This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2011)

Wham! were a British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s.^[1] They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band.

Wham! sold 25 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to 1986.^[2]

History[link]

Michael and Ridgeley met at Bushey Meads Comprehensive School in Bushey near the suburb of Watford in Hertfordshire, England, UK. At first they performed in a short-lived ska band called The Executive, alongside three of their former school friends David (Austin) Mortimer, Harry Tadayon and Andrew Leaver. When this group split, Michael and Ridgeley eventually formed Wham!, signing with Innervision Records, a contract they later sued to be released from. Once that situation was resolved, they signed with CBS (Columbia Records in the United States and Canada, and Epic Records for the rest of the world).

Michael took on the majority of roles and responsibilities within the band—composer, producer, singer, and occasional instrumentalist. Ridgeley convinced^[3]a reluctant^[4] Michael that Wham! needed to change their image and their sound frequently, from the leather-clad moody singers of "Bad Boys" and "Young Guns (Go for It!)" to the more fashionable pop superstars of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go".

Still teenagers, they promoted themselves as hedonistic youngsters, proud to live a carefree life without work or commitment. This was reflected in their earliest singles which, part-parody, part-social comment, briefly earned Wham! a reputation as a dance protest group.

The début record to be released by the band was "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" in June 1982. It was one of the first singles by a British group to include rapping, and was a double A-side including the Social Mix and the Anti-Social Mix. The record was not playlisted by BBC Radio 1 in the UK, partly because of the profanity in the Anti-Social Mix. Separate videos were recorded for each set of lyrics. "Wham! Rap" did not chart for the group, but in October 1982 "Young Guns (Go for It!)" was issued. An appeal from one youthful lad to his friend to not throw his life away so early on marriage, it also stalled outside the UK Top 40. But soon, Wham! got lucky when the BBC programme Top of the Pops scheduled them. An important weekly BBC chart show on television, it had to look outside the Top 40 to fill a gap created by an act which had unexpectedly pulled out of the show. Nearest to the 40 mark and still climbing, Wham! was summoned, and a phenomenon immediately began. The Top of the Pops performance of "Young Guns" is still considered a watershed moment in the group's history—critical acclaim is given for the 'nightclub' feel of the dance routine by all four of the performers.

Increasing success[link]

Wham!'s first manager was Bryan Morrison. The effect of Wham! on the public, especially teenage girls, was felt from the moment they finished their début performance of "Young Guns (Go for It!)" on Top of the Pops. Michael wore espadrilles, an open suede jacket, and rolled-up denim jeans. Ridgeley stood behind him, flanked by backing dancers Dee C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman.

The performance was as much one of acting as it was of singing, with Michael playing the part of the pleading good-time lad, and Ridgeley the guy who had been drawn into commitment. Afterwards, the song shot into the Top 40 at #24 and peaked at #3 in December. The following year (1983), Dee C. Lee began her work with Paul Weller of The Style Council, and was replaced by Pepsi Demacque. Holliman and Demacque would later record as Pepsi & Shirlie.

Wham! followed up "Young Guns (Go for It!)" with the reissue "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)", a song about the joys of a leisurely life on the dole; "Bad Boys", about a strained relationship between a rebellious teenage boy and his worried parents; and "Club Tropicana", a satire of the media's fascination with the elitist London club scene. Each single was accompanied by a memorable music video.

By the end of 1983, Wham! was rivalling Duran Duran and Culture Club as Britain's biggest pop act.^{[citation needed]} Notoriety and column inches were duly achieved with their antics of placing shuttlecocks down their shorts during performances on their first tour, the Club Fantastic Tour.^{[citation needed]} Their début LP Fantastic reached #1 at this time as well.^{[citation needed]}

It wasn't long after this that Ridgeley became conscious of legal problems with their initial contract at Innervision.^{[citation needed]} While the legal battle raged (perhaps to raise much-needed funds for the fight^{[citation needed]}), Innervision released a medley of non-single album tracks from Fantastic, entitled "Club Fantastic Megamix". Wham! publicly denounced the move, and urged fans not to buy it.^{[citation needed]} After all the legal wrangling, Innervision admitted there were royalty discrepancies with Wham!'s contract,^{[citation needed]} the fall-out of which led to the bankruptcy and eventual dissolution of Innervision altogether.^{[citation needed]}

Driven by Ridgeley,^{[citation needed]} the duo changed their image, and Wham! returned in May 1984 with an updated, cutting-edge pop image quickly copied^{[by whom?]} by other pop bands.^{[citation needed]} In a process begun by the video to "Club Tropicana" on the previous album, Ridgeley changed the band's look from "moody in leather jackets" to smiles and fashionable clothing, with a view to promoting themselves more as hedonistic sex symbols than spokesmen for a disaffected generation, as previously done.^{[citation needed]}

Fittingly enough, these changes propelled the next single (a pop standard^{[citation needed]}) to the top of the charts around the world.^{[citation needed]} "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", an infectiously^{[citation needed]} catchy song Michael wrote whose inspiration was a note left by Ridgeley to his parents.^{[citation needed]} The note was mistakenly written by Ridgeley as "don't forget to wake me up up before you go go".^{[citation needed]} Since he had accidentally written the word "up" twice, Ridgeley decided to compound the error and write "go" twice, as well.^{[citation needed]} It became their first UK #1 and rose to that position in the USA as well,^{[citation needed]} accompanied by a memorable^{[citation needed]} video of the duo, plus the ubiquitous^{[citation needed]} Pepsi and Shirlie, wearing Katharine Hamnett T-shirts with the slogans "CHOOSE LIFE" and "GO GO".

The next single "Careless Whisper" was issued as a George Michael solo piece, yet unlike any Wham! single since "Wham Rap!", it was credited as co-written by Ridgeley.^{[citation needed]} The song, about a remorseful two-timer,^{[citation needed]} had more emotional depth^{[citation needed]} than previous releases, and quickly reached #1,^{[citation needed]} marking a new phase as George Michael tried to somewhat distance himself from Wham!'s playboy image.^{[citation needed]} In the U.S.—so as not to confuse American listeners just being exposed to Wham!—the single was billed as Wham! featuring George Michael.^{[citation needed]} In the autumn of 1984, Wham! returned as a duo with "Freedom", another UK chart-topper^{[citation needed]} with George Michael presented as a broken-hearted romantic,^{[citation needed]} and the first single for quite some time to reach #1 in the UK without an accompanying video.^{[citation needed]} It has been said^{[by whom?]} that this was because the first video was canned due to its poor quality; a video was subsequently edited together from footage of Wham!'s historic China tour in time for "Freedom's" U.S. single release.^{[citation needed]} The group by then had achieved three number-one singles in a row.^{[citation needed]} In November, they released their second album, Make It Big, which quickly climbed to #1 on the album charts,^{[citation needed]} and the band set off on an arena tour at the end of 1984.

"Last Christmas" became the highest-selling single ever to peak at #2 in the UK charts.^{[citation needed]} As such, Wham! donated all their royalties^{[citation needed]} to the Ethiopian famine appeal to coincide with the fund-raising intentions of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", the song which kept them out of the top spot.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, Band Aid's success meant that Michael had achieved #1 status within three separate entities in 1984—as a solo artist, as one half of a duo, and as part of a charity ensemble.^{[citation needed]}

Several months after their UK releases, their three U.S. number-one singles in a row (and their only number ones) were "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (closely coinciding with Make It Big's release), "Careless Whisper", and "Everything She Wants". "Freedom" hit number three. At the end of 1985, the U.S. Billboard charts listed "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" as the number-three song and "Careless Whisper" as the number-one song of the year.

China and Live Aid[link]

In April 1985, Wham! took a break from recording to embark on a lengthy world tour, including a ground-breaking 10-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group.^[5] The China excursion was a publicity scheme devised by Simon Napier-Bell (one of their two managers—Jazz Summers being the other). It culminated in a concert at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing in front of 10,000 people. Director Lindsay Anderson documented the tour in his film Foreign Skies.

Sporting a beard, Michael appeared with Ridgeley onstage at Live Aid (although they did not perform as Wham!). Michael sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with Elton John while Ridgeley joined Kiki Dee in the row of backup singers. In September, Wham! released "I'm Your Man" which went to #1 in the UK charts.

Michael claimed to have begun a relationship with model/makeup artist Kathy Yeung around this time, and Ridgeley began one with Keren Woodward of Bananarama. Ridgeley also took up the hobby of rally driving, famously^{[citation needed]} crashing one car before the end of 1985. "Last Christmas" was re-issued for the festive season and again made the UK Top 10, peaking at #6, while Michael took up offers he was starting to receive to add his voice to other artists' songs. He performed backing vocals for David Cassidy and for Elton John on his successful singles "Nikita" (a UK #3) and "Wrap Her Up" (a UK #12), on which he sang co-lead vocals.

Demise[link]

Michael desired to create music targeted to a more sophisticated audience than the duo's primarily teenage fan-base. Therefore, Michael and Ridgeley officially announced the breakup of Wham! in the spring of 1986, but that a farewell single and album would be forthcoming, along with a final concert at Wembley Stadium on 28 June 1986, called The Final. British pop group Five Star declined George's invitation to be the supporting act, saying they needed to concentrate on their own career at the time.

The farewell single was "The Edge of Heaven", which reached #1 in June 1986. "Where Did Your Heart Go?" was the group's final single in the United States. The song, originally recorded by art-rock ensemble Was (Not Was), was a gloomy and sombre affair. The duo's last album was a double-LP collection of all the singles to date, including some extended versions, and was also called The Final (released in North America as the severely pared-down Music from the Edge of Heaven with alternate tracks). Wham! then bade goodbye to their fans (73,000 of whom attended the eight-hour event) and each other with an emotional embrace at the end of the show. The band had been together five years, selling close to 20 million albums and 10 to 15 million singles. Foreign Skies, the documentary of their tour of China, received its world premiere as part of the festivities, making it the most highly-attended film première in history.

Post-Wham![link]

For several years after becoming a solo artist, George Michael spoke in public negatively about his time in Wham!, partly because of the intense negativity of media coverage on partner Ridgeley. Michael complained of the constant pressure he felt, and he claimed that the duo had been mistreated financially. He also spoke disparagingly about the Wham! repertoire, especially the songs from the first album.

However, his perspective on the era has softened somewhat in recent years. He still performs "I'm Your Man" and "Everything She Wants", one of the more critically acclaimed songs from the Wham! era, at his solo concerts. He and Ridgeley have had a few reunions.

Ridgeley moved to Monaco after Wham!'s break-up and tried his hand at Formula Three motor racing. Meeting with little success, Ridgeley moved to Los Angeles to pursue his singing/acting career, the failure of which caused him to return to England in 1990. Regardless, CBS Records, having taken up the option on Wham!'s contract that specified solo albums from Michael and Ridgeley, released a guitar-and-drum-driven solo effort from Ridgeley, Son of Albert, in 1990. His brother Paul—a frequent percussionist for Bananarama—played drums on the album. Singles included "Shake" and "Red Dress." CBS declined the option of a second album.

On 21 November 2009, there was a Wham!-themed night on television's The X Factor. Michael later appeared on the show's final episode, performing a duet of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with finalist and eventual winner Joe McElderry.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of George Michael
• Wham! at Rolling Stone

The Edge
Background information
Birth name	David Howell Evans
Born	(1961-08-08) 8 August 1961 (age 50) Barking, Essex, England, United Kingdom
Origin	County Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Rock, post-punk, alternative rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, activist
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, keyboards, piano, bass guitar
Years active	1976–present
Labels	Island, Mercury
Associated acts	U2, Passengers
Website	www.u2.com
Notable instruments
Gibson Explorer Fender Stratocaster Gibson Les Paul Fender Telecaster Gretsch Country Gentleman Gretsch White Falcon Rickenbacker 330/12

David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), more widely known by his stage name The Edge (or just Edge),^[1] is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record. As a guitarist, The Edge has crafted a minimalistic and textural style of playing. His use of a rhythmic delay effect yields a distinctive ambient, chiming sound that has become a signature of U2's music.

The Edge was born in England to a Welsh family, but was raised in Ireland after moving there as an infant. In 1976, at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, he formed U2 with his fellow students and his older brother Dik. Inspired by the ethos of punk rock and its basic arrangements, the group began to write its own material. They eventually became one of the most popular acts in popular music, with successful albums such as 1987's The Joshua Tree and 1991's Achtung Baby. Over the years, The Edge has experimented with various guitar effects and introduced influences from several genres of music into his own style, including American roots music, industrial music, and alternative rock. With U2, The Edge has also played keyboards, co-produced their 1993 record Zooropa, and occasionally contributed lyrics. The Edge met his second and current wife, Morleigh Steinberg, through her collaborations with the band.

As a member of U2 and as an individual, The Edge has campaigned for human rights and philanthropic causes. He co-founded Music Rising, a charity to support musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina. He has collaborated with U2 bandmate Bono on several projects, including songs for Roy Orbison and Tina Turner, and the soundtracks to the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and the Royal Shakespeare Company's London stage adaptation of A Clockwork Orange. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine placed him at number 38 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Personal life[link]

The Edge at a U2 concert in Anaheim (2005)

David Howell Evans was born at the Barking Maternity Hospital,^[2] Essex, England to Welsh parents Garvin and Gwenda Evans.^[1] When he was one, his family moved to County Dublin, Ireland where he attended St Andrew's National School. He received piano and guitar lessons and often performed with his brother Dik Evans before they both answered an advertisement posted by Larry Mullen, Jr. at their school, Mount Temple Comprehensive School, seeking musicians to form a band.^[3] The band accepted both of them. This band went through several incarnations before emerging as U2 in March 1978 (Dik Evans left the band just before the name change).^[3] U2 began performing in various venues in Ireland and eventually began developing a following. Their debut album, Boy, was released in 1980.

In 1981, leading up to the October tour, Evans came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he decided to stay.^[3] During this period, he became involved with a group called Shalom Tigers, in which bandmates Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. were also involved.^[4] Shortly after deciding to remain with the band, he wrote a piece of music that later became "Sunday Bloody Sunday".^[3] The Edge married his high school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan on 12 July 1983.^[5] The couple had three daughters together: Hollie in 1984, Arran in 1985 and Blue Angel in 1989.^[4] The couple separated in 1990, but were unable to get officially divorced because of Irish laws regarding marriage annulment; divorce was legalised in 1995 and the couple were legally divorced in 1996.^[4]

In 1993, The Edge began dating Morleigh Steinberg, a professional dancer and choreographer employed by the band as a belly dancer during the Zoo TV Tour. They had a daughter, Sian (born 1997), and a son, Levi (born 25 October 1999),^[4] before marrying on 22 June 2002.^[4] He appeared in the 2009 music documentary film It Might Get Loud.^[6] The Edge has been criticized for his efforts to build five luxury mansions on a 156 acre plot of land in Malibu, California.^[7] The California Coastal Commission voted 8-4 against the plans, with the project described by the commission's executive director, Peter Douglas, as "In 38 years...one of the three worst projects that I've seen in terms of environmental devastation...It's a contradiction in terms – you can't be serious about being an environmentalist and pick this location."^[7] The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy agreed to remain neutral on the issue following a $1 million donation from The Edge and a commitment from The Edge to designate 100 acres of the land as open space for public footpaths.^[7]

Music style[link]

Guitar playing[link]

As a guitar player, The Edge has a sound typified by a low-key playing style, a chiming, shimmering sound (thanks in part to the sound of VOX AC-30s) that he achieves with extensive use of delay effects and reverb. The feedback delay is often set to a dotted eighth note (3/16 of a measure), and the feedback gain is adjusted until a note played repeats two or three times.^{[citation needed]}

On 1987's The Joshua Tree, The Edge often contributes just a few simple lead lines given depth and richness by an ever-present delay. For example, the introduction to "Where the Streets Have No Name" is simply a repeated six-note arpeggio, broadened by a modulated delay effect. The Edge has said that he views musical notes as "expensive", in that he prefers to play as few notes as possible. He said in 1982 of his style,

"I like a nice ringing sound on guitar, and most of my chords I find two strings and make them ring the same note, so it's almost like a 12-string sound. So for E I might play a B, E, E and B and make it ring. It works very well with the Gibson Explorer. It's funny because the bass end of the Explorer was so awful that I used to stay away from the low strings, and a lot of the chords I played were very trebly, on the first four, or even three strings. I discovered that through using this one area of the fretboard I was developing a very stylized way of doing something that someone else would play in a normal way."^[9]

Many different influences have shaped The Edge's guitar technique.^{[citation needed]} His first guitar was an old acoustic guitar that his mother bought him at a local flea market for only a few pounds; he was nine at the time. He and his brother Dik Evans both experimented with this instrument.^[9] He said in 1982 of this early experimentation, "I suppose the first link in the chain was a visit to the local jumble sale where I purchased a guitar for a pound. That was my first instrument. It was an acoustic guitar and me and my elder brother Dik both played it, plonking away, all very rudimentary stuff, open chords and all that."^[9] The Edge has stated that many of his guitar parts are based around guitar effects. This is especially true from the Achtung Baby era onwards, although much of the band's 1980s material made heavy use of echos.

Vocals[link]

The Edge in June 2005

The Edge also supplies the backing vocals for U2. U2's 1983 live album and video release, Under a Blood Red Sky and Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky are good reference points for his singing (as are the live DVDs from the Elevation Tour, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle and Elevation 2001: Live from Boston). For example, he sings the chorus to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Bono harmonizes on the final 'Sunday'). U2 used this tradeoff technique later in "Bullet the Blue Sky" as well. His backing vocals are sometimes in the form of a repeated cry; examples of songs that use this approach include "Beautiful Day", "New Year's Day" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)". Another technique he uses in his backing vocals is the falsetto, in songs such as "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own", "A Man and a Woman", "The Wanderer", live versions of "The Fly", and "Window in the Skies".

The Edge sings the lead vocal on "Van Diemen's Land" and "Numb", the first half of the song "Seconds", dual vocals with Bono in "Discotheque", and the bridge in the song "Miracle Drug".^[4] He also sings the occasional lead vocal in live renditions of other songs (such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" during the PopMart Tour and "Party Girl" during the Rotterdam Zoo TV show when it was Bono's birthday).^[10] He also plays a solo acoustic version of the song "Love is Blindness" that is featured in the documentary film From the Sky Down.

Other instruments[link]

He has played piano and keyboards on many of the band's songs, including "I Fall Down", "October", "So Cruel", "New Year's Day", "Running to Stand Still", "Miss Sarajevo", "The Hands that Built America", and "Original of the Species" and others. He plays the organ on "Please". In live versions of "New Year's Day", "The Unforgettable Fire", "Your Blue Room", and "Moment of Surrender", he plays both the piano and guitar parts alternately. In most live versions of "Original of the Species," piano is the only instrument played during the song. Although The Edge is the band's lead guitarist, he occasionally plays bass guitar, including the live performances of the song "40" where The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton switch instruments.

Solo recordings[link]

In addition to his regular role within U2, The Edge has also recorded with such artists as Johnny Cash, B. B. King, Tina Turner, Ronnie Wood, Jay-Z, and Rihanna. The Edge connected with Brian Eno and Lanois collaborator Michael Brook (the creator of the infinite guitar, which he regularly uses), working with him on the score to the film Captive (1986). From this soundtrack the song "Heroine", the vocal of which was sung by a young Sinéad O'Connor was released as a single.

He also created the theme song for season one and two of The Batman. He and fellow U2 member, Bono, wrote the lyrics to the theme of the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. The Edge, along with bandmate Bono, recently composed a musical adaptation of Spider-Man. On May 25, 2011, a single titled Rise Above 1: Reeve Carney Featuring Bono and The Edge was released digitally.^[11] The music video was released on July 28, 2011.^[12]

Musical equipment[link]

Edge's 1964 Vox AC30 on stage in Foxborough for the U2 360° Tour.

The Edge plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass guitar (on "40" and "Race Against Time") and lap steel guitar. Compared to many lead guitarists, The Edge is known for using many more guitars during a show. According to his guitar tech Dallas Schoo, a typical lead guitarist uses four or five different guitars in one night, whereas The Edge takes 45 on the road, and uses 17 to 19 in one 2.5-hour concert. He is estimated to have more than 200 guitars in the studio.^{[citation needed]}

Philanthropy[link]

In 2005, The Edge along with Bob Ezrin and Henry Juszkiewicz co-founded Music Rising, a charity that helped provide replacement instruments for those that were lost in Hurricane Katrina. The instruments were originally only replaced for professional musicians but they soon realized the community churches and schools needed instruments as well. The charity's slogan is "Rebuilding the Gulf Region note by note" and has so far helped over a hundred musicians who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Edge also serves on the board of the Angiogenesis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving global health by advancing angiogenesis-based medicine, diets, and lifestyle.^[13]

See also[link]

• Timeline of U2
• List of people on stamps of Ireland

References[link]

Footnotes

Bibliography

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. (October 2011)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Edge

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Edge

• U2.com, official U2 site
• Music Rising
• The Edge at the Internet Movie Database
• The Edge – Album Credits
• A Study of The Edge's Guitar Delay
• The Edge: 'It's all about the vision'
• Food Bank For New York City public service announcement
• Comment on the mathematical analysis of The Edge's guitar sound

Dan Deacon
Dan Deacon in 2008
Background information
Birth name	Daniel Deacon
Also known as	Pardalince Bird
Born	(1981-08-28) August 28, 1981 (age 30))[1] West Babylon, New York, United States
Origin	Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Genres	Electronic, indie
Instruments	Vocals, wave function generators, keyboards, trombone, tuba, computer
Years active	2003—present
Labels	Domino Records, Carpark Records, Mistletone Records, Wildfire Wildfire Records, Psych-o-Path, Standard Oil Records, Comfort Stand Records
Associated acts	So Percussion, Health, No Age, Lightning Bolt, Jimmy Joe Roche,
Website	http://www.dandeacon.com
Members
Dan Deacon, Chester Gwazda, Denny Bowen, Dave Jacober, Jordan Kasey
Past members
William Cashion, Gerrit Welmers, Benny Boeldt, Andrew Bernstein, Ryan Syrell, Greg Fox, Kate Levitt, Sam Sowyrda, Stephe Cooper, Kevin O'Meara, Jeremy Hyman, Justin Frye, Andrew Burt, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, Eric Beach
Notable instruments
Wavetek 30 Function Generator

Dan Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based out of Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2003, Deacon has released eight albums under several different labels. Deacon also has a renowned reputation for his live shows, where large scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the performance.

Life and Education[link]

Dan was born and raised in the suburban Long Island, New York community of West Babylon. He graduated from Babylon High School in 1999 where he was a member of the local ska band Channel 59.^[2] He later attended the Conservatory of Music at State University of New York at Purchase in Purchase, New York where, in addition to performing his solo material, he played in many bands, including tuba for Langhorne Slim and guitar in the improvisational grindcore band Rated R, and had a small mixed chamber ensemble. He completed his graduate studies in electro-acoustic and computer music composition. He studied under composer and conductor Joel Thome and Dary John Mizelle.

In 2004 he moved to Baltimore, Maryland and moved into the Copycat Building and, along with friends from SUNY Purchase, formed Wham City, an arts and music collective.^[3]

Releases[link]

His first two albums as a solo artist, Meetle Mice and Silly Hat vs Egale Hat were released on CD-R on Standard Oil Records in 2003 while he was a student at SUNY Purchase. The albums are collections of both computer music and live recordings of ensemble pieces. They are markedly different from his first popular record, 2007's Spiderman of the Rings, in that they contain almost no tracks where Deacon sings or uses vocal manipulation. Most of the pieces are instrumentals or sound collages. He followed those two albums with a set of records made up of sine wave compositions. "Green Cobra is Awesome Vs The Sun" is a 42-minute piece consisting of of six slowly drifting sine waves. "Goose On The Loose" is a 60-minute piece featuring a Wavetek 180 signal generator being processed through a DigiTech Whammy and a Line 6 DL4.

His next two releases were the EPs Twacky Cats on Comfort Stand Recordings and Acorn Master on Psych-o-path Records. Spiderman of the Rings was Deacon's first commercially distributed full-length album, released by Carpark Records in May 2007.^[4] The album was well received^[5] and was included in the Best New Music section of Pitchforkmedia.com. The album was also ranked as number 24 on the website's "Top 50 Albums of 2007".^[6]

Ultimate Reality was released as a DVD in November 2007 and marked a return to composing music for others to perform. The pieces for percussion and electronics were performed by Jeremy Hyman of Ponytail and Kevin Omeara of Videohippos. The pieces were set to collaged and heavily altered video created by Deacon's long time friend and collaborator Jimmy Joe Roche.

Deacon's latest album entitled Bromst was released on March 24, 2009.^[7] It was produced by Chester Gwazda at Snow Ghost Studios in Whitefish, Montana and features live instruments including player piano and a variety of percussion instruments. The album was well received; Pitchfork gave it an 8.5/10, and it placed it into the "best new music" section.^[8] Bromst also ranked #46 in Pitchfork's Best Albums of 2009.^[9]

Contemporary Classical Work[link]

At the 2008 Bang on a can Marathon 'Ultimate Reality Part 3' was performed at 4:30am on June 1st, 2008.

In 2011 Deacon began to work more outside of the indie and pop music scenes and began working in the contemporary classical scene and film scoring.

On January 20, 2011, Dan Deacon and percussion quartet So Percussion premiered a new piece composed by Deacon titled "Ghostbuster Cook: Origin of the Riddler" at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival. New York Magazine listed the performance as one of the top 10 classical music performances of 2011.^[10] 'Ghostbuster Cook' was also performed at The Barbican for the Steve Reich Reverberations Festival, May 7, 2001. On February 3 and 4 the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony conducted by Edwin Outwater premiered Deacons first orchestral works, "Fiddlenist Rim" and "Song of the Winter Solstice for orchestra and electronics".

On January 21, 2011 it was announced that Deacon would score the film Twixt by Francis Ford Coppola.

On August 1, 2011 "Purse Hurdler", a composition for a 27 person percussion ensemble, was premiered by the So Percussion Summer Institute at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City.

On March 2, 2012 Deacon performed with So Percussion at the Royal Academy Of Music in Tornto Canada. His compositions 'Take A Deep Breath' and 'Bottles' from 'Ghostbuster Cook: Origin of the Riddler' were performed.

On March 20, 2012 Deacon premiered a new composition for a chamber orchestra titled "An Opal Toad with Obsidian Eyes." The piece was premiered at the 2012 Ecstatic Music Festival and was performed by the Calder Quartet, NOW Ensemble and Deacon on electronics controlling a Disklavier player piano. The piece was met with positive reviews ^[11]

Deacon made his Carnegie Hall debut on March 26th as part of the Carnegie Hall’s American Mavericks series with So Percussion and Matmos. The concert was a tribute to composer John Cage to celebrate his 100th birthday. The program contained compositions by Cage and others influenced by the composer, including two works by Deacon, 'Take A Deep Breath' and 'Bottles' from 'Ghostbuster Cook: Origin of the Riddler.' This concert was also met with positive reviews. ^[12]

Live shows[link]

Dan Deacon is famed for his live shows.^[13] When playing solo he performs on floor level within the audience, his musical devices being set up on a low table, and surrounded by the crowd.

In stark contrast to Deacon's electronic performances, the Bromst tour was with a 14-person ensemble of members of various Baltimore bands including So Percussion, Future Islands, and Chester Gwazda. He was accompanied by various acts including Nuclear Power Pants. This tour is also notable for the musicians' use of a veggie oil powered bus.

In the summer of 2009, Dan Deacon went on tour with two other notable acts, Deerhunter, and No Age, on the "No Deachunter" tour.^[14]

In the fall of 2009, Dan Deacon was forced to cancel the small remainder of his North American tour, which included shows at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York and Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut due to health complications involving a battle with acute sciatica, all of which were rescheduled in winter of 2010.^[15]

Viral video[link]

Deacon recorded the track "Drinking out of Cups". In 2006, Liam Lynch created a video to accompany the piece. The compilation has been viewed more than 15 million times on YouTube.^[16] As the video spread, rumors of what the video was and how it was made quickly began forming. One popular rumor is that it is a recording of someone on LSD locked in a closet. Deacon has stated numerous times that this is not true.^[17]

Film composer and curator[link]

• Twixt (2011, with Osvaldo Golijov)
• Twixt (2010)
• Ultimate Reality (2008)

In September 2010 Dan Deacon collaborated with Jimmy Joe Roche at the Incubate festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands. While in residency there, Deacon and Roche worked on a new piece of video art. Material was shot at 't Schop, a farm in Hilvarenbeek, and in the area surrounding Tilburg. During the festival, the movie was shown at the farm before Deacon's performance.^{[citation needed]}

Together with Jimmy Joe Roche, Dan Deacon curates and hosts the Gunky's Basement Film Series, a Maryland Film Festival series of films that are favorites of these friends and collaborators.

Stage composer[link]

• Power Moves Forever Quest (2011, with Dan Breen, Josh Van Horne, Chase O'Hara)

Discography[link]

• A Green Giant Is Awesome vs. the Sun (single EP, 2003)
• Goose on the Loose (2003)
• Silly Hat vs. Egale Hat (2003)
• Meetle Mice (2003)
• Live Recordings 2003 (2004)
• Twacky Cats (Comfort Stand Records, 2004)
• Porky Pig (Standard Oil Records New Music Series, 2004)
• Acorn Master (Psych-o-Path Records, 2006)
• Spiderman of the Rings (Wildfire Wildfire, 2007)
• The Crystal Cat (7" single, Carpark Records, 2007)
• Ultimate Reality (soundtrack) (Carpark Records, 2008)
• Bromst (Carpark Records, 2009)
• America (Domino, August 27, 2012)

Media appearances[link]

• July 23, 2003: performed on WFMU
• February 21, 2004: performed again on WFMU
• February 2005: performed "Ohio" on WSAV, Savannah, GA's local NBC affiliate
• February 13, 2006: featured on Liam Lynch's podcast Lynchland. Portions of Deacon's song "Big Big Big Big Big" are also used for Lynchland's opening and closing credits on each episode.
• May 26, 2006: performed again on WFMU
• October 25, 2007: featured on Public Radio International's The Sound of Young America. [1]
• April 5, 2009: featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. [2]
• May 29, 2009: featured on American Public Media's Sound Opinions. [3]
• December 4, 2009: named artist of the year by The Athens Blur magazine in Athens, Georgia [4]
• February 12, 2011: performed for KRUI-FM website and logo launch party.

Charts[link]

• August 1, 2006: Acorn Master hits #162 on the CMJ Radio 200 charts.
• March 24, 2009: Bromst hits #199 on the Billboard Top 200 charts.

Awards[link]

• Silly Hat vs. Egale Hat #18 in Top 30 most played albums on WFMU in November 2003
• Meetle Mice Third Best Album of 2003 on Top Ten Albums by OCDJ
• Best Solo Performer 2005 Baltimore City Paper Critics Poll
• Best Solo Performer 2006 Baltimore City Paper Readers Poll
• Acorn Master #1 in Top 30 played albums on WFMU in July 2006
• Spiderman of the Rings named Best New Music on Pitchfork Media in May 2007 with a 8.7 rating
• Bromst named Best New Music on Pitchfork Media in March 2009 with a 8.5 rating
• Awarded "Best Awesome" by COOL! magazine
• Spiderman of the Rings named one of the best records of 2007 by CMJ New Music Monthly
• "Crystal Cat" Single listed in top 100 singles of 2007 by Rolling Stone magazine
• Spiderman of the Rings named one of the 25 best records of 2007 by Pitchfork Media

Festival appearances[link]

• SXSW 2007,2008, 2011, 2012 Austin, TX
• NXNW 2007, Portland, OR
• CMJ 2007, New York, NY
• Virgin Festival 2007, Baltimore, MD
• Pitchfork Music Festival 2007, Chicago, IL
• Laneway Festival 2008, Australia
• Coachella 2008, Indio, CA
• Future Days Festival 2008, Dublin, Ireland
• Dot to Dot 2008, UK
• Electric Picnic 2008, Ireland
• Sled Island Music Festival 2008, Calgary, AB Canada
• Bumbershoot 2008, Seattle, WA
• TIM Festival 2008, Brazil
• Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008, Austin, TX
• Langerado Festival 2008, Big Cypress, FL
• Fuck Yeah Fest 2008, Los Angeles, CA
• Golden Plains Festival 2009, Australia
• Transmodern Festival 2009, Baltimore, MD
• Primavera Sound, 2009, Barcelona, Spain
• Lollapalooza 2009, Chicago, IL
• Villette Sonique 2009, Paris, France
• Big Ears Music Festival, Knoxville, TN
• Treasure Island 2009, San Francisco, CA
• Campus A Low Hum, Bulls, New Zealand
• Transmediale 2010, Berlin, Germany
• MtyMx 2010, Monterrey, Mexico
• Sperm Festival, Prague, Czech Republic
• Donau Festival 2010, Krems, Austria
• Bonnaroo 2010, Manchester, TN
• Whartscape 2005-2010, Baltimore, MD
• Haldern Festival 2010, Germany
• Incubate 2010, The Netherlands
• High Zero 2010, Balitmore, MD
• Moogfest 2010, Asheville, NC
• Iceland Airwaves 2010, Iceland
• Ecstatic Music Festival 2011, NYC
• 35 Conferette 2011, Denton, TX
• SXSW 2011, Austin, TX
• Transmodern Festival 2009, 2011, Baltimore, MD
• B.O.M.B. Fest 2011, Hartford, CT
• OFF Festival 2011, Katowice, Poland
• Terraneo Festival 2011, Šibenik, Croatia
• La Route Du Rock 2011, Saint-Malo, France
• Fuck Yeah Fest 2011, Los Angeles, CA
• Rocktucket 2011, Pawtucket, RI
• Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011, Austin, Texas
• Moogfest 2011, Asheville, NC
• Southbound 2012, Australia
• Falls Festival, 2012, Australia
• Camp A Low Hum 2012, New Zealand
• 80/35 Music Festival 2012, Des Moines

Museum and Art institution performances[link]

• The Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA USA, April 2012
• Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH USA, March 2012
• National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania, April 2010
• Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD USA, July 2009
• Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA USA, June 2009
• Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH USA, June 2009
• Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, Detroit, USA, May 2009
• Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, TX USA, April 2009
• The Hirshorn Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC USA, November 2008
• Detroit Museum of Modern Art, Detroit, MI USA, October 2008
• The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA USA, July 2008
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY USA, February 2008
• Model Arts Centre and Niland Gallery, Sligo, Ireland, December 2007
• Corcoran Museum, Washington, DC USA, November 2007
• The Walters Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD USA, February 2007

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dan Deacon

• Official website
  • Dan Deacon on Myspace
• Wham City video profile
• Dan Deacon interview for the New York Times
• Dan Deacon's electronic jungle — A June 2007 Associated Press interactive piece with Dan Deacon explaining his instruments.

• Dan Deacon: The New Face of Beauty' from State of Mind Winter 09
• Dan Deacon article April 2009
• Pitchfork article
• Music Towers article
• Muso's Guide live review - Fabric London
• Photo gallery of live performance
• Channel 59 official band website