the film. Following ''Rendez-Vous'', she was unsure of what role to take next. She auditioned unsuccessfully for Yves Boisset's ''Bleu comme l'enfer'' and Robin Davis's ''Hors la loi'', but was eventually cast in ''My Brother-in-law Killed My Sister'' (1986) by Jacques Rouffio opposite the popular French stars Michel Serrault and Michel Piccoli. This film was a critical and commercial failure. Binoche has commented that Rouffio's film is very significant to her career as it taught her to judge roles based on the quality of the screenplay and her connection with a director, not on the reputation of other cast members. Later in 1986, she again starred opposite Michel Piccoli in Leos Carax's ''Mauvais Sang''. This film was a critical and commercial success, leading to Binoche's second César nomination. ''Mauvais Sang'' is an avant-garde thriller in which she plays Anna the vastly younger lover of Marc (Piccoli) who falls in love with Alex (Denis Lavant), a young thief. Binoche has stated that she, "discovered the camera", while shooting this film.

In August 1986, Binoche began filming Philip Kaufman's adaptation of Milan Kundera's ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being'', portraying the young and innocent Tereza. Released in 1988, this was Binoche's first English language role and was a worldwide success with critics and audiences alike Set against the Russian invasion of Prague in 1968, the film tells the story of the relationships a Czech surgeon, Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis), has with his wife Tereza and his lover Sabina (Lena Olin). Binoche has stated that at the time her English was very limited and that she relied on a French translation to fully grasp her role. After this success, Binoche decided to return to France rather than pursue an international career. In 1988, she filmed the lead in Pierre Pradinas's ''Un tour de manège'', a little-seen French film opposite François Cluzet. She has stated that her attraction to this film was that it gave her the opportunity to work with close friends and family. Pradinas is the husband of her sister Marion Stalens who was set photographer on the film and appeared in a cameo role. In the summer of 1988, Binoche returned to the stage in an acclaimed production of Anton Checkov’s ''The Seagull'' directed by Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky at Théâtre De L'odéon in Paris. Later that year she began work on Léos Carax's ''Les Amants du Pont-Neuf''. The film was beset by problems and took three years to complete, requiring investment from three producers and funds from the French government. When finally released in 1991, ''Les Amants du Pont-Neuf'' was a critical success. Binoche won a European Film Award as well as securing her third César nomination for her performance. In the film Binoche portrays an artist who lives rough on the famous Parisian bridge where she meets another young vagrant (Denis Lavant). This iconic part of the city becomes the backdrop for a wildly passionate love story and some of the most visually arresting images of the city ever created. The paintings featured in the film were Binoche's own work. She also designed the French poster for the film which features an ink drawing of the eponymous lovers locked in embrace. During a break in filming in 1990, Binoche spent five days shooting ''Mara'' for Mike Figgis, based on Henry Miller's ''Quiet Days at Clichy''. This 30 minute film was part of HBO's anthology series ''Women & Men 2''. The film became somewhat contentious when, according to Mike Figgis, HBO altered it once he had completed it. The film premiered on HBO in the U.S. on 18 August 1991.

At this point, Binoche seemed to be at a crossroads in her career. She was recognized as one of the most significant French actresses of her generation. However, the long production of ''Les Amants du Pont-Neuf'' had forced her to turn down several significant roles in international productions including ''The Double Life of Véronique'' by Krzysztof Kieślowski, Cyrano de Bergerac by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, ''Night and Day'' by Chantal Akerman and ''Beyond the Aegean'' an aborted project with Elia Kazan. Now Binoche chose to pursue an international career outside France.

1992–2000

The 1990s saw Juliette Binoche inaugurated as a European leading lady in a series of international films that were critical and commercial successes winning Binoche much praise and numerous awards for her performances. This period saw her persona develop from that of a young gamine to a more melancholic, tragic presence. Critics suggested that many of her roles were notable for her almost passive intensity in the face of tragedy and despair. In fact Binoche has nicknamed her characters from this period as her "sorrowful sisters". Following the long shoot of ''Les Amants du Pont-Neuf'', Binoche relocated to London for the 1992 productions of ''Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights'' and ''Damage'', both of which considerably enhanced her international reputation. Yet, from a professional and personal point-of-view, both films were significant challenges for Binoche; Her casting opposite Ralph Fiennes's Heathcliff in ''Wuthering Heights'', in favour of English actresses Helena Bonham Carter and Kate Beckinsale, was immediately contentious and drew derision from the British press, unimpressed that a uniquely English role had gone to a French Actress. The film had its world premiere at the 1992 Edinburgh International Film Festival. Reviews were poor, with Binoche being cynically dubbed "Cathy Clouseau" and being derided for her ''"franglais"'' accent. Both Binoche and director Peter Kosminsky distanced themselves from the film, with Binoche refusing to do any promotion for the film or to redub it into French. ''Damage'', a UK and French co-production, is the story of a British Conservative Minister played by Jeremy Irons who embarks on a torrid affair with his son's fiancé (Binoche). Based on the novel by Josephine Hart and directed by veteran French director Louis Malle, ''Damage'' seemed to be the ideal international vehicle for Binoche, however the production was wrought with difficulties and dogged by rumours of serious conflict. In an on-set interview Louis Malle stated that it was the "most difficult" film he had ever made, while Binoche commented that "the first day was one big argument". ''Damage'' opened in the UK late in 1992 and debuted early in 1993 on U.S. screens. Reviews were somewhat mixed. For her performance Juliette Binoche received her fourth César nomination.

In 1993, she appeared in Krzysztof Kieślowski's ''Three Colors: Blue'' to much critical acclaim. The first film in a trilogy inspired by the ideals of the French republic and the colors of its flag, ''Three Colors: Blue'' is the story of a young woman who loses her composer husband and daughter in a car accident. Though devastated she learns to cope by rejecting her previous life in favour of conscious "nothing", rejecting all people, belongings and emotions. ''Three Colors: Blue'' premiered at the 1993 Venice Film Festival, landing Binoche the Best Actress Prize. She also won a César, and a nomination for the Golden Globe. Binoche has said her inspirations for the role were her friend and coach Vernice Klier who suffered a similar tragedy and the book ''The Black Veil'' by Anny Duperey which deals with the author's grief at losing her parents at a young age. Binoche made cameo appearances in the other two films in Kieślowski's trilogy, ''Three Colors: White'' and ''Three Colors: Red''. Around this time, Steven Spielberg offered her roles in ''Jurassic Park'' and ''Schindler’s List''. She turned down both parts. After the success of ''Three Colors: Blue'', Binoche took a short sabbatical during which she gave birth to her son Raphaël in September 1993.

In 1995, Binoche returned to the screen in a big-budget adaptation of Jean Giono's ''The Horseman on the Roof'' directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. The film was particularly significant in France as it was the first French production to use digital special effects and was at the time the most expensive film in the history of French cinema. The film was a box-office success around the world and Binoche was again nominated for a César for Best Actress. This role, as a romantic heroine, was to color the direction of many of her subsequent roles in the late 1990s. In 1996, Binoche appeared in her first comedic role since ''My Brother-in-Law Killed My Sister'' a decade before; ''A Couch in New York'' was directed by Chantal Akerman and co-starred William Hurt. This screw-ball comedy tells the story of a New York psychiatrist who swaps homes with a Parisian dancer. The film was a critical and commercial failure. ''Three Colors: Blue'', ''The Horseman on the Roof'' and ''A Couch in New York'' all gave Binoche the opportunity to work with prestigious directors she had turned down during the prolonged shoot of ''Les Amants du Pont-Neuf''. Her next role would significantly reinforce her position as a bona-fide international movie star, ''The English Patient'', based on the prize winning novel by Michael Ondaatje and directed by Anthony Minghella, was a worldwide hit. Produced by Saul Zaentz, producer of ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being'', the film reunited Juliette Binoche with Ralph Fiennes, Heathcliff to her Cathy four years previously. Binoche has said that the shoot on location in Tuscany and at the famed Cinecitta in Rome was among the happiest professional experiences of her career. The film, which tells the story of a badly burned, mysterious man found in the wreckage of a plane during World War II, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Juliette Binoche. With this film, she became the second French actress to win an Oscar, following Simone Singnoret’s win for ''Room at the Top'' in 1960. After this international hit, Binoche returned to France and began work opposite Daniel Auteuil on Claude Berri’s ''Lucie Aubrac'', the true story of a French Resistance heroine. Binoche was released from the film six weeks into the shoot due to differences with Berri regarding the authenticity of his script. Binoche has described this event as being like "an earthquake" to her.

Next Juliette Binoche was reunited with director André Téchiné for ''Alice et Martin'' (1998), the story of a relationship between an emotionally damaged Parisian musician and her younger lover who hides a dark family secret. The film failed to find an audience in France, although it was critically acclaimed in the UK. In February 1998 Binoche made her London stage debut in a new version of Luigi Pirandello’s ''Clothe the Naked '' retitled ''Naked'' and adapted by Nicolas Wright. The production, directed by Jonathan Kent, was very favorably received. Following this acclaimed performance, she returned to French screens with ''Children of the Century'' (1999), a big budget romantic epic, in which she played 19th-century French proto-feminist author George Sand. The film depicted Sand's affair with the poet and dandy Alfred de Musset played by Benoit Magimel. This lavish costume drama was filmed on location in Paris and Venice and featured couture costumes by the renowned fashion designer Christian Lacroix. The following year saw Binoche in four contrasting roles, each of which enhanced her reputation. ''La Veuve de Saint-Pierre'' (2000) by Patrice Leconte, for which she was nominated for a César for Best Actress, was a period drama which saw Binoche appear opposite Daniel Auteuil in the role of a woman who attempts to save a condemned man from the guillotine. The film won favourable reviews, particularly in the U.S. where it was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. The film won the Audience Award at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival Next she appeared in Michael Haneke's ''Code Unknown'', a film which was made following Binoche's approach to the Austrian director. The film premiered in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. This critically acclaimed role was a welcome change from playing the romantic heroine in a series of costume dramas. Later that year, Binoche made her Broadway debut in an adaptation of Harold Pinter's ''Betrayal'' for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Staged by the Roundabout Theatre Company and directed by David Leveaux, the production also featured Liev Schreiber and John Slattery. Back on screen, Binoche was the heroine of the Lasse Hallstrom film ''Chocolat'' from the best selling novel by Joanne Harris. For her role Binoche won a European Film Audience Award for Best Actress and was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA. Chocolat is the story of a mysterious stranger who opens a ''chocolaterie'' in a conservative French village in 1959. The film was a worldwide hit.

Between 1995 and 2000, Binoche was the advertising face of the Lancôme perfume ''Poème'', her image adorning print campaigns photographed by Richard Avedon and a television advertising campaign, including an advert directed by Anthony Minghella and scored by Gabriel Yared.

By the end of this period and following roles in a number of prestige productions, critics were wondering if Binoche was typecast as the tragic, despairing muse. In a feature article entitled "The Erotic Face" in the June 2000 edition of British film criticism magazine Sight and Sound, Ginette Vincendeau pondered Binoche's persona; Vincendeau suggested that the fixation of numerous directors upon her face had led to an erasure of her body, and to her being perceived only as a romantic icon rather than a versatile actress.

2001–2006

Following the success of ''Chocolat'', the early 2000s saw Juliette Binoche internationally recognized as an A-list movie star. However, her persona seemed to be somewhat fixed following a series of period roles where she played the always stoic heroine facing tragedy and desolation. Ever keen to try something new, Binoche returned to French cinema in 2002 for an unlikely role; ''Jet Lag'' opposite Jean Reno saw Binoche play a ditzy beautician. The film, directed by Daniele Thompson, was a box-office hit in France and saw Binoche once again nominated for a César for Best Actress. The film tells the story of a couple who meet at an airport during a strike. Initially the pair despises each other, but, over the course of one night, they find common ground and maybe even love. This playful spirit continued when Binoche featured in a 2003 Italian television commercial for the chocolates Ferrero Rocher. The advertisement played upon her ''Chocolat'' persona featuring Binoche handing out the chocolates to people on the streets of Paris.

In a more serious vein, Binoche travelled to South Africa to make John Boorman's ''In My Country'' (2004) opposite Samuel L. Jackson. Based on the book ''Country of My Skull'' by Antjie Krog, the film examines The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings following the abolition of Apartheid in the mid 1990s. Although the film premiered at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival, it received much criticism for the inclusion of a fictional romantic liaison and for its depiction of black South Africans. Despite the negative reception, Binoche was extremely enthusiastic about the film and her connection with Boorman. Her sister, Marion Stalens, also travelled to South Africa to shoot a documentary, ''La reconciliation?'', which explores the TRC process and follows Binoche's progress as she acts in Boorman's film. Next, Binoche re-teamed with Michael Haneke for ''Caché''. The film was an immediate success, winning best director for Haneke at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, while Binoche was nominated for a European Film Award for Best Actress for her role. The film tells the story of a bourgeois Parisian couple, played by Binoche and Daniel Auteuil, who begin to receive anonymous videotapes containing footage shot over long periods, surveying the outside of their home. ''Caché'' went on to feature in the number one position on the "Top 10 of the 2000s" list published by The Times at the end of the decade. Binoche's next film, ''Bee Season'', based on the celebrated novel by Myla Goldberg, cast her opposite Richard Gere. The film was not a success at the box office taking less than $5 million worldwide. For many critics the film, although intelligent, was “distant and diffuse”. ''Bee Season'' depicts the emotional disintegration of a family just as their daughter begins to win national spelling bees. ''Mary'' (2005) featured Binoche in a somewhat unlikely collaboration with the controversial American director Abel Ferrara for an investigation of modern faith and Mary Magdalene's position within the Catholic Church. Featuring Forest Whittaker, Matthew Modine and Marion Cotillard, ''Mary'' was an immediate success, winning the Grand Prix at the 2005 Venice Film Festival. Despite these accolades and favorable reviews, particularly from the influential cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles, ''Mary'' failed to secure a distributor in key markets such as the U.S. and the U.K.

The Cannes Film Festival in 2006 saw Binoche feature in the ''portmanteau'' film ''Paris, je t'aime'' appearing in a section directed by the Japanese director Nobuhiro Suwa. Suwa's ''Place des Victoires'' is the story of a grief stricken mother who manages to have a final brief moment with her dead son. The segment also features Willem Dafoe and Hippolyte Girardot. ''Paris, je t'aime'' was a popular success, taking over $17 million, at the world box-office. In September 2006, Binoche appeared at the Venice Film Festival to launch ''A Few Days in September'', written and directed by Santiago Amigorena. Despite an impressive cast including John Turturro, Nick Nolte and up-coming French star Sara Forestier, the film was a failure. ''A Few Days in September'' is a thriller set between 5 and 11 September 2001, in which Binoche plays a French secret service agent, who may, or may not, have information relating to impending attacks on the U.S. The film was the recipient of harsh criticism from the press for its perceived trivialization of the events of 11 September 2001. While promoting the film in the U.K., Binoche told an interviewer she believed the CIA and other government agencies must have had foreknowledge of the 11 September attacks, as depicted in the film. Next Binoche traveled to the 2006 Toronto Film Festival for the premiere of ''Breaking and Entering'', her second film with Anthony Minghella in the director's chair, based on his first original screenplay since his break-through film ''Truly, Madly, Deeply'' (1991). In ''Breaking and Entering'', Binoche played a Bosnian refugee living in London, while Jude Law co-starred as a well-to-do businessman drawn into her life via an act of deception. In preparation for her role, Binoche travelled to Sarajevo where she met women who had survived the war of the 1990s. Lushly photographed by Benoît Delhomme, ''Breaking and Entering'' portrays intersecting lives amongst the flux of urban renewal in inner-city London. Despite the fact that Binoche was praised for her performance, the film did not ring true for critics and failed to find an audience. In a review in Variety, Todd McCarthy writes that, "Binoche, physically unchanged as ever, plays Amira's controlled anguish with skill". Breaking and Entering also featured Robin Wright, Vera Farmiga, Juliet Stevenson, Rafi Gavron and Martin Freeman.

Although Binoche began the decade on a professional high with an Academy Award nomination for ''Chocolat'', she struggled at the beginning of the 2000s to secure roles that did not confine her to the tragic, melancholic persona developed in the 1990s. Despite the huge success of ''Caché'', other high profile films such as ''In My Country'', ''Bee Season'' and ''Breaking and Entering'' failed critically and commercially, Binoche seemed to be at a crossroads in her career.

2007–present

2007 was the start of a particularly busy period for Juliette Binoche, one that would see her take on diverse roles in a series of critically acclaimed international movies giving her film career a new impetus as she shed the restrictions that seemed to have stifled her career in the early part of the decade. The Cannes Film Festival saw the premiere of ''Flight of the Red Balloon'' (2007) by the widely acclaimed Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien. It was originally conceived as a short film to form part of a 20th anniversary tribute to the Musée D'Orsay, to be produced by Serge Lemoine president of the museum. When that idea failed to find sufficient funding, Hou developed it into a feature length film and secured the necessary financing. The film was well received by international critics and went on to debut around the world early in 2008. Paying homage to Albert Lamorisse's 1957 short ''The Red Balloon'', Hou's film tells the story of a woman's efforts to juggle her responsibilities as a single mother with her commitment to her career as a voice artist. Shot on location in Paris, the film was entirely improvised by the cast. The film was number one on the influential critic J. Hoberman's "Top 10 List" for 2008 published in The Village Voice. ''Disengagement'' by Amos Gitai premiered out-of-competition at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. Co-starring Liron Levo and Jeanne Moreau, ''Disengagement'' is a political drama charting the story of a French woman, of Dutch/Palestinian origin, who goes in search of a daughter she abandoned 20 years previously on the Gaza strip. She arrives in Gaza during the 2005 Israeli disengagement. The film won the prestigious Premio Roberto Rossellini and was critically acclaimed, particularly by the eminent Cahiers du Cinema. However the film proved more controversial in Israel where state television station Channel 1 withdrew financial support for the film citing the "right-wing nature of Gitaï's films".

In stark contrast, Peter Hedges co-wrote and directed the Disney produced ''Dan in Real Life'', a romantic comedy featuring Binoche along side Steve Carell. It was released in October 2007, becoming a popular commercial success in the US, before debuting around the world in 2008. The film grossed over $65 million at the worldwide box-office. ''Dan in Real Life'' is the story of a widowed man (Carell) who meets, and instantly falls for, a woman (Binoche) only to discover she is the new girlfriend of his brother. The film also features Dane Cook, Emily Blunt and Diane Weist Back in France, Binoche was seen to popular and critical success in ''Paris'' directed by Cédric Klapisch. ''Paris'' is Klapisch's personal ode to the French capital and features an impressive ensemble of French talent including; Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini and Melanie Laurent. ''Paris'' was one of the most successful French films internationally in recent years having grossed over $22 million at the world box office. Binoche and Klapisch had originally met on the set of Mauvais Sang in 1986, where Klapisch was working as a set electrician. Also in France, ''Summer Hours'' (2008), directed by Olivier Assayas, is the critically acclaimed story of three siblings who struggle with the responsibility of disposing of their late mother's valuable art collection following her death. The film premiered in France in March 2008 and had its U.S. debut at the 2008 New York Film Festival, before going on general release in the U.S. on 19 May 2009. Widely acclaimed, the film was nominated for the Prix Louis Delluc in France and appeared on numerous U.S. "Top 10 lists" including first place on David Edelstein's "Top 10 of 2009" list in New York Magazine, and J.R. Jones's list in the Chicago Reader. ''Summer Hours'' also features Charles Berling, Jérémie Renier and Edith Scob.

In the Autumn of 2008 Binoche starred in a theatrical dance production titled ''in-i'' co-created with renowned choreographer Akram Khan. The show, a love story told through dance and dialogue, featured stage design by Anish Kapoor and music by Philip Sheppard. It premiered at the National Theatre in London before embarking on a world tour. Writing in The Australian, John McCallum wrote that, “Binoche has radiant presence as an actor, her dancing is relaxed and naturalistic”, while The Sunday Times in the UK commented that, “Binoche’s physical achievement is incredible: Khan is a master mover”. The production was part of a ‘Binoche Season' titled ''Ju'Bi'lations'', also featuring a retrospective of her film work and an exhibition of her paintings, which were also published in a bilingual book ''Portraits in Eyes''. The book featured ink portraits of Binoche as each of her characters and of each director she had worked with to that time. She also penned a few lines to each director.

In April 2006 and again in December 2007, Binoche travelled to Tehran at the invitation of Abbas Kiarostami. While there in 2007 she shot a cameo appearance in his film ''Shirin'' (2008) which he was shooting at the time. Binoche’s visit proved controversial when two Iranian MPs raised the matter in parliament advising more caution be exercised in granting visas to foreign celebrities which might lead to “cultural destruction”. In June 2009 Binoche began work on ''Certified Copy'' directed by Kiarostami. The film was an Official Selection in competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Binoche won the Best Actress Award at the festival for her performance. The film went on general release in France on 19 May 2010 to very positive reviews. Her win at the 2010 Cannes Film festival makes Binoche the first actress to win the European “best actress triple crown”: Best Actress at Venice for ''Three Colors: Blue'', Best Actress at Berlin for ''The English Patient'' and Best Actress at Cannes for ''Certified Copy''. The Septemner 2010 UK release of the film was overshadowed when French actor Gérard Depardieu made disparaging comments about Binoche to the Austrian magazine ''Profil'', "Please can you explain to me what the mystery of Juliette Binoche is meant to be?" he said. "I would really like to know why she has been so esteemed for so many years. She has nothing – absolutely nothing". In response Binoche spoke to movie magazine ''Empire'' saying, “I don't know him. I understand you don't have to like everyone and you can dislike someone's work. But I don't understand the violence [of his statements]... I do not understand why he is behaving like this. It is his problem.” ''Certified Copy'' proved to be controversial in Kiarostami's homeland when Iranian authorities announced on 27 May 2010 that the film was to be banned in Iran, apparently due to Binoche's attire; Deputy Culture Minister Javad Shamaqdari is quoted as saying, "If Juliette Binoche were better clad it could have been screened but due to her attire there will not be a general screening,".

Following the success of ''Certified Copy'', Binoche appeared in a supporting role in ''The Son of No One'' for American writer and director Dito Montiel. The film also stars Channing Tatum, Al Pacino and Ray Liotta. ''The Son of No One'' premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival to fairly negative reaction. It has been acquired by Anchor Bay Entertainment for distribution in the US and other key territories. In June 2010, Binoche started work on ''Elles'' for Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska. ''Elles'', produced under the working title ''Sponsoring'', is an examination of teenage prostitution with Juliette Binoche playing a journalist for Elle. The film is due for release in France on 9 November 2011. On 12 January 2011, Variety announced that Juliette Binoche has signed to star in ''The Life of Another'' based on the novel by Frederique Deghelt. The film will be the directorial debut of the highly regarded French Actress Sylvie Testud and will co-star actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz. In the film, a young woman falls in love, then wakes up a decade later, the mother of a young boy and on the verge of a divorce. The film began shooting on 4 April 2011. On 17 February 2011, Screendaily announced that Juliette Binoche has been cast in David Cronenberg's film ''Cosmopolis'' with Robert Pattinson, Paul Giamati, Mathieu Amalric and Samantha Morton. The film, produced by Paulo Branco, is due to begin principal photography on 24 May 2011.

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Personal life

Binoche has two children: a son Raphaël (born on 2 September 1993), whose father is André Halle, a professional scuba diver, and a daughter Hana (born on 16 December 1999), whose father is actor Benoît Magimel, with whom Binoche starred in the 1999 film ''Children of the Century''. Her sister, Marion Stalens, is a professional photographer with Corbis, as well as a director of documentary films, including; ''La réconciliation?'', a documentary shot on the set of John Boorman's film ''In My Country'', ''The Actress and the Dancer'', exploring the genesis of Binoche's dance show ''in-i'' and ''Juliette Binoche - Sketches for a Portrait'' a documentary which follows Binoche as she paints the portraits that would later appear in her book ''Portraits in Eyes''. Her half brother Camille Humeau (born 1978) is an acclaimed musician and has been part of the line-up of Oncle Strongle, before top-lining the group Artichaut Orkestra. In 2007, he appeared in a stage production of ''Cabaret'' directed by Sam Mendes. Stage director Pierre Pradinas is married to her sister Marion.

Binoche previously had romantic relationships with Leos Carax, Olivier Martinez, Benoit Magimel and Santiago Amigorena, as well as brief relationships with Daniel Day-Lewis and Mathieu Amalric.

Charitable work

Since 1992, Binoche is a patron of the French Cambodian charity ''Enfants d'Asie'' (previously ASPECA). Through this charity she is godmother to five Cambodian orphans, and has funded the construction of a children's home in Battambang. Starting in 2000, Juliette Binoche has been involved with the organization Reporters Without Borders. In 2002, she presided over "Photos of Stars" with Thierry Ardisson. Nearly 100 French stars were given disposable cameras, which were then auctioned, the buyer then having the exclusive photos taken by the star developed.

Political views and activism

She supported José Bové in the 2007 French presidential elections which were won by Nicolas Sarkozy. She has disclosed on a number of occasions that she does not approve of the Sarkozy administration, stating that the president is creating a monarchic republic. In April 2002, Binoche and several other French stars including Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Kassovitz attended a "protest picnic" to object to the firing of Canal+ chairman Pierre Lescure by the Vivendi Universal company. On 7 February 2006, Binoche attented a high profile demonstration organised by Reporters Without Borders in support of Jill Carroll and two Iraqi journalists who had been abducted in Baghdad. Binoche and numerous other French personalities including Isabelle Adjani, Yvan Attal, Jane Birkin and Josiane Balasko joined Réseau Education Sans Frontieres (RESF) on 7 January 2010 with a symbolic "cake of solidarity" to highlight the taxation and legitimacy issues being faced by undocumented workers in France. Binoche was a signatory to a June 2010 petition organized by Reporters Without Borders and Shirin Ebadi to protest against the detention of numerous people, including members of the press, who were protesting the occasion of the first anniversary of disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. At the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Binoche spoke out against the detention of Iranian director Jafar Panahi, incarcerated in Teheran's Evin Prison since 1 March 2010 without charge or conviction. At the press conference following the press screening of Copie Conforme, Binoche was informed that Panahi had begun a hunger strike. The following day Binoche attended a press conference called especially to demand the release of Panahi. Also in attendance were Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Gilles Jacob. Binoche read a letter which pointed out that Panahi's detention was "unwarranted and intolerable". When Binoche was awarded the Best Actress award at the festival, brandishing his name on a placard, she used her speech as an opportunity to raise Panahi's plight once again. On 25 May it was announced that Panahi had been released on bail. It was generally agreed that the publicity Binoche and Kiarostami elicited for his case was a strong factor in his release. On 20 December 2010 Panahi, after being prosecuted for “assembly and colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country’s national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic,” was handed a six-year jail sentence and a 20-year ban on making or directing any movies, writing screenplays, giving any form of interview with Iranian or foreign media as well as leaving the country. Binoche continues to lobby on his behalf.

Filmography and awards

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1983	''Dorothée, danseuse de corde''	minor role
1983		Girl at the rally
1985	''''	A friend of Veronique	Also known as ''A Better Life''
1985		Nina/Anne Larrieux	Nominated – César Award for Best Actress
1985	''Adieu Blaireau''	Brigitte	Also known as ''Farewell to Fred''
1985		Natacha	Also known as ''La Vie de famille''
1985	''''	Antoinette	Also known as ''The Girls''
1985		Juliette	Also known as ''Je Vous salue, Marie''
1985	''Fort bloqué''	Nicole	Television film
1986	''Mauvais Sang''	Anna	Nominated – César Award for Best ActressAlso known as ''Bad Blood'' and ''The Night is Young''
1986	''My Brother-in-law Killed My Sister''	Esther Bouloire	Also known as ''Mon Beau-frère a tué ma soeur''
1988	''''	Tereza
1989	''''	Elsa	Also known as ''Once Around the Park''
1991	''''	Michèle Stalens
1991	''Women & Men 2''	Mara	Television film Appeared in segment ''Henry Miller's Mara''
1992		Anna Barton	Nominated – César Award for Best Actress
1992	''Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights''	Cathy Linton / Catherine Earnshaw
1993	''Three Colors: Blue''	Julie Vignon (de Courcy)
1994	''Three Colors: White''	Julie Vignon (de Courcy)	Also known as ''Trois couleurs blanc''
1994	''Three Colors: Red''	Julie Vignon (de Courcy)	Also known as ''Trois couleurs rouge''
1995	''''	Pauline de Théus	Nominated – César Award for Best Actress.Also known as ''Le Hussard sur le toit''
1996	''''	Hana
1996	''''	Beatrice Saulnier	Also known as ''Un Divan à New York''
1998	''Alice et Martin''	Alice	Also known as ''Alice and Martin''
1999	''Children of the Century''	George Sand/Baroness Aurore Dudevant	Also known as ''Les Enfants du siècle''
2000		Vianne Rocher
2000	''Code Unknown''	Anne Laurent	Also known as ''Code inconnu''
2000	''''	Pauline (Madame La)	Nominated – César Award for Best ActressAlso known as ''La Veuve de Saint-Pierre''
2002		Rose	Nominated – César Award for Best ActressAlso known as ''Décalage horaire''
2004	''In My Country''	Anna Malan	Also known as ''Country of My Skull''
2005		Marie Palesi / Mary Magdalene
2005		Miriam
2005		Anne Laurent	Nominated – European Film Award for Best ActressAlso known as ''Hidden''
2006		Amira
2006	''''	Irène Montano	Also known as ''Quelques jours en septembre''
2006	''Paris, je t'aime''	Suzanne
2007	''Dan in Real Life''	Marie
2007		Ana
2007		Suzanne	Also known as ''Le Voyage du ballon Rouge''
2008		Elise
2008	''Summer Hours''	Adrienne	Also known as ''L'Heure d'été''
2008		Woman in audience
2010		Elle
2011		Lauren
2011		Anne	post-productionAlso known as ''Sponsoring''
2012		Didi Fancher	filming
2012	''The Life of Another''	Marie	post-productionAlso known as ''La Vie d'une autre''

Other awards

Won

1986 – Prix Romy Schneider

1992 – European Film Award – Best Actress – ''Les Amants du Pont-Neuf''

1993 – Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale Camera

1993 – Venice Film Festival – Best Actress – ''Three Colors: Blue''

1996 – National Board of Review – Best Supporting Actress – ''The English Patient''

1997 – Berlin International Film Festival – Best Actress – ''The English Patient''

1997 – European Film Award – Best Actress – ''The English Patient''

1997 – Screen Actors Guild Award – Best Supporting Actress – ''The English Patient''

2010 – Cannes Film Festival – Best Actress – ''Certified Copy''

2010 – Kerry Film Festival – Maureen O'Hara Award 2010 – Cairo International Film Festival – Lifetime achievement

Nominations

2001 – Screen Actors Guild Award – Best Actress – ''Chocolat''

2001 – Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role – ''Chocolat''

2001 – Screen Actors Guild Award – Outstanding Cast – ''Chocolat''

2005 – European Film Award Best Actress; – ''Caché''

2005 – London Critics Circle Film Awards – Best Actress – ''Caché''

2006 – British Independent Film Award – Best Actress – ''Breaking & Entering''

References

External links

Juliette Binoche at filmsdefrance.com

Juliette Binoche Interview at AMCtv.com

Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Paris Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:César Award winners Category:French film actors Category:French people of Polish descent

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Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.

Life

Jarman was born in Northwood, Middlesex. His father was a military officer, born in New Zealand, and his mother was half-Jewish. He boarded at Canford School in Dorset, and from 1960 studied at King's College London. This was followed by four years at the Slade School of Art, University College London, starting in 1963. He had a studio at Butler's Wharf, London, and was part of the Andrew Logan social scene in the 1970s. Jarman was outspoken about homosexuality, his never-ending public fight for gay rights, and his personal struggle with AIDS.

On 22 December 1986, Jarman was diagnosed as HIV positive, and discussed his condition in public. His illness prompted him to move to Prospect Cottage, Dungeness in Kent, near the nuclear power station. In 1994, he died of an AIDS-related illness in London, aged 52. He is buried in the graveyard at St. Clements Church, Old Romney, Kent.

The band Chumbawamba subsequently released ''Song for Derek Jarman'' in his honour. Andi Sexgang, another music artist, released the CD ''Last of England'' as a Jarman tribute. The ambient experimental album ''The garden is full of metal'', by Robin Rimbaud, includes Jarman speech samples. Manic Street Preachers' Bassist, Nicky Wire, also recorded a track titled ''Derek Jarman's Garden'' as a b-side to his single ''Break My Heart Slowly'' in 2006.

Films

Jarman's first films were experimental super 8 mm shorts, a form he never entirely abandoned, and later developed further in his films ''Imagining October'' (1984), ''The Angelic Conversation'' (1985), ''The Last of England'' (1987) and ''The Garden'' (1990) as a parallel to his narrative work. The Angelic Conversation featured Toby Mott and other members of the Radical artist collective The Grey Organisation

Jarman first became known as a stage designer, getting his break in the film industry as production designer for Ken Russell's ''The Devils'' (1970). He later made his debut in "overground" narrative filmmaking with the groundbreaking ''Sebastiane'' (1976), arguably the first British film to feature positive images of gay sexuality, and the first film entirely in correct Latin. ''Sebastiane'' is a story about the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, which created a stir on the art cinema market because of its overt depiction of homosexual desire. Its stylistic tendency to camp was enhanced by its dialogue being in Latin.

He followed this with the film many regard as his first masterpiece, ''Jubilee'' (shot 1977, released 1978), in which Queen Elizabeth I of England is transported forward in time to a desolate and brutal wasteland ruled by her twentieth century namesake. ''Jubilee'' was arguably the first UK punk movie, and among its cast featured punk groups and figures such as Wayne County of Wayne County & the Electric Chairs, Jordan, Toyah Willcox, and Adam and the Ants.

This was followed by Jarman's unconventional adaptation of Shakespeare's ''The Tempest'' in 1979. Praised by several Shakespeare scholars, but dismissed by some traditionalist critics, the film contains a considerable amount of nudity (mostly male, but also some female, including a scene in which Caliban's mother Sycorax breast-feeds her son), some unconventional casting (Toyah Willcox's Miranda hardly suggests innocent purity) and an unusual setting (a crumbling mansion as opposed to an island). Throughout the film, Jarman is liberal with Shakespeare's text, using it as a springboard for his own interpretation.

During the 1980s Jarman was still one of the few openly gay public figures in Britain and was a leading campaigner against Clause 28. He also worked to raise awareness of AIDS. His artistic practice in the early 1980s reflected these commitments, perhaps most famously in ''The Angelic Conversation'' (1985), a film in which the imagery is accompanied by a voice reciting Shakespeare's sonnets, obviously chosen for their openness to a homoerotic re-reading.

Jarman spent seven years making experimental super 8 mm films and attempting to raise money for ''Caravaggio'' (he later claimed to have rewritten the script seventeen times during this period).

Released in 1986, ''Caravaggio'' attracted a comparatively wide audience (and is still, barring the cult hit ''Jubilee'', probably Jarman's most widely-known work). This is partly due to the involvement, for the first time, of the British television company Channel 4 in funding and distribution. Funded by the BFI and produced by film theorist Colin MacCabe, ''Caravaggio'' became Jarman's most famous film, and marked the beginning of a new phase in Jarman's filmmaking career: from now on all his films would be partly funded by television companies, often receiving their most prominent exhibition in TV screenings. ''Caravaggio'' also saw Jarman work with actress Tilda Swinton for the first time. Here, his trademark aesthetics flourished: overt depictions of homosexual love, narrative ambiguity, and superb visuals, particularly the live representations of Caravaggio's most famous paintings, are all prominent features of the work.

The conclusion of ''Caravaggio'' also marked the beginning of a temporary abandonment of traditional narrative in Jarman's films. Frustrated by the formality of 35 mm film production, and the institutional dependence and resultant prolonged inactivity associated with it (which had already cost him seven years with ''Caravaggio'', as well as derailing several long-term projects), Jarman returned to and expanded the super 8 mm-based form he had previously worked in on ''Imagining October'' and ''The Angelic Conversation''. The film was entered into the 36th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear for an outstanding single achievement.

The first film to result from this new semi-narrative phase, ''The Last of England'' told the death of a country, ravaged by its own internal decay and the economic restructuring of Thatcher's government. "Wrenchingly beautiful…the film is one of the few commanding works of personal cinema in the late 80's – a call to open our eyes to a world violated by greed and repression, to see what irrevocable damage has been wrought on city, countryside and soul, how our skies, our bodies, have turned poisonous", wrote a ''Village Voice'' critic. This film re-interpreted Ford Madox Brown's famous painting of emigrants leaving the English shores for a life in the New World, and has been compared to Humphrey Jennings's documentary ''Listen to Britain'' (1942) which constitutes its very antithesis. Where ''Listen to Britain'' indulges in the idyllic, The Last of England tries to expose the decay.

During the making of his film ''The Garden'', Jarman became seriously ill. Although he recovered sufficiently to complete the work, he never attempted anything on a comparable scale afterwards, returning to a more pared-down form for his concluding narrative films, ''Edward II'' (perhaps his most politically outspoken work, informed by his Queer activism) and the Brechtian ''Wittgenstein'', a delicate tragicomedy based on the life of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. It was a later complaint of Jarman's that with the disappearance of the Independent Film sector it had become impossible for him to get finance. Jarman made a side income by directing music videos for various artists including Marianne Faithfull, The Smiths and the Pet Shop Boys.

In 1989, Jarman's film ''War Requiem'' brought the legendary actor Laurence Olivier out of retirement. It turned out to be Olivier's last performance.

By the time of his 1993 film ''Blue'', Jarman was losing his sight and dying of AIDS-related complications. ''Blue'' consists of a single shot of saturated blue colour filling the screen, as background to a soundtrack composed by Simon Fisher Turner, and featuring original music by Coil and other artists, in which Jarman describes his life and vision. When it was shown on British television, Channel 4 carried the image whilst the soundtrack was broadcast simultaneously on BBC Radio 3, a collaborative project unique for its time.

His final testament as a film-maker was the film ''Glitterbug'' made for the Arena slot on BBC Two, and broadcast shortly after Jarman's death. Compiled and edited from many hours of super 8 footage shot with friends and companions throughout his career, it is a moving collage of memories, people and moments lost in time, accompanied by a specially commissioned soundtrack from Brian Eno.

Other works

Jarman's work broke new ground in creating and expanding the fledgling form of 'the pop video' in England, and in gay rights activism. Several volumes of his diaries have been published.

Jarman also directed the 1989 tour by the UK duo Pet Shop Boys. By pop concert standards this was a highly theatrical event with costume and specially shot films accompanying the individual songs. Jarman was the stage director of Sylvano Bussotti's opera ''L'Ispirazione'', first staged in Florence in 1998.

Jarman is also remembered for his famous shingle cottage-garden, created in the latter years of his life, in the shadow of Dungeness nuclear power station. The house was built in tarred timber. Raised wooden text on the side of the cottage is the first stanza and the last five lines of the last stanza of John Donne's poem, ''The Sun Rising''. The cottage's beach garden was made using local materials and has been the subject of several books. At this time, Jarman also began painting again (see the book: ''Evil Queen: The Last Paintings'', 1994).

Jarman was the author of several books including his autobiography ''Dancing Ledge'', a collection of poetry ''A Finger in the Fishes Mouth'', two volumes of diaries ''Modern Nature'' and ''Smiling In Slow Motion'' and two treatises on his work in film and art ''The Last of England'' (also published as ''Kicking the Pricks'') and ''Chroma''. Other notable published works include film scripts (''Up in the Air'', ''Blue'', ''War Requiem'', ''Caravaggio'', ''Queer Edward II'' and ''Wittgenstein: The Terry Eagleton Script/The Derek Jarman Film''), a study of his garden at Dungeness ''Derek Jarman's Garden'', and ''At Your Own Risk'', a defiant celebration of gay sexuality.

Filmography

Feature films

''Sebastiane'' (1976)

''Jubilee'' (1977)

''The Tempest'' (1979)

''The Angelic Conversation'' (1985)

''Caravaggio'' (1986)

''The Last of England'' (1988)

''War Requiem'' (1989)

''The Garden'' (1990)

''Edward II'' (1991)

''Wittgenstein'' (1993)

''Blue'' (1993)

Short films

''Electric Fairy'' (1971)

''Studio Bankside'' (1971)

''Garden of Luxor'' (1972)

''Burning the Pyramids'' (1972)

''Miss Gaby'' (1972)

''A Journey to Avebury'' (1971)

''Andrew Logan Kisses the Glitterati'' (1972)

''Tarot'' (aka ''the Magician'', 1972)

''Sulphur'' (1973)

''Stolen Apples for Karen Blixen'' (1973)

''Miss World'' (1973)

''The Devils at the Elgin'' (aka ''Reworking the Devils'', 1974)

''Fire Island'' (1974)

''Duggie Fields'' (1974)

''Ula's Fete'' (aka ''Ula's Chandelier'', 1975)

''Picnic at Ray's'' (1975)

''Sebastian Wrap'' (1975)

''Sloane Square: A Room of One's Own'' (1976)

''Gerald's Film'' (1976)

''Art and the Pose'' (1976)

''Houston Texas'' (1976)

''Jordan's Dance'' (1977)

''Every Woman for Herself and All for Art'' (1977)

''The Pantheon'' (1978)

''In the Shadow of the Sun'' (1974) ''(in 1980 Throbbing Gristle was commissioned to provide a new soundtrack for this 54 minute film eponymous piece by Throbbing Gristle)''

''T.G.: Psychic Rally in Heaven'' (1981)

''Jordan's Wedding'' (1981)

''Pirate Tape (William S. Burroughs Film)'' (1982)

''Waiting for Waiting for Godot'' (1982)

''Pontormo and Punks at Santa Croce'' (1982)

''B2 Tape/Film'' (1983)

''Catalan'' (1984)

''Imagining October'' (1984)

''Aria'' (1987)

*segment: ''Depuis le Jour''

''L'Ispirazione'' (1988)

''Glitterbug'' (1994) ''(one-hour compilation film of various Super-8 shorts with music by Brian Eno)''

Jarman's early Super-8 mm work has been included on some of the DVD releases of his films.

Music videos

The Sex Pistols: ''The Sex Pistols Number One'' (1976). Early live footage of the band.

Marianne Faithfull: "Broken English", "Witches' Song", and "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" (all 1979)

Throbbing Gristle: ''TG Psychic Rally in Heaven'' (1981).

Language: "Touch The Radio Dance" (1984) (notable because it was shown at the Museum of Modern Art)

Orange Juice: "What Presence?!" (1984).

Marc Almond: "Tenderness Is a Weakness" (1984).

The Smiths:

* ''The Queen Is Dead'', a short film incorporating the Smiths songs "The Queen Is Dead", "Panic", and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (1986)

* The "Panic" sequence from ''The Queen Is Dead'' was edited to form the video for that single (1986)

* "Ask" (1986)

Matt Fretton: "Avatar" (1986)

Pet Shop Boys: "It's a Sin", "Rent", and "Projections".

Pet Shop Boys: "King's Cross"

Suede

Scenic design

''Jazz Calendar'' at Covent Garden. ''Don Giovanni'' at the Coliseum. ''The Devils'', directed by Ken Russell. ''Savage Messiah'', directed by Ken Russell. ''The Rake's Progress'', directed by Ken Russell in Florence. 1991: ''Waiting for Godot'' by Samuel Beckett, at the Queen's Theatre in the West End.

Documentaries

''The Last Paintings of Derek Jarman'' (Mark Jordan, Granada TV 1995). Broadcast by Granada TV and shown at the San Francisco Frameline Film Festival. Last footage shot of Derek producing his final works. Guests inc Margi Clarke. Toyah Wilcox. Brett Anderson. Frank Schofield. Jon Savage. To coincide with the broadcast the exhibition Evil Queen was premiered at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. (Contact BFI for footage).

''Derek'' (2008): a biography of the life and work of Jarman, directed by Isaac Julien, narrated by Tilda Swinton.

''Red Duckies'' (2006): Short film directed by Luke Seomore & Joseph Bull, featuring a voice-over from Simon Fisher Turner commissioned by Dazed & Confused (magazine) for World Aids Day 2006.

''Delphinium: A Childhood Portrait of Derek Jarman'' (2009): a "stylized and lyrical coming-of-age" short film combining narrative and documentary elements directed by Matthew Mishory depicting Jarman's "artistic, sexual, and political awakening in postwar England". Jarman's surviving muse Keith Collins and Siouxsie and the Banshees founder Steven Severin both participated in the making of the film, which screened at the 2009 Raindance Film Festival in London.

References

Further reading

Martin Frey. ''Derek Jarman – Bewegte Bilder eines Malers.'' (BoD, 2008), ISBN 978-3-8370-1217-0

Steven Dillon. ''Derek Jarman and Lyric Film: The Mirror and the Sea.'' (2004).

Tony Peake. ''Derek Jarman'' (Little, Brown & Co, 2000). 600-page biography.

Michael O'Pray. ''Derek Jarman: Dreams of England''. (British Film Institute, 1996).

Howard Sooley. ''Derek Jarman's Garden.'' (Thames & Hudson, 1995).

Derek Jarman. 'Modern Nature' (Diaries 1989–1990)

Derek Jarman. 'Smiling in Slow Motion' (Diaries 1991–1994)

'Evil Queen' Exhibition catalogue. Forward by Mark Jordan ISBN 0-9524356-0-8

External links

Bibliography of books and articles about Jarman via UC Berkeley Media Resources center

Slow Motion Angel – a Derek Jarman Information and Resource Site

Derek Jarman: Radical Traditionalist

Preserving A Harlequin – a Jarman retrospective by Nick Clapson

Photographs of Prospect Cottage & garden details at Flickr

Derek Jarman on Find-A-Grave

Derek Jarman – Moving Pictures of a Painter

Derek Jarman; On lyrical love and dedication

Audio recording of Derek Jarman interviewed by Ken Campbell at the ICA, London, 7 February 1984

Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Art Category:English film directors Category:English diarists Category:English artists Category:British experimental filmmakers Category:LGBT rights activists from the United Kingdom Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Old Canfordians Category:People from Northwood, London Category:Gay writers Category:LGBT directors Category:LGBT people from England Category:1942 births Category:1994 deaths Category:AIDS-related deaths in England

de:Derek Jarman es:Derek Jarman fr:Derek Jarman id:Derek Jarman it:Derek Jarman he:דרק ג'רמן la:Derek Jarman hu:Derek Jarman nl:Derek Jarman ja:デレク・ジャーマン pl:Derek Jarman pt:Derek Jarman ru:Джармен, Дерек fi:Derek Jarman tr:Derek Jarman

Name	J. J. Johnson
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	James Louis Johnson
Birth date	January 22, 1924
Death date	February 04, 2001
Origin	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Instrument	Trombone
Genre	Jazz, Bebop, hard bop, Third Stream,
Occupation	Bandleader, Composer, Performer
Years active	1942–1996 }}

J. J. Johnson (born James Louis Johnson, January 22, 1924, Indianapolis, Indiana; died February 4, 2001) was a United States jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. He was sometimes credited as Jay Jay Johnson.

Johnson was one of the first trombonists to embrace bebop music. He has long been regarded as one of the leading trombonists of the post-swing era, exerting a pervasive influence on other jazz musicians.

Biography

Big bands

After studying the piano beginning at age 9, Johnson decided to play trombone at the age of 14. In 1941, he started his professional career with Clarence Love, and then played with Snookum Russell in 1942. In Russell's band he met the trumpeter Fats Navarro, who influenced him to play in the style of the tenor saxophonist Lester Young. Johnson played in Benny Carter's orchestra between 1942 and 1945, and made his first recordings in 1942 under Carter's leadership, recording his first solo (on ''Love for Sale'') in October, 1943. In 1944, he took part in the first ''Jazz at the Philharmonic'' concert, presented in Los Angeles and organized by Norman Granz. In 1945 he joined the big band of Count Basie, touring and recording with him until 1946.

Bebop

While the trombone was featured prominently in dixieland and swing music, it fell out of favor among bebop and later jazz fusion musicians, largely because instruments with valves and keys (trumpet, saxophone) were believed to be more suited to bebop's often rapid tempos and demand for technical mastery. In 1946, Bebop "co-inventor" Dizzy Gillespie encouraged the young trombonist's development with the comment, "I've always known that the trombone could be played different, that somebody'd catch on one of these days. Man, you're elected."

After leaving Count Basie in 1946 to play in small bebop bands in New York clubs, Johnson toured in 1947 with Illinois Jacquet. During this period he also began recording as a leader of small groups featuring Max Roach, Sonny Stitt and Bud Powell. He performed with Charlie Parker at the 17 December 1947 Dial Records session following Parker's release from Camarillo State Mental Hospital.

In 1951, with bassist Oscar Pettiford and trumpeter Howard McGhee, he toured the military camps of Japan and Korea before returning to the United States and taking a day job as a blueprint inspector. Johnson admitted later he was still thinking of nothing but music during that time, and indeed, his classic Blue Note recordings as both a leader and with Miles Davis date from this period. Johnson's compositions ''Enigma'' and ''Kelo'' were recorded by Davis for Blue Note and J. J. was part of the Davis studio session band that recorded the jazz classic ''Walkin''' (1954).

Jay and Kai

In 1954 producer Ozzie Cadena, then with Savoy Records, convinced Johnson to set up a combo with trombonist Kai Winding: the "Jay and Kai Quintet." The trombone styles and personalities of the two musicians, although very different, blended so well that the pairing, which lasted till August, 1956, was a huge success both musically and commercially. They toured U.S. nightclubs constantly and recorded numerous albums before parting amicably, satisfied that they had fully explored (and exploited) their novel group. The duo reunited again in 1958 for a tour of Great Britain, an Impulse! studio album in 1960 and in 1968-1969 (two albums for CTI/A&M; Records). In January 1967, Johnson and Winding were in an all-star line-up (alongside the likes of Clark Terry, Charlie Shavers and Joe Newman) backing Sarah Vaughan on her last-ever sessions for Mercury Records, released as the album ''Sassy Swings Again'', with three of the cuts, including Billy Strayhorn's "Take the "A" Train", being arranged by Johnson himself. The duo also made some jazz festival appearances in Japan in the early 1980s, the last shortly before Winding died in May, 1983.

Solo success

Following the mid-1950s collaboration with Winding, J. J. Johnson began leading his own touring small groups for about 3 years, covering the United States, United Kingdom and Scandinavia. These groups (ranging from quartets to sextets) included tenor saxophonists Bobby Jaspar and Clifford Jordan, cornetist Nat Adderley, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianists Tommy Flanagan and Cedar Walton, and drummers Elvin Jones, Albert "Tootie" Heath, and Max Roach. His classic quartet albums ''First Place'' and ''Blue Trombone'', with Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Max Roach, were recorded in 1957. He also toured with the Jazz at the Philharmonic show in 1957 and 1960, the first tour yielding a memorable live album featuring Johnson and tenor saxophonist Stan Getz. In 1958-59 Johnson was one of three plaintiffs in a court case which hastened the abolition of the cabaret card system.

This period overlaps a bit with the beginnings of Johnson's serious forays into Third Stream music (see below). Periods of concentrating on writing and recording his music would alternate with tours demanding attention to his playing.

Following the six months he spent writing ''Perceptions'' (see below), late 1961 found J. J. in the studio for a date which at first might have seemed an odd pairing on paper. Andre Previn's trio (adding Johnson as the only horn) recorded an entire album of the music of Kurt Weill. The inventive arrangements and inspired playing of both stars bore out the producer's foresight, yet this is one of few J. J. Johnson albums which remains unreleased on CD. In 1962 J. J. toured for a number of months with Miles Davis' sextet of that year, which went unrecorded.

Johnson's 1963 solo album ''J. J.'s Broadway'' is an excellent example of both his mature trombone style and sound, and his arranging abilities. 1964 saw the recording of his last working band for a period of over 20 years- ''Proof Positive''. Beginning in 1965 Johnson recorded a number of large group studio albums under his name, featuring many of his own compositions and arrangements. The late 1960s saw a radical downturn in the fortunes of many jazz musicians and Johnson was consequently heard almost exclusively on big band-style studio records, usually backing a single soloist.

The composer

From the mid-fifties, but especially the early sixties on, J. J. Johnson dedicated more and more time to composition. He became an active contributor to the Third Stream movement in jazz music, (which included such other notable musicians as Gunther Schuller and John Lewis), and wrote a number of large-scale works which incorporated elements of both classical and jazz music. He contributed his ''Poem for Brass'' to a Third Stream compilation titled ''Music for Brass'' in 1957, and composed a number of original works which were performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in the late fifties and early sixties. In 1961, he composed a suite in six movements, titled ''Perceptions'', with Dizzy Gillespie as soloist. The First International Jazz Festival, held in Washington, D.C. in 1962, featured another extended work. In 1965 he spent time in Vienna to perform and record his ''Euro Suite'' with a jazz-classical fusion orchestra led by Friedrich Gulda. In 1968, a Johnson work titled ''Diversions'' was commissioned by the American Wind Symphony and performed in Pittsburgh.

Hollywood

In 1970, Quincy Jones convinced Johnson to move from New York to California to compose for cinema and television, where he eventually scored movies such as ''Across 110th Street'', ''Cleopatra Jones'', ''Top of the Heap'' and ''Willie Dynamite'', as well as TV series such as ''Starsky & Hutch'', ''Mike Hammer'' and ''The Six Million Dollar Man''. Despite his small level of success, Johnson acknowledged that racism and other prejudices kept a black jazz musician such as himself from securing the amount and quality of work he was qualified to perform. During this period, he played almost no concerts, except in 1977 and 1982 in Japan, and in 1984 in Europe. Despite the low profile, he did record six albums as a leader between 1977 and 1984 (including a 1984 trombone duo album with Al Grey) and a few albums as a sideman, two with Count Basie, and on ''The Sting II'' soundtrack. During the California period he also played in the Coconut Grove orchestra of Sammy Davis, Jr. and the TV orchestra of Carol Burnett.

Return to performing

Johnson returned to performing and recording in November 1987, with an engagement at the Village Vanguard in New York City. Tours of the United States, Europe and Japan followed as well as a return engagement to the Vanguard in July, 1988 which yielded two albums worth of material.

While on tour of Japan in December, 1988, Johnson's wife Vivian suffered a stroke which incapacitated her for her remaining three and a half years of life. During this period Johnson cancelled all work, devoting his energy to caring for his ailing wife. After her death in 1991, he dedicated an album to her on Concord. A year later the former Carolyn Reid became his second wife, and Johnson began actively performing once again. Following this second "comeback" in 1992, Johnson's contracts with a variety of record labels, including Verve and Antilles, resulted in five albums as a leader, from small groups to separate brass orchestra and string orchestra recordings, as well as sideman appearances with his leading disciple, trombonist Steve Turre and the vocalist Abbey Lincoln. He earned several Grammy nominations during this period. He retired from active performing and touring in late 1996, after having performed his last concert at William Paterson College on November 10, 1996, then choosing to stay at his home in Indianapolis where he could indulge his passion of composing and arranging music with computers and MIDI.

Later, diagnosed with prostate cancer, he maintained a positive outlook and underwent treatment. He wrote a book of original exercises and etudes for jazz musicians, published later by Hal Leonard. A biography, titled ''The Musical World of J. J. Johnson'', was published in 2000. On February 4, 2001, he committed suicide by shooting himself. His funeral in Indianapolis drew jazz musicians, friends and family from around the country.

Influence

Johnson's work in the 1940s and 1950s demonstrated that the slide trombone could be played in the bebop style. Contemporary trombonist Steve Turre has summarized, "J. J. did for the trombone what Charlie Parker did for the saxophone. And all of us that are playing today wouldn't be playing the way we're playing if it wasn't for what he did. And not only, of course, is he the master of the trombone — the definitive master of this century — but, as a composer and arranger, he is in the top shelf as well."

The two-trombone jazz combo setup pioneered by Johnson and Winding has been imitated by more recent trombonists, with such combinations as Jim Pugh/Dave Taylor, Conrad Herwig/Steve Davis, and Michael Davis/Bill Reichenbach.

Several of his compositions, including "Wee Dot", "Lament", and "Enigma" have become jazz standards.

From the mid-1950s on, Johnson was a perennial polling favorite in jazz circles, even winning "Trombonist of the Year" in ''Down Beat'' magazine during years he wasn't active. In 1970 he ceased performing in public before making a comeback in the late 1980s. He was voted into the ''Down Beat'' Hall of Fame in 1995.

Discography

Bibliography

''The Musical World of J. J. Johnson'' by Joshua Berrett and Louis G. Bourgois (Rowman & Littlefield). ISBN 0-8108-3648-3

''Exercises and Etudes for the Jazz Instrumentalist'' by J. J. Johnson (Hal Leonard Corporation, February 1, 2002). ISBN 0-634-02120-6

References

External links

A tribute page on ''www.trombone.org'' with links to numerous interviews

An article on a very busy month early in Johnson's career- December, 1947

YouTube video of J. J. Johnson, Sonny Stitt and Howard McGhee on Now's The Time.

YouTube video of J. J. Johnson and Jamey Aebersold on Just Friend's

Album cover gallery

An obituary on ''The Dead Musician Directory''

J. J. Johnson at Find-A-Grave

"The Incredible Kai Winding, His Official Site" - has some photos of J.J. and information on the music partnership between J. J. and Kai, as well as a pictorial discography on their recordings.

J. J. Johnson at Trombone Page of the World

Category:1924 births Category:2001 deaths Category:American jazz trombonists Category:American music arrangers Category:American jazz composers Category:Jazz trombonists Category:Bebop trombonists Category:Hard bop trombonists Category:Third Stream trombonists Category:Savoy Records artists Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Blue Note Records artists Category:Jazz musicians who committed suicide Category:People from Indianapolis, Indiana Category:African American musicians Category:Suicides by firearm in Indiana

da:J.J. Johnson de:J. J. Johnson es:J. J. Johnson eo:J. J. Johnson fr:Jay Jay Johnson it:J. J. Johnson he:ג'יי ג'יי ג'ונסון ja:J・J・ジョンソン no:J.J. Johnson pt:J. J. Johnson fi:J. J. Johnson sv:J. J. Johnson

name	Pete Townshend
alias	Bijou Drains
birth name	Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend
born	May 19, 1945London, England
instrument	Guitar, vocals, bass guitar, harmonica, drums, keyboards, banjo, tin whistle, mandolin, ukulele, violin, viola, cello, accordion, piano
background	solo_singer
genre	Rock, art rock, hard rock, power pop
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter, musical arranger, author
years active	1962–present
label	Track, Polydor, Atlantic, Atco, Decca, Rykodisc
associated acts	The Who, Deep End, Ronnie Lane, Thunderclap Newman
website	The Who's official webpage
notable instruments	Rickenbacker 330Fender StratocasterGibson SG SpecialGibson Les PaulGretsch 6120Gibson J-200 }}

Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend (born 19 May 1945) is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career. His career with The Who spans more than forty years, during which time the band grew to be considered one of the most influential bands of the 1960s and 1970s, and, according to Eddie Vedder, "possibly the greatest live band ever."

Townshend is the primary songwriter for The Who, having written well over one hundred songs for the band's eleven studio albums, including concept albums and the rock operas ''Tommy'' and ''Quadrophenia'', plus popular rock and roll radio staples like ''Who's Next'', and dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rarities compilations like ''Odds & Sods''. He has also written over one hundred songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles and television theme songs. Although known primarily as a guitarist, he also plays other instruments such as keyboards, banjo, accordion, synthesiser, bass guitar and drums, on his own solo albums, several Who albums, and as a guest contributor to a wide array of other artists' recordings. Townshend has never had formal lessons in any of the instruments he plays.

Townshend has also been a contributor and author of newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts, as well as collaborating as a lyricist (and composer) for many other musical acts. Townshend was ranked #3 in Dave Marsh's list of Best Guitarists in ''The New Book of Rock Lists'', #10 in Gibson.com's list of the top fifty guitarists, and #50 in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's 2003 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Townshend was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Who in 1990.

Early life

Born in Chiswick, London into a musical family (his father Cliff Townshend was a professional saxophonist in The Squadronaires and his mother Betty (née Dennis) was a singer), Townshend exhibited a fascination with music at an early age. In the mid-1950s he was drawn to American rock and roll; his mother recounts that he repeatedly saw the 1956 film ''Rock Around the Clock''. When he was 12, his grandmother gave him his first guitar, which he has described as a "cheap Spanish thing". Townshend's biggest guitar influences include Link Wray, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and Hank Marvin of The Shadows.

Townshend's brother Simon (who also became a musician) was born in 1960. In 1961, Townshend enrolled at Ealing Art College, with the intention to become a graphic artist and a year later, he and his school friend from Acton County Grammar School John Entwistle founded their first band, The Confederates, a Dixieland duet featuring Townshend on banjo and Entwistle on horns. From this beginning they moved on to The Detours, a skiffle/rock and roll band fronted by Roger Daltrey, another former schoolmate. With the encouragement and assistance of his old classmate Entwistle, Daltrey invited Townshend to join as well. In early 1964, because another band had the same name, The Detours renamed themselves The Who. Drummer Doug Sandom was replaced by Keith Moon not long afterwards. The band (now comprising Daltrey on lead vocals and harmonica, Townshend on guitar, Entwistle on bass guitar and french horn, and Moon on drums) were soon taken on by a mod publicist named Peter Meaden who convinced them to change their name to The High Numbers to give the band more of a mod feel. After bringing out one failed single ("I'm the Face/Zoot Suit"), they dropped Meaden and were signed on by two new managers, Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert, who had paired up with the intention of finding new talent and creating a documentary about them. The band anguished over a name that all felt represented the band best, and dropped The High Numbers name, reverting to The Who.

Music career

Breakthrough

After The High Numbers once again became The Who, Townshend wrote several successful singles for the band, including "I Can't Explain", "Pictures of Lily", "Substitute", and "My Generation". Townshend became known for his eccentric stage style during the band's early days, often interrupting concerts with lengthy introductions of songs. He developed a signature move in which he would swing his right arm against the guitar strings in a style reminiscent of the vanes of a windmill. He became one of the first musicians known for smashing guitars on stage and would repeatedly throw them into his amplifiers and speaker cabinets. The first incident of guitar-smashing happened when Townshend accidentally broke the neck of his guitar on the low ceiling of an early concert venue at the Railway Tavern in Harrow. The stage, only about a foot high, nevertheless brought the ceiling to within 7 feet. After smashing the instrument to pieces, he carried on by grabbing another guitar and acting as if the broken guitar had been part of the act. Drummer Keith Moon was delighted; he loved attention and destruction on any level, and smashed his drum kit as well. The press sensationalised the incidents. The on-stage destruction of instruments soon became a regular part of The Who's performances. This was further dramatised with pyrotechnics, an idea which came from Moon, who incorporated it in his exploding drum kits. At a concert in Germany, a police officer walked up to Townshend, pointed his gun at him, and ordered him to stop smashing the guitar. Townshend, always a voluble interview subject, would later relate these antics to German/British artist Gustav Metzger's theories on auto-destructive art, to which he had been exposed at art school. However, on several occasions, he admitted that the destruction was a gimmick that set the band out apart from the others and gave them the publicity edge that they needed to be noticed.

The Who thrived, and continue to thrive, despite the deaths of two of the original members. They are regarded by many rock critics as one of the best live bands from a period of time that stretched from the mid-1960s to the 2000s, the result of a unique combination of high volume, showmanship, a wide variety of rock beats, and a high-energy sound that alternated between tight and free-form. The Who continue to perform critically acclaimed sets in the 21st century, including highly regarded performances at The Concert For New York City in 2001, the 2004 Isle of Wight Festival, Live 8 in 2005 and the 2007 Glastonbury Festival.

Townshend remained the primary songwriter and leader of the group, writing over one hundred songs which appeared on the band's eleven studio albums. Among his most well-known accomplishments are the creation of ''Tommy'', for which the term "rock opera" was coined, and a second pioneering rock opera, ''Quadrophenia''; his dramatic stage persona; his use of guitar feedback as sonic technique; and the introduction of the synthesiser as a rock instrument. Townshend revisited album-length storytelling throughout his career and remains the musician most associated with the rock opera form. Many studio recordings also feature Townshend on piano or keyboards, though keyboard-heavy tracks increasingly featured guest artists in the studio, such as Nicky Hopkins, John Bundrick or Chris Stainton.

Townshend is one of the key figures in the development of feedback in rock guitar. When asked who first used feedback, Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore said, "Pete Townshend was definitely the first. But not being that good a guitarist, he used to just sort of crash chords and let the guitar feedback. He didn't get into twiddling with the dials on the amplifier until much later. He's overrated in England, but at the same time you find a lot of people like Jeff Beck and Hendrix getting credit for things he started. Townshend was the first to break his guitar, and he was the first to do a lot of things. He's very good at his chord scene, too." Similarly, when Jimmy Page was asked about the development of guitar feedback, he said, "I don't know who really did feedback first; it just sort of happened. I don't think anybody consciously nicked it from anybody else. It was just going on. But Pete Townshend obviously was the one, through the music of his group, who made the use of feedback more his style, and so it's related to him. Whereas the other players like Jeff Beck and myself were playing more single note things than chords."

Many rock guitarists have cited Townshend as an influence, among them Slash, Alex Lifeson and Steve Jones.

Solo career

In addition to his work with The Who, Townshend has been sporadically active as a solo recording artist. Between 1969 and 1971 Townshend, along with other devotees to Meher Baba, recorded a trio of albums devoted to his teachings: ''Happy Birthday'', ''I Am'', and ''With Love''. In response to bootlegging of these, he compiled his personal highlights (and "Evolution", a collaboration with Ronnie Lane), and released his first major-label solo title, 1972's ''Who Came First''. It was a moderate success and featured demos of Who songs as well as a showcase of his acoustic guitar talents. He collaborated with The Faces' bassist and fellow Meher Baba devotee Ronnie Lane on a duet album (1977's ''Rough Mix''). Townshend's solo breakthrough, following the death of Who drummer Keith Moon, was the 1980 release ''Empty Glass'', which included a top-10 single, "Let My Love Open the Door". This release was followed in 1982 by ''All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes'', which included the popular radio track "Slit Skirts". While not a huge commercial success, noted music critic Timothy Duggan listed it as "Townshend's most honest and introspective work since Quadrophenia." Through the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s Townshend would again experiment with the rock opera and related formats, releasing several story-based albums including ''White City: A Novel'' (1985), ''The Iron Man: A Musical'' (1989), and ''Psychoderelict'' (1993). Townshend also got the chance to play with his hero Hank Marvin for Paul McCartney's "Rockestra" sessions, along with other respected rock musicians such as David Gilmour, John Bonham and Ronnie Lane.

Townshend has also recorded several concert albums, including one featuring a supergroup he assembled called Deep End, who performed just two concerts and a television show session for ''The Tube'', to raise money for a charity supporting drug addicts. In 1984 Townshend published a collection of short stories entitled ''Horse's Neck''. He has also reported that he is writing an autobiography. In 1993 he and Des McAnuff wrote and directed the Broadway adaptation of the Who album ''Tommy'', as well as a less successful stage musical based on his solo album ''The Iron Man'', based upon the book by Ted Hughes. McAnuff and Townshend later co-produced the animated film ''The Iron Giant'', also based on the Hughes story.

A production described as a Townshend rock-opera and titled ''The Boy Who Heard Music'' debuted as part of Vassar College's Powerhouse Summer Theater program in July 2007.

Recent Who work

From the mid-1990s through the present, Townshend has participated in a series of tours with the surviving members of The Who, including a 2002 tour that continued despite Entwistle's death.

In February 2006, a major world tour by The Who was announced to promote their first new album since 1982. Townshend published a semi-autobiographical story ''The Boy Who Heard Music'' as a serial on a blog beginning in September 2005. The blog closed in October 2006, as noted on Townshend's website. It is now owned by a different user and does not relate to Townshend's work in any way. On 25 February 2006, he announced the issue of a mini-opera inspired by the novella for June 2006. In October 2006 The Who released their first album in 26 years, ''Endless Wire''.

The Who performed at the Super Bowl XLIV half-time show on 7 February 2010, playing a medley of songs that included "Pinball Wizard", "Who Are You", "Baba O'Riley", "See Me Feel Me" and "Won't Get Fooled Again".

Hearing loss

Townshend suffers from partial deafness and tinnitus believed to be the result of noise-induced hearing loss; in other words, his extensive exposure to loud music. Some such incidents include a Who concert at the Charlton Athletic Football Club, London, on 31 May 1976 that was listed as the "Loudest Concert Ever" by the Guinness Book of Records, where the volume level was measured at 126 decibels 32 metres from the stage. Townshend has also attributed the start of his hearing loss to Keith Moon's famous exploding drum set during The Who's 1967 appearance on ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour''. ''NME'' – April 1970

In 1989, Townshend gave the initial funding to allow the formation of the non-profit hearing advocacy group H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers). After the Who performed at half-time at the Super Bowl XLIV, Townshend stated that he is concerned that his tinnitus has grown to such a point that he might be forced to discontinue performing with the band altogether. He told ''Rolling Stone'', "If my hearing is going to be a problem, we’re not delaying shows. We're ''finished''. I can’t really see any way around the issue." Neil Young introduced him to an audiologist who gave him the possible option of a hearing device to use, and although The Who have cancelled their spring touring schedule, Townshend planned a test run with the aid at their one remaining London concert on 30 March 2010, to ascertain the feasibility of continuing to perform with The Who.

In March 2011, Roger Daltrey said in an interview with the BBC that Townshend had recently experienced gradual but severe hearing loss and was now trying to save what remained of his hearing.

"Pete's having terrible trouble with his hearing. He's got really, really bad problems with it...not tinnitus, it's deterioration and he's seriously now worried about actually losing his hearing."

Interviews

From The Who's emergence on the British musical landscape, Pete Townshend could always be counted upon for a good interview. By early 1966 he had become the band's spokesman, interviewed separately from the band for the BBC television series ''A Whole Scene Going'' admitting that the band used drugs and that he considered The Beatles' backing tracks "flippin' lousy". In a 1967 interview, however, Townshend complimented one of The Beatles' songs: "I think "Eleanor Rigby" was a very important musical move forward. It certainly inspired me to write and listen to things in that vein." Throughout the 1960s Townshend made regular appearances in the pages of British music magazines, but it was a very long interview he gave to ''Rolling Stone'' in 1968 that sealed his reputation as one of rock's leading intellectuals and theorists.

Townshend gave interview after interview to the newly risen underground press, not only providing them with a star for their covers, but firmly establishing his reputation as a commentator on the rock 'n' roll scene. In addition, he wrote his own articles, starting a regular monthly column in ''Melody Maker'', and contributing to ''Rolling Stone'' with an article on his guru Meher Baba and a review of The Who's album ''Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy''.

Townshend has withdrawn from the press on occasion. On his 30th birthday, Townshend discussed his feelings that The Who were failing to journalist Roy Carr, making unflattering comments on fellow Who member Roger Daltrey and other leading members of the British rock community. Carr printed his remarks in the ''NME'' causing strong friction within The Who and embarrassing Townshend. Feeling betrayed, he stopped interviews with the press for over two years.

Nevertheless, Townshend has maintained close relationships with journalists, and sought them out in 1982 to describe his two-year battle with cocaine and heroin. Some of those press members turned on him in the 1980s as the punk rock revolution led to widespread dismissal of the old guard of rock, Townshend attacked two of them, Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons, in the song "Jools And Jim" on his album ''Empty Glass'' after they made some derogatory remarks about Who drummer Keith Moon. Meanwhile several journalists denounced Townshend for what they saw as a betrayal of the idealism about rock music he had espoused in his earlier interviews when The Who participated in a tour sponsored by Schlitz in 1982 and by Miller Brewing in 1989. Townshend's 1993 concept album ''Psychoderelict'' offers a scathing commentary on journalists in the character of Ruth Streeting, who attempts to scandalise the main character, Ray High.

On 25 October 2006, Townshend declined at the last minute to do a scheduled interview with Sirius Satellite Radio star Howard Stern after Stern's co-host Robin Quivers and sidekick Artie Lange made joking references to his 2003 arrest. Stern conducted an interview instead with Roger Daltrey and repeatedly expressed regret about the utterances of his on-air colleagues, stating that they did not reflect his own feelings of respect for Townshend.

Later in 2006, Townshend appeared on the ''Living Legends'' radio show in an exclusive interview with Opal Bonfante. The interview, broadcasted worldwide on Radio London, was his first live interview in 15 years. Townshend spoke about his forthcoming UK tour, his online novella and his memories of the old pirate radio stations.

Also in late 2006, Townshend granted an interview with author Mark Wilkerson, which led to Wilkerson's 2008 biography ''Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend''.

In a BBC Radio 4 interview, first broadcast on 27 October 2009, Townshend informed the audience that from the time he was involved in writing the music for the Who's first album, he has been influenced by the works of the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell.

Musical equipment

Throughout his solo career and his career with The Who, Townshend has played (and destroyed) a large variety of guitars – including various Gretsch, Gibson, and Fender models. He has also used Guild, Takamine and Gibson J-200 acoustic models.

In the early days with The Who, Townshend played an Emile Grimshaw SS De Luxe and 6-string and 12-string Rickenbacker semi-hollow electric guitars primarily (particularly the Rose-Morris UK-imported models with special f-holes). However, as instrument-smashing became increasingly integrated into The Who's concert sets, he switched to more durable and resilient (and sometimes cheaper) guitars for smashing, such as the Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster and various Danelectro models. On The Who's famous ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' appearance in 1967, Townshend used a Vox Cheetah guitar, which he only used for that performance; and the guitar was smashed to smithereens by Townshend and Moon's drum explosion. In the late 1960s, Townshend began playing Gibson SG models almost exclusively, specifically the Special models. He used this guitar at the Woodstock and Isle of Wight shows in 1969 and 1970, as well as the ''Live at Leeds'' performance in 1970.

By 1970, Gibson changed the design of the SG Special which Townshend had been using previously, and thus he began using other guitars. For much of the 1970s, he used a Gibson Les Paul DeLuxe, some with only two mini-humbucker pick-ups and others modified with a third pick-up in the "middle position" (a DiMarzio Superdistortion / Dual Sound). He can be seen using several of these guitars in the documentary ''The Kids Are Alright'', although in the studio he often played a '59 Gretsch 6120 guitar (given to him by Joe Walsh of The Eagles), most notably on the albums ''Who's Next'' and ''Quadrophenia''.

During the 1980s, Townshend mainly used Fenders, Rickenbackers and Telecaster-style models built for him by Schecter and various other luthiers. Since the late-1980s, Townshend has used the Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster, with Lace Sensor pick-ups, both in the studio and on tour. Some of his Stratocaster guitars feature a Fishman PowerBridge piezo pick-up system to simulate acoustic guitar tones. This piezo system is controlled by an extra volume control behind the guitar's bridge.

During The Who's 1989 Tour Townshend played a Rickenbacker guitar that was ironically smashed accidentally when he tripped over it. Instead of throwing the smashed parts away, Townshend reassembled the pieces as a sculpture. The sculpture was featured at the ''Rock Stars, Cars And Guitars 2'' exhibit during the summer of 2009 at The Henry Ford museum.

There are several Gibson Pete Townshend signature guitars, such as the Pete Townshend SG, the Pete Townshend J-200, and three different Pete Townshend Les Paul Deluxes. The SG was clearly marked as a Pete Townshend limited edition model and came with a special case and certificate of authenticity, signed by Townshend himself. There has also been a Pete Townshend signature Rickenbacker limited edition guitar of the model 1998, which was his main 6-string guitar in the Who's early days. The run featured 250 guitars which were made between July 1987-March 1988, and according to Rickenbacker CEO John Hall, the entire run sold out before serious advertising could be done.

He also used the Gibson ES-335, one of which he donated to the Hard Rock Cafe. Townshend also used a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck very briefly circa late 1967, and both a Harmony Sovereign H1270 and a Fender Electric XII for the studio sessions for ''Tommy'' for the 12-string guitar parts.

In 2006, Townshend had a pedal board designed by long-time gear guru Pete Cornish. The board apparently is composed with a compressor, an old Boss OD-1 overdrive pedal, as well as a T-Rex Replica delay pedal.

Over the years, Pete Townshend has used many types of amplifiers, including Vox, Fender, Marshall, Hiwatt etc., sticking to using Hiwatt amps for most of four decades. Around the time of ''Who's Next'', he used a tweed Fender Bassman amp, which he also used for ''Quadrophenia'' and ''The Who by Numbers''. Since 1989, his rig consisted of four Fender Vibro-King stacks and a Hiwatt head driving two custom made 2x12" Hiwatt/Mesa Boogie speaker cabinets. However, since 2006, he has only three Vibro-King stacks, one of which is a backup.

Townshend figured prominently in the development of what is widely known in rock circles as the "Marshall Stack". It has been recounted by others during the start of popularity of Jim Marshall's guitar amplifiers, that Townshend became a user of these amps.

He also ordered several speaker cabinets that contained eight speakers in a housing standing nearly six feet in height with the top half of the cabinet slanted slightly upward. These became hard to move and were incredibly heavy.

Jim Marshall then cut the massive speaker cabinet into two separate speaker cabinets, at the suggestion of Townshend, with each cabinet containing four 12-inch speakers. One of the cabinets had half of the speaker baffle slanted upwards and Marshall made these two cabinets stackable. The Marshall stack was born, and Townshend used these as well as Hiwatt stacks.

His amplifier rig currently usually consists of four Fender Vibro King amps with extension cabinets.

He has always regarded his instruments as being merely tools of the trade and has, in latter years, determinedly kept his most prized instruments well away from the concert stage. These instruments include a few vintage and reissue Rickenbackers, the Gretsch 6120, an original 1952 Fender Telecaster, Gibson Custom Shop's artist limited edition reissues of Townshend's Les Paul DeLuxe models 1, 3 and 9 as well his signature SG Special reissue.

Townshend also worked with synthesisers that made their debut on ''Who's Next'' that included the EMS VCS3, the ARP Instruments, Inc. ARP 2600, some of which modified a Lowrey TBO Berkshire organ. Current photos of his home studio also show an ARP 2500. Townshend was featured in ARP promotional materials in the early 1970s.

Literary work

Although known for his musical compositions and musicianship, Pete Townshend has been extensively involved in the literary world for more than three decades, writing newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts.

An early example of Townshend’s writing came in August 1970 with the first of nine installments of "The Pete Townshend Page", a monthly column written by Townshend for the British music paper ''Melody Maker''. The column provided Townshend’s perspective on an array of subjects, such as the media and the state of U.S. concert halls and public address systems, as well as providing valuable insight into Townshend’s mindset during the evolution of his ''Lifehouse'' project.

Townshend also wrote three sizeable essays for ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, the first of which appeared in November 1970. In Love With Meher Baba described Townshend’s spiritual leanings. "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy", a blow-by-blow account of The Who compilation album of the same name, followed in December 1971. The third article, "The Punk Meets the Godmother", appeared in November 1977.

Also in 1977, Townshend founded Eel Pie Publishing, which specialised in children's titles, music books, and several Meher Baba-related publications. A bookstore named Magic Bus (after the popular Who song) was opened in London. ''The Story of Tommy'', a book written by Townshend and his art school friend Richard Barnes (now the Who's official biographer) about the writing of Townshend’s 1969 rock opera and the making of the 1975 Ken Russell-directed film, was published by Eel Pie the same year.

In July 1983, Townshend took a position as an acquisitions editor for London publisher Faber and Faber. Notable projects included editing Animals frontman Eric Burdon’s autobiography, Charles Shaar Murray’s award-winning ''Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and Post-War Pop'', Brian Eno and Russell Mills's ''More Dark Than Shark'', and working with Prince Charles on a volume of his collected speeches. Townshend commissioned Dave Rimmer’s ''Like Punk Never Happened'', and was commissioning editor for radical playwright Steven Berkoff.

Two years after joining Faber and Faber, Townshend decided to publish a book of his own. ''Horse's Neck'', published in May 1985, was a collection of short stories he’d written between 1979 and 1984, tackling subjects such as childhood, stardom and spirituality. As a result of his position with Faber and Faber, Townshend developed a friendship with the Nobel prize-winning author of ''Lord of the Flies'', Sir William Golding, and became friends with British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. His friendship with Hughes led to Townshend’s musical interpretation of Hughes's children's story, ''The Iron Man'', six years later, as ''The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend'', released in 1989.

Townshend has written several scripts spanning the breadth of his career, including numerous drafts of his elusive ''Lifehouse'' project, the last of which, co-written with radio playwright Jeff Young, was published in 1999. In 1978, Townshend wrote a script for ''Fish Shop'', a play commissioned but not completed by London Weekend Television, and in mid-1984 he wrote a script for ''White City: A Novel'' which led to a short film.

In 1989, Townshend began work on a novel entitled ''Ray High & The Glass Household'', a draft of which was later submitted to his editor. While the original novel remains unpublished, elements from this story were used in Townshend’s 1993 solo album ''Psychoderelict''.

In 1993, Townshend authored another book, ''The Who's Tommy'', a chronicle of the development of the award-winning Broadway version of his rock opera.

The opening of his personal website and his commerce site Eelpie.com, both in 2000, gave Townshend another outlet for literary work. Several of Townshend’s essays have been posted online, including "Meher Baba—The Silent Master: My Own Silence" in 2001, and "A ''Different'' Bomb", an indictment of the child pornography industry, the following year.

Townshend’s most recent literary contribution is ''The Boy Who Heard Music'', a novella which began a chapter-a-week online posting in September 2005. It is now available to read at his website. Like ''Psychoderelict'' this is yet another extrapolation of ''Lifehouse'' and ''Ray High & The Glass Household''.

Townshend signed a deal with Little, Brown and Company publishing in 1997 to write his autobiography. Reportedly half-complete and titled ''Pete Townshend: Who He?'' this is a work in progress. Townshend's creative vagaries and conceptual machinations have been chronicled by Larry David Smith in his book ''The Minstrel's Dilemma'' (Praeger 1999).

Religion

Townshend showed no predilection for religious belief in the first years of The Who's career. By the beginning of 1968, however, Townshend had begun to explore spiritual ideas. In January 1968, The Who recorded his song "Faith in Something Bigger" (''Odds & Sods''). Townshend's art school friend Mike McInnerney gave him a copy of C. B. Purdom's book ''The God-Man'', introducing him to the writings of the Indian "perfect master" Meher Baba, who blended elements of Vedantic, Sufi, and Mystic schools.

Townshend swiftly absorbed all of Baba's writings that he could find; by April 1968, he announced himself Baba's disciple. At about this time, Townshend, who had been searching the past two years for a basis for a rock opera, created a story inspired by the teachings of Baba and other Indian spiritualists that would ultimately become ''Tommy''.

''Tommy'' did more than revitalise The Who's career (which was moderately successful at this point but had reached a plateau); it also marked a renewal of Townshend's songwriting and his spiritual studies infused most of his work from ''Tommy'' forward, including the unfinished Who project ''Lifehouse''. The Who song "Baba O'Riley", written for ''Lifehouse'' and eventually appearing on the album ''Who's Next'', was named for Meher Baba and minimalist composer Terry Riley. His newfound passion was not shared by his bandmates, whose attitude was tolerant, but who were unwilling to become the spokesmen for a particular religion. Few of the thousands of fans who packed stadiums across Europe and the U.S. to see The Who noticed the religious message in the songs: that "Bargain" and the middle section of "Behind Blue Eyes" from ''Who's Next'' and "Listening To You" from ''Tommy'' were all originally written as prayers, that "Drowned" from ''Quadrophenia'' and "Don't Let Go The Coat" from ''Face Dances'' were based on Baba's sayings, that the "who are you, who, who, who, who" chorus from the song "Who Are You" was based on Sufi chants, or that "Let My Love Open The Door" was not a message from a lover but from God.

In interviews Townshend was more open about his beliefs, penning an article on Baba for ''Rolling Stone'' in 1970 and stating that following Baba's teachings, he was opposed to the use of all psychedelic drugs, making him one of the first rock stars with counterculture credibility to turn against their use.

His stardom quickly made him the world's most notable follower of Baba. Having missed out on meeting his guru with Baba's death 31 January 1969 (work on ''Tommy'' kept him from making the pilgrimage), Townshend made several trips to visit Baba's tomb in India as well as becoming a frequent visitor to the Meher Baba Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. At home he recorded and released his most overtly spiritual songs on records assembled, pressed and sold by Baba organisations. When these records became widely bootlegged, Townshend put together a selection of the tracks for release as the solo album ''Who Came First''. One of the songs from that album, "Parvardigar", a Baba prayer set to music by Townshend, would gradually be accepted as a hymn by the Baba movement. In 1976 he opened the Oceanic Centre in London, using it as a haven for English Baba followers and Americans making a pilgrimage to Baba's tomb in Meherabad, India as well as a place for small concerts (one such in 1979 was released on CD in 2001 as ''Pete Townshend & Raphael Rudd—The Oceanic Concerts'') and a repository for films made of Baba.

Townshend became a lower-profile member after 1982, having felt that his former addictions to cocaine and heroin made him a poor candidate for spokesman. Nevertheless, his discipleship continues to the current day.

Personal life

Townshend met Karen Astley (born 12 June 1947, daughter of composer Ted Astley and sister of record producer Jon Astley), while in art school and married her in 1968. The couple separated in 1994 and divorced in 2009. They have three children: Emma (b. 1969), who is a singer/songwriter, Aminta (b. 1971), and Joseph (b. 1990). Townshend currently lives with his long-time partner, musician Rachel Fuller, in The Wick, Richmond, England. He also owns a house in Churt, Surrey, England, and in 2010 purchased a lease on the historic National Trust property Ashdown House in Oxfordshire. According to ''The Sunday Times'' Rich List his assets are worth £40 million as of 2009.

Townshend has two younger brothers by nearly a generation, Paul Townshend (b. 1958) and Simon Townshend, (b. 10 October 1960). Simon is a guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist. Simon initially has had a career as a solo artist, and has performed with other bands, but began to record with The Who in the studio as early as their work on the film version of ''Tommy'', and began to play with Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle on their solo efforts. By 1996, Simon joined The Who on their ''Quadrophenia'' support tour for two years as a backup guitarist and singer. He also returned again after the death of Entwistle as a part of their touring band. Paul played the voice of his brother, Pete, in ''The Simpsons'' episode, "A Tale of Two Springfields" as Pete was unavailable.

Charity work

Pete Townshend has woven a long history of involvement with various charities and other philanthropic efforts throughout his career, both as a solo artist and with The Who. His first solo concert, for example, was a 1974 benefit show which was organised to raise funds for the Camden Square Community Play Center.

The earliest public example of Townshend’s involvement with charitable causes was in 1968, when Townshend donated the use of his former Wardour Street apartment to the Meher Baba Association. The following year, the association was moved to another Townshend-owned apartment, the Eccleston Square former residence of wife Karen. Townshend sat on a committee which oversaw the operation and finances of the centre. "The committee sees to it that it is open a couple of days a week, and keeps the bills paid and the library full," he wrote in a 1970 ''Rolling Stone'' article.

In 1969 and 1972 Townshend produced two limited-release albums, ''Happy Birthday'' and ''I Am'', for the London-based Baba association. This led to 1972’s ''Who Came First'', a more widespread release, 15 percent of the revenue of which went to the Baba association. A further limited release, ''With Love'', was released in 1976. A limited-edition boxed set of all three limited releases on CD, ''Avatar'', was released in 2000, with all profits going to the Avatar Meher Baba Trust in India, which provided funds to a dispensary, school, hospital and pilgrimage centre.

In July 1976, Townshend opened Meher Baba Oceanic, a London activity centre for Baba followers which featured film dubbing and editing facilities, a cinema and a recording studio. In addition, the centre served as a regular meeting place for Baba followers. Townshend offered very economical (reportedly £1 per night) lodging for American followers who needed an overnight stay on their pilgrimages to India. "For a few years, I had toyed with the idea of opening a London house dedicated to Meher Baba," he wrote in a 1977 ''Rolling Stone'' article. "In the eight years I had followed him, I had donated only coppers to foundations set up around the world to carry out the Master’s wishes and decided it was about time I put myself on the line. The Who had set up a strong charitable trust of its own which appeased, to an extent, the feeling I had that Meher Baba would rather have seen me give to the poor than to the establishment of yet another so-called 'spiritual center'." Townshend also embarked on a project dedicated to the collection, restoration and maintenance of Meher Baba-related films. The project was known as MEFA, or Meher Baba European Film Archive.

Children's charities

Townshend has been an active champion of children’s charities. The debut of Pete Townshend’s stage version of ''Tommy'' took place at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse in July 1992. The show was earmarked as a benefit for the London-based Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation, an organisation which helps children with autism and mental retardation.

Townshend performed at a 1995 benefit organised by Paul Simon at Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theatre, for The Children’s Health Fund. The following year, Townshend performed at a benefit for the annual Bridge School Benefit, a California facility for children with severe speech and physical impairments with concerts organised by Neil and Pegi Young. In 1997, Townshend established a relationship with Maryville Academy, a Chicago area children’s charity. Between 1997 and 2002, Townshend played five benefit shows for Maryville Academy, raising at least $1,600,000. His 1998 album ''A Benefit for Maryville Academy'' was made to support their activities and proceeds from the sales of his release were donated to them.

As a member of The Who, Pete Townshend has also performed a series of concerts, beginning in 2000, benefiting the Teenage Cancer Trust in the UK, raising several million pounds. In 2005, Townshend performed at New York’s Gotham Hall for Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope, an annual children's charity fundraiser, and donated a smashed guitar to the Pediatric Epilepsy Project.

Drug rehabilitation

Townshend has also advocated for drug rehabilitation. In a 1985 radio interview, he said:

The "large clinic" Townshend was referring to was a plan he and drug rehabilitation experimenter Meg Patterson had devised to open a drug treatment facility in London; however, the plan failed to come to fruition. Two early 1979 concerts by The Who raised £20,000 for Patterson’s Pharmakon Clinic in Sussex.

Further examples of Townshend’s drug rehabilitation activism took place in the form of a 1984 benefit concert, an article he wrote a few days later for Britain’s ''Mail On Sunday'' urging better care for the nation’s growing number of drug addicts, and the formation of a charitable organisation, Double-O Charities, to raise funds for the causes he’d recently championed. Townshend also personally sold fund-raising anti-heroin T-shirts at a series of UK Bruce Springsteen concerts, and reportedly financed a trip for former Clash drummer Topper Headon to undergo drug rehabilitation treatment. Townshend's 1985–86 band, Deep End, played two benefits at Brixton Academy in 1985 for Double-O Charities.

Amnesty International

In 1979, Townshend donated his services to the human rights organisation Amnesty International when he performed three songs for its benefit show ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' – performances that were released on record and seen in the film of the show. Townshend's acoustic performances of three of his songs ("Pinball Wizard", "Drowned", and "Won't Get Fooled Again") were subsequently cited as having been the forerunner and inspiration for the "unplugged" phenomenon in the 1990s. Townshend had been invited to perform for Amnesty by Martin Lewis, the producer of ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' who stated later that Townshend's participation had been the key to his securing the subsequent participation for Amnesty (in the 1981 sequel show) of Sting, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins and Bob Geldof. Other performers inspired to support Amnesty International in future ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' shows and other benefits because of Townshend's early commitment to the organisation include Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, David Gilmour and U2 singer Bono who in 1986 told ''Rolling Stone'' magazine: "I saw ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed...."

Miscellaneous efforts

Highlights of Pete Townshend’s other public charitable efforts include the following:

A 1972 ''Tommy'' performance which raised nearly £10,000 for the Stars Organization for Spastics charity.

A 1979 Rock Against Racism benefit concert, organised to raise money to pay the legal costs of those arrested in a London area anti-racism demonstration. Townshend helped organise the show, topped the bill, and supplied the event lighting and equipment.

A 1981 Rock Against Unemployment benefit concert, part of the People’s March For Jobs campaign.

A 1982 Prince’s Trust Gala Benefit performance.

Performing with The Who at the 1985 Live Aid concert.

Involvement in fundraising supportive of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress.

Performing in a 1986 Royal Albert Hall benefit show for the victims of a Colombian Volcano disaster which killed over 25,000 people.

A 2001 benefit show for San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse which raised approximately $100,000.

Performing in Rock the Dock, a 1998 benefit for striking Liverpool dock workers.

Organizing an online auction in 2000 to raise funds for Oxfam's emergency services to help those affected by floods in Mozambique and a combination of drought and food shortages in Ethiopia. Among the auctioned items were a selection of gold and platinum awards, letters from celebrities such as Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney, and musical instruments (including a smashed Rickenbacker guitar and the guitar on which Townshend composed the Who classic "Behind Blue Eyes"). The centerpiece of the auction, however, was a 1957 Fender Stratocaster which was given to Townshend as a gift by Eric Clapton after Townshend had helped arrange Clapton’s 1973 recovery from his own heroin addiction, and comeback show at the Rainbow. The guitar was ultimately purchased by Pete Townshend, Mick Jagger and David Bowie, and presented to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Performing with The Who at the 2001 all-star The Concert for New York City at Madison Square Garden, honouring policemen and emergency personnel killed in the 11 September attacks.

Performing at the Royal Albert Hall in a 2004 Ronnie Lane tribute show which served as a fundraiser for both Lane’s family and multiple sclerosis research.

Performing with The Who at the 2005 Live 8 concert.

In 1998, Townshend was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the UK Labour Party. He refused to let Michael Moore use "Won't Get Fooled Again" in ''Fahrenheit 9/11'', saying that he watched ''Bowling for Columbine'' and was not convinced.

Performing with The Who in Detroit in 2008, donating all profits to Focus: HOPE and Gleaners Community Food Bank.

Operation Ore investigation and police caution

Townshend was cautioned by the British police in 2003 as part of Operation Ore. Following a news leak that Townshend was among the subjects of the investigation, he publicly stated that on one occasion he had used a credit card to access a website advertising child pornography. Townshend, who had posted essays on his personal website in 2002 as part of his campaign against the widespread availability of child pornography on the internet, said that he had entered the site for research purposes and had not downloaded any images. A four-month police investigation, including forensic examination of all of his computers, established that Townshend was not in possession of any illegal downloaded images. Instead of pressing charges, the police elected to caution him, stating, "It is not a defence to access these images for research or out of curiosity." In a statement issued by his lawyer, Townshend said, "I accept that I was wrong to access this site, and that by doing so, I broke the law, and I have accepted the caution that the police have given me."

Discography

Guest appearances

"Because You're Young" with David Bowie on ''Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)'' (1980)

Acoustic guitar on "Ball and Chain" with Elton John on ''Jump Up!'' (1982)

"Lonely at the Top" and "Hard Women" with Mick Jagger on ''She's the Boss'' (1985)

Guitar on "Town of Plenty" with Elton John on ''Reg Strikes Back'' (1988)

Acoustic guitar with Prefab Sprout on "Hey Manhattan!" on ''From Langley Park to Memphis'' (1988)

"Substitute" with The Ramones on ''Acid Eaters'' (1993)

"Joy" and "Gun" with Mick Jagger on ''Goddess in the Doorway'' (2001)

"Slow Burn" with David Bowie on ''Heathen'' (2002)

In 1968 Townshend helped assemble a band called Thunderclap Newman consisting of three musicians he knew. Pianist Andy Newman (an old art school friend), drummer John "Speedy" Keen (who had written "Armenia City in the Sky" for The Who to record for their 1967 album ''The Who Sell Out'') and teenage guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (later to join Wings). Townshend produced the band and played bass on their recordings under the tongue-in-cheek pseudonym "Bijou Drains". Their first recording was the single "Something in the Air", which became a number one hit in the UK and a substantial hit elsewhere in the world. This was the only number one hit in the UK that Townshend performed on (The Who had none.) Following this success, Townshend produced their sole album, ''Hollywood Dream''.

Townshend also produced "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown in 1968 that was No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US.

In 1971, Townshend, along with Keith Moon and Ronnie Lane, backed Mike Heron (of the Incredible String Band) on one song "Warm Heart Pastry" from Heron's first solo LP, ''Smiling Men with Bad Reputations''. On the album notes, they are listed as "Tommy and the Bijoux". Also present on the track was John Cale on viola.

In 1984, Townshend contributed lyrics to two songs ("Love on The Air" and "All Lovers are Deranged") on David Gilmour's solo album ''About Face''.

For albums Townshend composed as a member of The Who, see their entry. Not included are albums by other artists on which Townshend played as a session musician. Through much of 2005, Pete Townshend recorded and performed alongside his partner Rachel Fuller, a classically trained pianist and singer-songwriter.

In 2006, Townshend opened a website for implementation of The Lifehouse Method based on his 1971 ''Lifehouse'' concept. This website was in collaboration with composer Lawrence Ball and software developer David Snowden. Applicants at the website could input data to compose a musical "portrait" which the musical team could then develop into larger compositions for a planned concert or series of concerts.

Awards

BRIT Awards 1983 – Life Achievement Award

Tony Award 1993 – Best Original Score (music & lyrics) – ''The Who's Tommy'' (tie)

Grammy Awards 1993 – Best Musical Show Album (as composer and lyricist of ''The Who's Tommy'')

Kennedy Center Honors 2008

See also

Guitar showmanship

Cliff Townshend

Simon Townshend

References

Further reading

''Horses Neck'' by Pete Townshend Mariner Books 1985, new edition, (21 May 1998) ISBN 0-395-90559-1 ISBN 978-0-395-90559-3

''The Who: Maximum R&B;'' by Pete Townshend and Richard Barnes Plexus Publishing; 5th edition (27 September 2004) ISBN 0-85965-351-X ISBN 978-0-85965-351-0

''Pete Townshend: A Minstrel's Dilemma'' by Larry David Smith Praeger Publishers (30 March 1999) ISBN 0-275-96472-8, ISBN 978-0-275-96472-6

''Who Are You: The Life Of Pete Townshend'' by Mark Ian Wilkerson Omnibus Press; 1st edition (30 November 2008) ISBN 1-84772-243-1 ISBN 978-1-84772-243-0

External links

The Who's official web site

Pete Townshend's commercial Eelpie web site

In Love With Meher Baba (Townshend's 1970 ''Rolling Stone'' article)

video of Townshend's 1996 Fillmore West performance of his song "O Parvardigar"

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:English rock musicians Category:English male singers Category:English tenors Category:English guitarists Category:Lead guitarists Category:English rock guitarists Category:English composers Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Tony Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:English songwriters Category:English rock singers Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Deaf musicians Category:Followers of Meher Baba Category:The Who members Category:Townshend family Category:British rhythm and blues boom musicians Category:People from Chiswick

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