Gotye
Gotye at the 2012 APRA Music Awards.
Background information
Birth name	Wouter De Backer
Born	(1980-05-21) 21 May 1980 (age 32) Bruges, Belgium
Origin	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia New Zealand
Genres	Indie rock, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, drums, percussion, keyboards, synthesizer
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Fairfax, Universal Republic, Independent, Samples 'n' Seconds, Inertia, Lucky Number, Eleven
Associated acts	The Basics, Kimbra
Website	gotye.com

Wouter "Wally" De Backer (born 21 May 1980), also known professionally by his stage name Gotye (pronounced /ˈɡɒti.eɪ/), is a Belgian-Australian^[1] multi-instrumental musician and singer-songwriter. The name 'Gotye' is derived from 'Gauthier', the French equivalent of 'Walter' or 'Wouter.' His voice has been compared to those of Sting and Peter Gabriel.^[2][3][4]

He has released three studio albums independently and one album featuring remixes of tracks from his first two albums. He is one-third of Melbourne indie-pop trio The Basics, who have independently released three studio albums and numerous other titles since 2002. Gotye's 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know" hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making him the fifth Australian artist to do so and the second Belgian (after Soeur Sourire in 1963).^[5][6] He has won five ARIA Awards and received a nomination for an MTV EMA for Best Asia and Pacific Act. Gotye described himself as "less of a musician, more of a tinkerer." ^[7]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born in Bruges, Belgium, in 1980, De Backer moved to Australia with his family when he was two years old.^[8] They first resided in Sydney, New South Wales before settling in Melbourne, Victoria.^[9] His parents chose to use the English variation of his name, Walter, when enrolling him in school.

As a youth, De Backer displayed a passion for music, learning various instruments, most notably piano and drums. In his teens, De Backer formed the band Downstares^[10] with three of his high school friends, including Lucas Taranto (who still plays in his Gotye live shows).^[11] After high school, the members of Downstares went their separate ways, leaving De Backer with no musical outlet.

In 2001, his parents moved into a new home, leaving their old family house in Montmorency, Melbourne,^[12] so he could continue his studies. Two friends moved in with him and the house became affectionately known as The Frat House,^[13] where friends would regularly drop by and hang out. The first seeds of Gotye were planted when De Backer was given a large collection of old records. An elderly neighbour, having heard Downstares rehearsing over the years, gave his then-recently deceased wife's LP record collection to De Backer.^[14]

[edit] 2001–04: Boardface

In 2001, De Backer recorded his first tracks primarily using samples. He put together a four-track CD which included the song 'Out Here in the Cold'.^[15] He made approximately 50 copies of this first collection, handwriting the track list and colouring in the cover sleeve in pencil. He drew on his cultural history for inspiration when naming his new project; Wouter translates into French as Gaultier (or Gautier or Gauthier), a pet name used by his mother (who gave French classes) when he was a child. He chose his own spelling of this variation and named the project Gotye. He sent the CDs out to every radio station and recording industry contact he could find in the phonebook, then followed each up with phone calls to ensure they were delivered. Feedback on the first release was mainly positive with Melbourne street press and Australian youth radio station Triple J taking notice,^[16] giving him confidence to continue with further sample-based recordings.

Around this time, Gotye met fellow singer-songwriter Kris Schroeder at a party in Mt Eliza, and the two began performing together under the name The Basics. They formed an enduring songwriting and performing partnership and became regulars on the live music scene, giving De Backer an outlet for his passion for live performance. The Basics have continued to tour and record alongside Gotye, releasing four albums between 2004 and 2010.

De Backer went on to produce two more four-track Gotye collections which were met with positive reviews, with several tracks getting onto the rotation at Triple J. The CDs were made in the same style as the first, with De Backer hand crafting each one and tenaciously chasing up every opportunity to get an audience for his work. Interest in the Gotye project was growing, and De Backer was eventually offered a distribution deal for an album, which would essentially be a collection of the tracks from his three earlier releases. This album was released as Boardface in late 2003.

[edit] 2006–09: Like Drawing Blood

Cover of the Like Drawing Blood album.

In 2004, De Backer's parents opted to sell The Frat House and De Backer moved into a shared house in the South East of Melbourne. He took up work at a local library, while continuing to perform with The Basics and record his own Gotye tracks. Over the next few years, De Backer moved several times, each time shifting his home recording studio to a new location with new acoustic qualities. The culmination of this was the second Gotye album, Like Drawing Blood—named in reference to the difficulties De Backer experienced in recording his music in ever-changing environments.^[17] The album marked the beginning of his working relationship with long term manager Danny Rogers – manager of Australian indie band The Temper Trap – whom he had first approached via email.^[18]

Like Drawing Blood was featured by Triple J in May 2006^[19] and was voted #1 in the listener poll of the Best Album of 2006.^[20] The album was also nominated for a J Award that year.^[21] Two tracks from that album, "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and "Hearts a Mess", were ranked #94 and #8 respectively in Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2006.^[22] Like Drawing Blood has been certified Platinum in Australia for sales of over 70,000 copies. His first single, "Learnalilgivinanlovin", was released in August 2006.

In September 2006, Gotye was nominated for an ARIA Award for best independent release for the album Like Drawing Blood.^[23] Also in 2006 Gotye won 'Most Outstanding New Independent Artist' at the inaugural Australian Independent Record (AIR) Chart Awards^[24] and Like Drawing Blood was amongst nine shortlisted finalists in the 2006 Australian Music Prize.^[25]

In 2007, De Backer won the ARIA for best male artist. As a result of the publicity of the nomination, Like Drawing Blood re-entered the ARIA albums chart at #36, surpassing the previous peak of #39. Also, Mixed Blood debuted on the ARIA albums chart at #44. Both of these entries came the first week after the ARIA Awards. In 2009, "Hearts a Mess" came in at #77 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time, voted by the Australian public.^[26] Gotye's first European success came in 2008, when "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and "Hearts a Mess" charted in Belgium, followed in 2009 by the single "Coming back".^[27] "Learnalilgivinanlovin" also received air play on Dutch radio stations. In 2011, Like Drawing Blood came in at #11 in Triple J's Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time.^[28] Amidst the lead-up to Gotye's third album, Like Drawing Blood re-entered the ARIA charts in mid 2011, peaking at its highest ever position of 13.

[edit] 2010–present: Making Mirrors and international success

After the success of Like Drawing Blood, De Backer was able to establish a permanent home, still in Melbourne's South East. In 2010, De Backer set up a recording studio in a barn at his parents' farm and set about recording tracks for his third album. He released a new single, "Eyes Wide Open", in mid-October 2010, online and on 10" vinyl. The "Eyes Wide Open" single received generally positive reviews and reached number 25 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2010.^[29] "Eyes Wide Open" was also shortlisted for the 2011 APRA Music Awards in the Song of the Year category.^[30]

In late March 2011, De Backer revealed the next album's title to be Making Mirrors. This title was inspired by an artwork his father painted in the 1980s, discovered by De Backer amongst old bills and newspapers in his parents' barn; it was later edited in Photoshop to become the album artwork. "The mirror reflects on artwork and it is all very related to self-reflection and introspection on the album."^[31] De Backer also revealed the album would see a release in June or July 2011, with a single to precede the release.^[31] De Backer also stated that the album would be similar to its predecessor in terms of diversity.^[31] In late April 2011, Gotye was announced as one of the acts at the annual Groovin' the Moo Music Festival alongside other Australian artists like Birds of Tokyo, Washington, Art vs Science and Architecture in Helsinki.^[32] Gotye was announced to be joining Coldplay, Kanye West, Jane's Addiction, Mogwai and more at the 2011 Splendour in the Grass music festival.^[33]

On 19 May 2011, it was announced that the album would be released on 19 August, with the album launch the following day at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Graphic Festival which would feature animators and a 10-piece orchestra as part of Gotye's performance.^[34] De Backer also released a follow-up single to "Eyes Wide Open" titled "Somebody That I Used to Know" featuring New Zealand musician Kimbra, which was released 6 July 2011^[34] and debuted at #27 on the ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart.^[35] The single quickly moved up the ARIA singles chart despite a lack of airplay on commercial radio stations.^{[citation needed]} The track was further boosted by endorsements from Ashton Kutcher and Lily Allen via Twitter,^[36] exposing Gotye's music to their millions of followers.^[37][38] The single has gone on to reach 8× Platinum (560,000 units sold) status, peaking at #1 the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, the New Zealand Singles Chart, the Belgian Singles Chart, the Dutch Megacharts, the German Media Control Chart, and the Official UK Top 40. On 15 July 2011, it was announced that Gotye's single "Somebody That I Used to Know" had come in third in the 2011 Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition.^[39] As part of the prize, Gotye won a spot to perform at Song Summit 2012 at Darling Harbour, 26–28 May 2012.

On 21 July 2011, it was announced that Gotye would be performing at the 16th Homebake festival on 3 December 2011 at Sydney's Domain.^[40] On its first week of release, Making Mirrors was already at #1 on the ARIA Australian album chart, making Gotye the first Australian act to simultaneously hold both the #1 single and album since Silverchair in 2007. The song became an international success, charting in the Top 20 in over 10 countries and reaching #1 in six. It charted on the US Billboard 200 (#7) and in Canada.

On 11 October 2011, it was announced that Gotye had been nominated for seven ARIA Awards.^[41] Due to the release date restrictions of the eligibility period, Making Mirrors could not be nominated, and the seven nominations all related to the single "Somebody That I Used to Know". Gotye was nominated for Highest Selling Single, Single of the Year, Best Pop Release, Best Male Artist and three awards in the ARIA Artisan category: Best Video (Natasha Pincus), Engineer of the Year (Francois Tetaz) and Producer of the Year (Wouter De Backer). On the same day the nominations were revealed, the winners of the Artisan categories were announced, with Gotye and the album personnel winning all three. On 27 November 2011, Gotye won three ARIA Awards: Best Male Artist, Best Pop Release and Single of the Year for the song "Somebody That I Used to Know." Kimbra who collaborated with Gotye on the track also won the ARIA award for Best Female Artist.^[42]

On 1 February 2012, Gotye made his American television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing "Eyes Wide Open", "Somebody That I Used to Know" with Kimbra, and "State of The Art".^[43][44] On 12 February 2012, the single "Somebody That I Used to Know" reached #1 on the UK Singles chart. The next week it fell from the top spot but on 26 February, it reached the top spot for a second time, where it remained for a total of five weeks.^[45] On 9 April 2012, "Somebody That I Used to Know" was covered by Lindsey Pavao in the live rounds of NBC's vocal competition show The Voice. On 10 April 2012, Darren Criss and Matthew Bomer performed the song in the television episode "Big Brother" on Fox's show Glee.^[46] On 11 April 2012, the smash single was featured on an American Idol duet between Elise Testone and Phillip Phillips. Gotye performed this single on Saturday Night Live on 14 April 2012 along with "Eyes Wide Open". These collective performances helped propel the single to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending 28 April 2012, giving Gotye his first U.S. #1 single; the singer is the first Australian artist to reach #1 in the US since Savage Garden in 2000.^[47] In April 2012, "Somebody That I Used to Know" broke a 47-year-old record in the Netherlands by becoming the most successful song in the history of the Dutch charts.^[48] Gotye was interviewed on the 7 April 2012 broadcast of National Public Radio's All Things Considered.^[49]

Discography[link]

• Boardface (2003)
• Like Drawing Blood (2006)
• Making Mirrors (2011)

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (May 2012)

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (January 2012)

• Official website
• "At the top with eyes wide open for Gotye", The Australian
• Savage, Mark. Interview and article, BBC, 13 March 2012