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Jon Brion
Brion at The Sunset Tavern in Seattle, September 2004 (Photo By Nadja Dee Witherbee)
Background information
Born	(1963-12-11) December 11, 1963 (age 48) Glen Ridge, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Rock, pop Hip-Hop
Years active	1982–present

Jon Brion (born December 11, 1963) is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.

Life and career[link]

Early life[link]

Brion was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. He came from a musical family; his mother, LaRue, was an administrative assistant and singer, and his father, Keith Brion, was a band director at Yale.^[1] His brother and sister became a composer/arranger and a violinist, respectively. Brion had difficulties at Hamden High School and at the age of 17 left education, opting instead to play music professionally. From 1980-85 Jon was part of the band The Excerpts, along with Stephen Harris, Dean Falcone, Jim Balga, Bobby Butcher & Spike Priggen.^[2]

The Bats[link]

In the early 1980s, Brion and musician/producer Bill Murphy began a writing collaboration in New Haven, Connecticut. They eventually enlisted bassist Don "Riff" Fertman and together formed The Bats, (not to be confused with the New Zealand group of the same name). The Bats released a single, "Popgun" and one album How Pop Can You Get?, on Gustav records in 1982. The recordings had much critical acclaim, but little commercial success, and the trio eventually disbanded.

Session work[link]

In 1987, Brion moved to Boston, where he played solo gigs, formed the short-lived band World's Fair and became a member of the last touring version of Aimee Mann's new wave band 'Til Tuesday. He contributed guitar work to Jellyfish's 1993 album Spilt Milk, and in 1994, joined Dan McCarroll, Buddy Judge and Jellyfish guitarist Jason Falkner in the short-lived pop band The Grays. He also provided the signature pedal steel guitar part on The Wallflowers breakthrough album Bringing Down the Horse. Brion played numerous instruments on Sam Phillips' 1996 release Omnipop (It's Only A Fleshwound Lambchop). Brion is featured as keyboardist and drummer on Marianne Faithfull's 2003 album, Kissin' Time, and co-wrote a song, "City of Quartz", for her next work, 2005's Before the Poison.

Production[link]

After being recognized as an accomplished session player, Brion branched out into production on then-girlfriend Mann's 1993 solo debut, Whatever, and its follow-up, I'm With Stupid. He has also produced albums by Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright, Eleni Mandell, Rhett Miller, Robyn Hitchcock, Brad Mehldau and Evan Dando.

He also co-produced Kanye West's Late Registration album in 2005.

In the fall of 2002, Brion began producing the album Extraordinary Machine with Fiona Apple, but she later brought in producers Mike Elizondo and Brian Kehew (a friend of Brion's) to complete the album. Brion's versions leaked onto the Internet, where the album gained a cult following long before its official release.^[3]

Brion worked and performed on some of the tracks for Sean Lennon's 2006 album Friendly Fire. Lennon said that working with him was "how I would imagine it’s like to work with Prince. It’s like having a weird alien prodigy in your room."^[4]

More recently, Brion has produced recordings by British pop performer Dido, Spoon, and Keane, as well as 2010's False Priest by Of Montreal. Brion also produced Best Coast's sophomore album which is schedule for release in early 2012.^[5]

[edit] Meaningless

Brion was signed to the Lava/Atlantic label in 1997, but was released from his contract after turning in his solo debut album Meaningless; the album was released independently in 2001.

He is rumored to be working on his second solo full-length album at Abbey Road Studios.

Film scores[link]

Brion is an accomplished film composer, having started scoring by frequently working with director Paul Thomas Anderson, with whom he has a preferential working relationship. In addition to scoring many of his films, Brion contributed music to Boogie Nights and had a cameo in the film as a moustached guitar player.

Particularly in his film soundtracks, Brion is noted for his use of early analog sampling instruments, particularly the Chamberlin and Optigan, to create near-realistic emulations of certain instruments.^[6]

He has earned a Best Score Soundtrack Album Grammy nominations for his work on 1999's Magnolia and 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Brion was hired at the last minute to write the incidental music for The Break-Up. He has also scored the films and provided original music for I Heart Huckabees, Punch Drunk Love, Step Brothers (with help of fellow musician Chris Thile) and Synecdoche, NY. He also did live composition for a musical commentary on the Step Brothers DVD.

Personal life[link]

He dated comedic actress Mary Lynn Rajskub for five years until they broke up in the fall of 2002.

Touring and live performances[link]

Brion is renowned for his regular Friday-night gigs at the Los Angeles club Largo, which feature covers and original songs, a variety of instruments and occasional guest musicians and comedians. He works without a set list, instead using audience suggestions as a jumping-off point. His extraordinary use of layered loops and frequent adoption of a "jigsaw puzzle" approach to performing songs (starting often with drums, then adding piano, bass, guitar, and vocals in turn) have captivated the capacity crowds at Largo and earned Brion a strong following. Recent shows have featured spontaneous appearances with singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, vocalists Fiona Apple and Rickie Lee Jones, singing old jazz standards like "My Funny Valentine", with upright bassist Stephen Patt (ex-Chambers Brothers), percussionist Matt Chamberlain (ex-Wallflowers), bassist Sebastian Steinberg (ex-Soul Coughing), and fiddler Sara Watkins (ex-Nickel Creek).

In April 2006, recurring tendonitis in Brion's right hand forced him to cancel all of his upcoming Largo shows. As a temporary 'farewell', he played one show only using his left hand, even looping his songs as he normally does and playing the drums with one stick. He is now back to playing at Largo on a regular basis.

Recalling his approach to the Largo shows with Chicago Tribune music editor Lou Carlozo, Brion said: "I taught my hands to follow whatever was coming into my head—and wherever my consciousness would go, I had to push my hands to follow. And at some level, you just had to abandon any concern about how you’d look. Performing without a set list: That was special."

Discography[link]

Collaborations[link]

• The Bats - How Pop Can You Get? (1982)
• E - Vocals on "Shine It All On" from the album Broken Toy Shop (1993)
• The Grays - Ro Sham Bo (1994)
• Elliott Smith - Background vocals in the song "Happiness" (2000)
• Fiona Apple - "Everyday" from the album Rave On Buddy Holly (2011)

Solo[link]

• Meaningless (2001)

Film scores[link]

• Hard Eight (with Michael Penn) (1996)
• Magnolia (1999)
• Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
• I ♥ Huckabees (2004)
• The Break-Up (2006)
• Synecdoche, New York (2008)
• Step Brothers (2008)
• Glago's Guest (2008)^[7]
• The Other Guys (2010)
• The Future (2011)
• ParaNorman (2012)
• This Is Forty (2012)

As producer[link]

• Aimee Mann, Whatever, (1993)
• Aimee Mann, I'm with Stupid, (1995)
• The Crystal Method - "Bad Stone" (1997)
• Rufus Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright, (1998)
• Eleni Mandell, Wishbone, (1998)
• Robyn Hitchcock, Jewels for Sophia, (1998)
• Robyn Hitchcock, A Star for Bram, (1999)
• Fiona Apple, When the Pawn..., (1999)
• Aimee Mann, "Bachelor No. 2", (2000)
• The Crystal Method - "Over the Line" (2001)
• Elliott Smith, From a Basement on the Hill, (unreleased version, recorded 2001)
• Brad Mehldau, Largo, (2002)
• Rhett Miller, The Instigator, (2002)
• Evan Dando, Baby I'm Bored, (2003)
• Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine, (unreleased version, recorded 2002–2003)
• The Crystal Method - "Realizer" (2004)
• Kanye West, Late Registration (as co-executive producer and co-producer on several tracks), (2005)
• Marjorie Fair, Self Help Serenade (as co-executive producer), (2005)
• The Polyphonic Spree, "Love My Way" and "Lithium," Wait EP, (2006)
• Kanye West, "Drunk and Hot Girls," Graduation (as co-producer), (2007)
• Spoon, "The Underdog," Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, (2007)
• The Section Quartet, "Phenomena," Fuzzbox, (2007)
• Keane, "You Haven't Told Me Anything", Perfect Symmetry, (2008)
• Dido, Safe Trip Home, (2008)
• Of Montreal, Jon Brion Remix EP, (2009)
• Of Montreal, False Priest, (2010)
• Brad Mehldau, Highway Rider, (2010)
• Punch Brothers, Antifogmatic, (2010)
• Of Montreal, thecontrollersphere, (2011)
• Katy Perry, "The One That Got Away (Acoustic Version)" (2012)^[8]
• Best Coast, The Only Place, (2012)

See also[link]

• Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jon Brion Discography
• Jon Brion at the Internet Movie Database
• Jon Brion discography at MusicBrainz
• Jon Brion on Myspace
• Embrionic Press: Jon Brion articles (via the Internet Archive)

Fiona Apple
Apple performing in Seattle in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Fiona Apple McAfee Maggart
Born	(1977-09-13) September 13, 1977 (age 34) Manhattan, New York, United States
Origin	New York City, New York
Genres	Piano rock, baroque pop, alternative rock, experimental rock, jazz
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, piano, optigan
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Epic
Website	Fiona-Apple.com

Fiona Apple McAfee Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Apple met international acclaim for her 1996 debut album, Tidal, which was a critical and commercial success. At the age of nineteen she received a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Criminal" from that album in 1998.

After Tidal, Apple released the critically acclaimed, though less commercially successful albums, When the Pawn... (1999) and Extraordinary Machine (2005). A perceived shelving of Extraordinary Machine was met with vocal protests from her fans, who campaigned against her record label in 2005. Apple's musical style contains elements of jazz and alternative rock.

Early life and family[link]

Born in New York City, Apple is the daughter of singer Diane McAfee and actor Brandon Maggart. Her older sister, Amber, sings cabaret under the stage name Maude Maggart. Her half brother Spencer is a director and directed the video for her single "Parting Gift." Her half brother Garett Maggart starred in the TV series The Sentinel. In addition, her maternal grandparents were Millicent Green, a dancer with the George White's Scandals, a series of 1920s musical revues similar to the Ziegfeld Follies, and Johnny McAfee, a multireedist and vocalist of the big band era; her grandparents met while touring with Johnny Hamp and his orchestra. Apple was raped at the age of twelve, a trauma she would later allude to in songs such as "Sullen Girl."^[1][2]

Career[link]

[edit] 1994–1998: Career beginnings and Tidal

Apple was introduced to the music industry in 1994, when she gave a demo tape containing the songs "Never Is a Promise," "Not One of Those Times," and "He Takes a Taxi" to her friend who was the babysitter of music publicist Kathryn Schenker.^[1] Schenker then passed the tape along to Sony Music executive Andy Slater.^[3] Apple's contralto voice, piano skills and lyrics captured his attention, and Slater signed her to a record deal.^[4][5]

In 1996, Apple's debut album, Tidal, was released by Work. The album sold 2.7 million copies and was certified three times platinum in the U.S.^[6][7] "Criminal," the third single, became a hit and the song reached the top forty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The song's controversial Mark Romanek-directed music video — in which a scantily clad Apple appeared in a 1970s-era tract house — played on MTV. Apple later said: "I decided if I was going to be exploited, then I would do the exploiting myself."^[8] Other singles from Tidal included "Shadowboxer," "Sleep to Dream," and "Never Is a Promise." In 1997, while accepting MTV Video Music Award for "Best New Artist" for her song Sleep to Dream, Apple said: "This world is bullshit, and you shouldn't model your life on what we think is cool, and what we're wearing and what we're saying."^[9] The New Yorker and NYRock characterized her MTV award show speech as ungrateful and "ridiculous."^[1][4] Apple was unapologetic. "I just had something on my mind and I just said it. And that's really the foreshadowing of my entire career and my entire life. When I have something to say, I'll say it," she said, responding to these criticisms in an article in Rolling Stone in January, 1998.^[10]

During this period, Apple also made recordings of The Beatles' "Across the Universe" and Percy Mayfield's "Please Send Me Someone to Love" for the soundtrack of the film Pleasantville. She later canceled the last twenty-one dates on a tour in support of her album due to "personal family problems."^[11]

[edit] 1999–2002: When the Pawn... and hiatus

Apple's second album, When the Pawn..., was released in 1999. Its full title is a poem Apple wrote after reading letters that appeared in Spin regarding an article that had cast her in a negative light in an earlier issue.^[12] The title's length earned it a spot in the Guinness Book of Records for 2001. However, as of October, 2007, it is no longer the longest album title, as Soulwax released Most of the Remixes, a remix album whose title surpasses When the Pawn’s length by 100 characters.^[13] When the Pawn was cultivated during Apple's relationship with film director Paul Thomas Anderson. When the Pawn, which was produced by Jon Brion, used more expressive lyrics, experimented more with drum loops, and incorporated both the Chamberlin and drummer Matt Chamberlain.^[14] The album received a positive reception from publications such as The New York Times and Rolling Stone. It did not fare as well commercially as her debut, though it was an RIAA-certified platinum album^[6] and sold one million copies in the U.S.^[7] The album's lead single, "Fast as You Can," reached the top twenty on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and became Apple's first Top 40 hit in the UK. The videos for two follow-up singles, "Paper Bag" and "Limp" (directed by then-boyfriend Anderson), received very little play.

After performing for forty minutes in a set hampered by equipment issues to 3,000 fans at the New York City Roseland Ballroom, a frustrated Apple left the stage without returning. Her performance saw Apple appearing distraught at the sound quality, apologizing numerous times for the sound and crying.^[15] The incident was described by AOL as "music's most infamous on-stage meltdown."^[16] After completing a concert tour in support of her second album in 2000, Apple relocated to Los Angeles. During her hiatus, Apple contemplated retiring from her recording career. Apple sang with Johnny Cash on a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" that ended up on his album American IV: The Man Comes Around and was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals." She also collaborated with Cash on Cat Stevens's "Father and Son," which was included in his 2003 collection Unearthed.

[edit] 2002–2010: Extraordinary Machine and second hiatus

Fans in support of Fiona Apple demonstrating outside the NYC headquarters of Sony BMG Music Entertainment in January 2005.

Apple's third album, Extraordinary Machine, was originally produced by Jon Brion. In spring 2002, Apple and Jon Brion, her longtime friend and producer on When the Pawn, met for their weekly lunch meeting. Brion reportedly "begged" Apple to make another album. Apple agreed, and Brion went to Apple's label, Epic Records, with strict stipulations (including no deadline), which the label eventually agreed to. Recording sessions began in 2002, at Ocean Way studios in Nashville, Tennessee, but later moved to the Paramour Mansion in Los Angeles. Work on the album continued until 2003, and in May of that year it was submitted to Sony executives. In 2004 and 2005, tracks were leaked on the Internet in MP3 format and played on U.S. and international radio. Subsequently, MP3s of the entire album went online. Although a Web site distributing the album was quickly taken offline, it soon reached P2P networks and was downloaded by fans.^[17][18] A fan-led campaign supported the album's official release.

Mike Elizondo, who had previously played bass on Pawn, was brought back as co-producer to complete the tracks he had begun with Brion and Apple. Spin later reported the following: "Fans erroneously thought that Apple's record label, Epic, had rejected the first version of Extraordinary Machine... in reality, according to Elizondo, Apple was unhappy with the results, and it was her decision to redo the record, not her label's."^[19] In August, 2005, the album was given an October release date.^[18] Production had been largely redone "from scratch" by Elizondo and was co-produced by Brian Kehew. Two of the eleven previous leaked tracks were relatively unchanged, and one new song was also included.^[20] Despite suggestions that the album had caused a rift between Brion and Apple, they regularly perform together at Largo, a club in Los Angeles, including a joint appearance with Elizondo on bass just before the news broke of an official release.^[21] Extraordinary Machine debuted at number seven and was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Pop Vocal Album". It was eventually certified gold^[6] and sold 462,000 copies in the U.S., though its singles ("Parting Gift," "O' Sailor," "Not About Love" and "Get Him Back") failed to enter any Billboard charts.^[22] Apple went on a live tour to promote the album in late 2005.

Apple on tour with Nickel Creek in 2007

In June, 2006, Apple appeared on the joke track "Come Over and Get It (Up in 'Dem Guts)" by comedian Zach Galifianakis. Galifianakis previously appeared in the music video for Apple's "Not About Love."^[23] Apple recorded a cover of "Sally's Song" for the 2006 special edition release of the soundtrack for the Tim Burton film The Nightmare Before Christmas. In May, 2006, Apple paid tribute to Elvis Costello on VH1's concert series Decades Rock Live, by performing Costello's hit "I Want You." Her version was subsequently released as a digital single.^{[24][dead link]} Apple toured the East Coast during August, 2007, with Nickel Creek.^[25][26] In 2008, Apple recorded a duet titled "Still I" with Christophe Deluy. In 2009, Apple covered "Why Try to Change Me Now" and "I Walk A Little Faster" for The Best Is Yet to Come - The Songs of Cy Coleman. In January, 2010, Fiona Apple and Jon Brion performed together at "Love and Haiti, Too: A Music Benefit," a charity concert for the people hurt by the Haiti earthquake. Fiona sang a cover of "(S)he's Funny That Way," composed by Neil Moret, lyrics by Richard Whiting, which is often associated with the singer Billie Holiday. In June, 2010, Fiona released a song titled "So Sleepy," produced by Jon Brion and written by children involved with the non-profit organization 826LA. The song will be included on a compilation album released by the organization titled Chickens in Love. Apple collaborated with Margaret Cho on her album Cho Dependent, which was released on August 24, 2010.^[27]

[edit] 2011-present: The Idler Wheel...

The Idler Wheel is wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords will serve you more than Ropes will ever do,^[28][29] Apple's fourth studio album will be released on June 19, 2012 in the US. The international release date has yet to be finalized.^[30] In late 2010, Billboard published an article stating that Apple was planning on releasing a new album in spring 2011, with musician Michelle Branch claiming to have heard some of the new tracks.^[31] Drummer Charley Drayton also told Modern Drummer magazine that he was co-producing the record.^[32] However, the album was not released in the spring and Billboard reported later that year that there was no record.^[33] On November 23, 2011, a music blog quoted an exchange between Apple and a member of the audience at the Largo Coronet in Los Angeles who requested she perform new material. She reportedly replied "I can't remember [how to play] any of my new songs because they've been done for a fucking year."^[34] In January 2012, after its new record label head, LA Reid hinted at new music from Apple, Epic Records announced that the album would be released later in the year.^[35] Apple announced performances at the South by Southwest Festival and a spring 2012 tour soon after.^[36]

Personal life[link]

Fiona has been dating writer and actor Jonathan Ames since 2007.^[37] As of March 2012, they remained together.^[38] In the mid-1990s, Apple dated magician David Blaine.^[39] Afterward, Apple was romantically linked to director Paul Thomas Anderson.^[40] Anderson directed several music videos for Apple's second album.^[41]

Public speculation about Apple having an eating disorder arose in 1997, upon the release of the music video for "Criminal," in which Apple appeared to be extremely thin. The New Yorker wrote that she "looked like an underfed Calvin Klein model."^[42] During the 1998 Rolling Stone interview, Apple admitted that she "had an eating disorder," and speculated that it stemmed from her rape as an adolescent. "I definitely did have an eating disorder . . . What was really frustrating for me was that everyone thought I was anorexic, and I wasn't. I was just really depressed and self-loathing . . . . For me it wasn't about getting thin, it was about getting rid of the bait attached to my body."

Apple is a vegan. "I'm not really up in the activist world right now [though] . . . I'm not really thinking about it. I'm a vegan, but I don't care if you're eating turkey in front of me. I'm not a preaching vegan."^[43]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

Other contributions[link]

• "Across the Universe" (Lennon–McCartney) - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Pleasantville (1998, Sony), lead vocalist
• "Please Send Me Someone to Love" (Percy Mayfield) - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Pleasantville (1998, Sony), lead vocalist
• Magnolia (1999, New Line Cinema) - "additional instruments and odd pieces of musical business by jon brion and fiona apple" as stated in the film's credits
• "Bridge over Troubled Water" (Paul Simon) - duet with Johnny Cash from American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002)
• "Father and Son" (Cat Stevens) - duet with Johnny Cash from Unearthed (2003)
• "Frosty the Snowman" - from Christmas Calling (2003)
• "It's Only A Paper Moon" with Maude Maggart - available as a bonus track on some editions of Maggart's 2005 album With Sweet Despair
• "I Want You" (Elvis Costello) - live version from VH1's Live for Decades Rock Live!, released as an iTunes single (2006)
• "Sally's Song" (Catherine O'Hara) - from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Special Edition Soundtrack (2006)
• "Why Try to Change Me Now" (Cy Coleman) - recorded for the Then Was Then and Now Is Now: A Tribute to Cy Coleman CD/LP / "The Best Is Yet To Come: The Songs Of Cy Coleman" CD/LP
• "Angel Eyes" - a snippet of the song is available at Largo Film
• "Still I" - a duet with Christophe Deluy, hear a snippet of the song available on Christophe Deluy's blog
• "I Walk a Little Faster" (Cy Coleman) - recorded for The Best Is Yet to Come CD/LP
• "Loveless" (David Garza) - track available from Garza's Dream Delay
• "So Sleepy" included on a compilation album released by the organization 826LA, titled Chickens in Love
• "Hey Big Dog" (Margaret Cho) from Cho Dependent (2010)
• "Everyday" (Buddy Holly) with Jon Brion from Rave On Buddy Holly (June 2011)
• "Paper Bag" featured in 2011 film "Bridesmaids"

Music videos[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fiona Apple

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Fiona Apple

• Official website
• Fiona Apple on Myspace
• Fiona Apple on Facebook

Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967 in San Pedro, California) is an American drummer, producer and sound engineer. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Matt Chamberlain was born and raised in San Pedro, California. His father Sonnie Joe Chamberlain and mother Maria Victoria Ponce. He grew up air drumming and using pots and pans as makeshift drums.^[1] Chamberlain began playing drums at the age of ten. He was influenced by the local San Pedro music scene and by getting in to all ages shows at the Dancing Waters Club (Minutemen, Black Flag, Firehose,) and by listening to the drumming of John Bonham, Ringo Starr, Stewart Copeland, Neil Peart, and Terry Bozzio.^[2] Chamberlain received his first set of drums at the age of fifteen, and studied with David Garibaldi, Murray Spivack, Chuck Flores, and Gregg Bissonette. Three years later, he was awarded a scholarship to study at North Texas State University where he studied with Henry Okstel. Chamberlain quit college and started playing professionally in the Dallas, Texas Deep Ellum scene in the mid-1980s.^[1]

Musical career[link]

His first notable work was with Ten Hands, a locally popular Denton, Texas band. Ten Hands briefly enjoyed heaps of acclaim and an impressive following in the band's home state. In 1988, Chamberlain left Ten Hands to join Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, with whom he toured and recorded from 1988 until 1991 when the band broke up. He can be heard playing on the band's 1990 album, Ghost of a Dog. In the summer of 1991, he briefly joined the band Pearl Jam and toured with the band before the release of its debut album, Ten. He can be seen in the band's first video, "Alive". Chamberlain said, "I toured in the van with them, played a bunch of clubs—I had a good time, definitely had a good time. They wanted me to join the band, but Edie Brickell & New Bohemians had just broke up, I had just got off the road after touring for four years straight—I could not imagine doing it again."^[3] For his replacement, Chamberlain suggested drummer and friend Dave Abbruzzese.^[4] Chamberlain left Pearl Jam to join the house band for Saturday Night Live during the 1991-1992 season where he was able to play with and back up artists such as Johnny Winter, Charlie Musselwhite, Jon Faddis, Steve Turre, Leon Pendarvis and work with comedians Steve Martin, Chris Farley, Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey on musical skits.

At the end of 1992, he moved to Seattle, Washington to start the band Critters Buggin with Skerik and Brad Houser. The band has since released six albums and is currently active. In 1993, Chamberlain toured as a member of the funk band Weapon of Choice. In 1996, he received career boosts after performing on albums by The Wallflowers (Bringing Down the Horse) which he won a Grammy for "best recorded performance" and Fiona Apple (Tidal).^[3] In 1998, Chamberlain began working with singer-songwriter Tori Amos, with whom he gained recognition. He performed on her 1998 album, From the Choirgirl Hotel, and since then he has contributed to several of Amos' albums and tours. He has worked on combining live and looped drums, often creating loops on the fly and then playing along to them. Amos has introduced Chamberlain as "the human loop" at her concerts.^[5] He was nominated Musician Of The Year at the 2004 CMA's.

Since the mid-1990s, Chamberlain has become well known as a session drummer, having appeared on over 200 records with sales well over 80 million worldwide. The diverse range of artists that Chamberlain has contributed his drumming to the tours and albums of include Peter Gabriel, The Wallflowers, Fiona Apple, Sam Phillips, Kanye West, Weapon of Choice, David Torn, Tori Amos, Chris Isaak, Macy Gray, Stevie Nicks, Dave Navarro, Kevin Max, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Stone Gossard, Martina McBride, Garbage, Elton John, Natalie Merchant, Anika Moa, David Bowie, Brad Mehldau, Keith Urban, Liz Phair, John Mayer, Finn Brothers, William Shatner, Jon Brion, Robbie Williams, Shakira, Morrissey, Indigo Girls, Sean Lennon, Sarah McLachlan, Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile, Dido, Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Costello, Bruce Hornsby, and Regina Spektor.

In 2005, he released a self-titled solo album on Web of Mimicry Records that he describes as "an imaginary soundtrack to an Asian-Western-Sci-Fi-Horror Movie." He is in a group called the Slow Music Project with Bill Rieflin, Peter Buck, Robert Fripp, Hector Zazou, and Fred Chalenor. In August 2007, Chamberlain and musician Bill Frisell released the debut album for the musical project Floratone. In 2010 Drum Magazine named him one of the 15 Greatest Groove Drummers Of All Time.

In 2011 he started a solo Electro/Acoustic project called "Company 23" He will be releasing a recording for this project and doing shows in 2011.

Also worked with Sugarland

Discography[link]

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians discography[link]

Critters Buggin discography[link]

Tori Amos discography[link]

THRUSTER! discography[link]

Solo discography[link]

Slow Music Project discography[link]

Floratone discography[link]

Organica discography[link]

Contributions and collaborations[link]