Nutty was a British comic that ran for 292 issues from 16 February 1980 to 14 September 1985, when it merged with The Dandy. Published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, Nutty was an attempt to create a more lively and chaotic comic compared to many on sale at the time. Its strips included:

• Bananaman as its main strip and by far its most popular. Drawn by John Geering, survived Dandy merger.
• Big 'n Bud was a double-act style comic strip: they used make observations of various scenarios, and accordingly make jokes based upon what they observed. They were in the very first edition.
• Blubba and the Bear, an Eskimo in conflict with a polar bear trying to steal his fish, who later appeared in the Dandy as reprints from number 3408 but ended when the Dandy Xtreme started.
• Cannonball Kid, "He's Football Crazy", similar to a Beano strip called Ball Boy, later reprinted as The Dandy's Owen Goal.
• Cuddles, a naughty baby. Drawn by Barrie Appleby and later moved to Hoot before joining Dimples in The Dandy.
• Dick Turban, Desert Highwayman, a boy desert raider who rode a camel
• Doodlebug, a slightly surreal tale of a bug in a comic-book world who could draw and remove things with a magic pencil. The other inhabitants of this world were also bugs, with their names reflecting their personality. Humbug, for instance was of a miserable disposition. Bedbug was portrayed as a sleepy character, often seen in bed or at least in bedclothes. These characters often reappeared, but it wasn't always the same character that had been seen previously. Drawn by Gordon Bell
• Ethel Red, a Viking girl
• General Jumbo new series of the former The Beano character, drawn by Sandy Calder
• Horace Cope, a boy of the same name who enlisted help from his grandmother, Madame Zsa Zsa, an astrologer
• Jay R. Hood, "He's Anything But Good", a junior version of J. R. Ewing. Drawn by George Martin
• Micro Dot, a girl who consulted her BBC Micro for advice. Drawn by Gordon Bell
• Mitey Joe, about a small boy and his wish to be taller. Drawn by John Geering
• Nip and Rrip, a boy with a violent cat that bore a remarkable similarity to Gnasher. Drawn by George Martin
• Peter Pest, a boy who constantly interrupted his sister's attempt to be alone with her boyfriends. Survived Dandy merger
• Pig Tales, a family of pigs, similar to a Beano strip "The Three Bears"
• Ron Brown's Schooldays, the adventures of a group of schoolchildren. The title was a play on Tom Brown's Schooldays
• Samuel Creeps, a school swot who outwitted bullies
• Scoopy, "The Runaround Hound With a Nose For News", a dog journalist. Drawn by Gordon Bell
• The Snobbs and the Slobbs, a rich-family-versus-poor-family strip. Drawn by John Geering; survived Dandy merger
• Snoozer, similar to Whizzer and Chips' Lazy Bones at the time, this strip concerned a boy who kept falling asleep. Drawn by Gordon Bell
• Stevie Starr, a young TV star who was seen making, or starring in, a different show each week. Also appeared in Topper.
• Whoops-A-Daisy, a mischievous girl. Drawn by Barry Appleby
• The Wild Rovers, a group of dogs who had comedy adventures

Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk, at Minton's Playhouse, New York, 1947
Background information
Birth name	Thelonious Sphere Monk
Born	(1917-10-10)October 10, 1917 Rocky Mount, North Carolina, United States
Origin	Rocky Mount, North Carolina, United States
Died	February 17, 1982(1982-02-17) (aged 64) Englewood, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Jazz, bebop, hard bop
Occupations	Pianist, composer
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1940s-1973[1]
Labels	Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside, Columbia
Website	http://www.monkzone.com

Thelonious Sphere Monk^[2] (October 10, 1917^[3] – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer considered one of the giants of American music.^[4] Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk wrote about 70.^[5]

His compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are consistent with Monk's unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations. This was not a style universally appreciated; poet and jazz critic Philip Larkin dismissed Monk as 'the elephant on the keyboard'.^[6]

Monk's manner was idiosyncratic. Visually, he was renowned for his distinctive style in suits, hats and sunglasses. He was also noted for the fact that at times, while the other musicians in the band continued playing, he would stop, stand up from the keyboard and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano.

He is one^[7] of five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of Time (the other four being Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, and Dave Brubeck) as of 2010.^[8]

Early life[link]

Thelonious Monk was born October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of Thelonious and Barbara Monk, two years after his sister Marion. A brother, Thomas, was born in January 1920.^[9] In 1922, the family moved to 243 West 63rd Street, in Manhattan, New York City. Monk started playing the piano at the age of six. Although he had some formal training and eavesdropped on his sister's piano lessons, he was largely self-taught. Monk attended Stuyvesant High School, but did not graduate. He toured with an evangelist in his teens, playing the church organ, and in his late teens he began to find work playing jazz.

In the early to mid 1940s, Monk was the house pianist at Minton's Playhouse, a Manhattan nightclub. Much of Monk's style was developed during his time at Minton's, when he participated in after-hours "cutting competitions" which featured many leading jazz soloists of the time. The Minton's scene was crucial in the formulation of bebop and it brought Monk into close contact with other leading exponents of the emerging idiom, including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Christian, Kenny Clarke, Charlie Parker and later, Miles Davis. Monk is believed to be the pianist featured on recordings Jerry Newman made around 1941 at the club. Monk's style at this time was later described as "hard-swinging," with the addition of runs in the style of Art Tatum. Monk's stated influences included Duke Ellington, James P. Johnson, and other early stride pianists. In the documentary Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser, it is stated that Monk lived in the same neighborhood in New York City as Johnson and knew him as a teenager.

Mary Lou Williams, among others, spoke of Monk's rich inventiveness in this period, and how such invention was vital for musicians since at the time it was common for fellow musicians to incorporate overheard musical ideas into their own works without giving due credit. "So, the boppers worked out a music that was hard to steal. I'll say this for the `leeches', though: they tried. I've seen them in Minton's busily writing on their shirt cuffs or scribbling on the tablecloth. And even our own guys, I'm afraid, did not give Monk the credit he had coming. Why, they even stole his idea of the beret and bop glasses."^[10]

Early recordings (1944–1954)[link]

(From left) Thelonious Monk, Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge, and Teddy Hill, Minton's Playhouse, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947

In 1944 Monk made his first studio recordings with the Coleman Hawkins Quartet. Hawkins was among the first prominent jazz musicians to promote Monk, and Monk later returned the favor by inviting Hawkins to join him on the 1957 session with John Coltrane. Monk made his first recordings as leader for Blue Note in 1947 (later anthologised on Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1) which showcased his talents as a composer of original melodies for improvisation. Monk married Nellie Smith the same year, and in 1949 the couple had a son, T. S. Monk, who is a jazz drummer. A daughter, Barbara (affectionately known as Boo-Boo), was born in 1953.

In August 1951, New York City police searched a parked car occupied by Monk and friend Bud Powell. The police found narcotics in the car, presumed to have belonged to Powell. Monk refused to testify against his friend, so the police confiscated his New York City Cabaret Card. Without the all-important cabaret card he was unable to play in any New York venue where liquor was served, and this severely restricted his ability to perform for several crucial years. Monk spent most of the early and mid-1950s composing, recording, and performing at theaters and out-of-town gigs.

After his cycle of intermittent recording sessions for Blue Note during 1947–1952, he was under contract to Prestige Records for the following two years. With Prestige he cut several highly significant, but at the time under-recognized, albums, including collaborations with saxophonist Sonny Rollins and drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach. In 1954, Monk participated in a Christmas Eve session which produced most of the albums Bags' Groove and Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants by Miles Davis. Davis found Monk's idiosyncratic accompaniment style difficult to improvise over and asked him to lay out (not accompany), which almost brought them to blows. However, in Miles Davis' autobiography Miles, Davis claims that the anger and tension between Monk and himself never took place and that the claims of blows being exchanged were "rumors" and a "misunderstanding".^[11]

In 1954, Monk paid his first visit to Europe, performing and recording in Paris. Backstage Mary Lou Williams introduced him to Baroness Pannonica "Nica" de Koenigswarter, a member of the Rothschild family and a patroness of several New York City jazz musicians. She would be a close friend for the rest of Monk's life, including taking responsibility for him when she and Monk were charged with marijuana possession.

Riverside Records (1955–1961)[link]

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

At the time of his signing to Riverside, Monk was highly regarded by his peers and by some critics, but his records did not sell in significant numbers, and his music was still regarded as too "difficult" for mass-market acceptance. Indeed, with Monk's consent, Riverside had managed to buy out his previous Prestige contract for a mere $108.24. He willingly recorded two albums of jazz standards as a means of increasing his profile. The first of these, Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington, featuring bass innovator Oscar Pettiford and drummer Kenny Clarke, included Ellington pieces "Caravan" and "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)".

On the 1956 LP Brilliant Corners, Monk recorded his own music. The complex title track, which featured tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, was so difficult to play that the final version had to be edited together from multiple takes. The album, however, was largely regarded as the first success for Monk; according to Orrin Keepnews, "It was the first that made a real splash."^{[citation needed]}

After having his cabaret card restored, Monk relaunched his New York career with a landmark six-month residency at the Five Spot Cafe in New York beginning in June 1957, leading a quartet with John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Shadow Wilson on drums. Unfortunately little of this group's music was documented due to contractual problems, Coltrane being signed to Prestige at the time. One short studio session was made for Riverside (only released later by its subsidiary Jazzland in 1961) and a larger group recording featuring Coltrane was split between that album and Monk's Music; an amateur tape from the Five Spot (not the original residency, but a later September 1958 reunion with Coltrane sitting in for Johnny Griffin) was issued on Blue Note in 1993; and a recording of the quartet performing at a Carnegie Hall concert on November 29, previously "rumoured to exist",^[12] was recorded in high fidelity by Voice of America, rediscovered in the collection of the Library of Congress in 2005 and released by Blue Note.

"Crepuscule With Nellie", recorded in 1957, "was Monk's only, what's called through-composed composition, meaning that there is no improvising. It is Monk's concerto, if you will, and in some ways it speaks for itself. But he wrote it very, very carefully and very deliberately and really struggled to make it sound the way it sounds. [... I]t was his love song for Nellie," said biographer Kelley in an interview.^[13]

The Five Spot residency ended Christmas 1957, Coltrane left to rejoin Miles Davis's seminal sextet, and the band was effectively disbanded. Monk did not form another long-term band until June 1958, when he began a second residency at the Five Spot, again with a quartet, this time with Griffin (and later Charlie Rouse) on tenor, Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums.

On October 15, 1958, the residency having ended and en route to a week-long engagement for the quartet at the Comedy Club in Baltimore, Maryland, Monk and de Koenigswarter were detained by police in Wilmington, Delaware. When Monk refused to answer the policemen's questions or cooperate with them, they beat him with a blackjack. Though the police were authorized to search the vehicle and found narcotics in suitcases held in the trunk of the Baroness's car, Judge Christie of the Delaware Superior Court ruled that the unlawful detention of the pair, and the beating of Monk, rendered the consent to the search void as given under duress.^[14] Monk was represented by Theophilus Nix, the second African-American member of the Delaware Bar Association.

Columbia Records (1962–1970)[link]

After extended negotiations, Monk signed in 1962 to Columbia Records, one of the big four American record labels of the day along with RCA Victor, Capitol, and Decca. Monk's relationship with Riverside had soured over disagreements concerning royalty payments and had concluded with a brace of European live albums; he had not recorded a studio album since 5 by Monk by 5 in June 1959.

Working with producer Teo Macero on his debut for the label,^[15] the sessions in the first week of November had a stable line-up that had been with him for two years: tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse (who worked with Monk from 1959 to 1970), bassist John Ore, and drummer Frankie Dunlop. Monk's Dream, his earliest Columbia album, was released in 1963.

Columbia's resources allowed Monk to be promoted more widely than earlier in his career. Monk's Dream would remain the best-selling LP of his lifetime,^[16] and on February 28, 1964, Monk appeared on the cover of Time magazine, being featured in the article "The Loneliest Monk".^[17] He continued to record a number of well-reviewed studio albums, particularly Criss Cross, also from 1963, and Underground, from 1968. But by the Columbia years his compositional output was limited, and only his final Columbia studio record Underground featured a substantial number of new tunes, including his only waltz time piece, "Ugly Beauty".

As had been the case with Riverside, his period with Columbia Records contains many live albums, including Miles and Monk at Newport (1963), Live at the It Club and Live at the Jazz Workshop, both recorded in 1964, the latter not being released until 1982. After the departure of Ore and Dunlop, the remainder of the rhythm section in Monk's quartet during the bulk of his Columbia period was Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums, both of whom joined in 1964, Along with Rouse, they remained with Monk for over four years, his longest-serving band.

According to biographer Kelley, the 1964 Time appearance came because "Barry Farrell, who wrote the cover story, wanted to write about a jazz musician and almost by default Monk was chosen, because they thought Ray Charles and Miles Davis were too controversial. ... [Monk] wasn't so political. [...O]f course, I challenge that [in the biography]," said Kelley.^[13]

Later life[link]

Monk had disappeared from the scene by the mid-1970s, and made only a small number of appearances during the final decade of his life. His last studio recordings as a leader were made in November 1971 for the English Black Lion label, near the end of a worldwide tour with "The Giants of Jazz," a group which included Dizzy Gillespie, Kai Winding, Sonny Stitt, Al McKibbon and Art Blakey. Bassist Al McKibbon, who had known Monk for over twenty years and played on his final tour in 1971, later said: "On that tour Monk said about two words. I mean literally maybe two words. He didn't say 'Good morning', 'Goodnight', 'What time?' Nothing. Why, I don't know. He sent word back after the tour was over that the reason he couldn't communicate or play was that Art Blakey and I were so ugly."^[18] A different side of Monk is revealed in Lewis Porter's biography, John Coltrane: His Life and Music; Coltrane states: "Monk is exactly the opposite of Miles [Davis]: he talks about music all the time, and he wants so much for you to understand that if, by chance, you ask him something, he'll spend hours if necessary to explain it to you."^[19]

The documentary film Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988) attributes Monk's quirky behaviour to mental illness. In the film, Monk's son, T. S. Monk, says that his father sometimes did not recognize him, and he reports that Monk was hospitalized on several occasions due to an unspecified mental illness that worsened in the late 1960s. No reports or diagnoses were ever publicized, but Monk would often become excited for two or three days, pace for days after that, after which he would withdraw and stop speaking. Physicians recommended electroconvulsive therapy as a treatment option for Monk's illness, but his family would not allow it; antipsychotics and lithium were prescribed instead.^[20][21] Other theories abound: Leslie Gourse, author of the book Straight, No Chaser: The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk (1997), reported that at least one of Monk's psychiatrists failed to find evidence of manic depression or schizophrenia. Another physician maintains that Monk was misdiagnosed and prescribed drugs during his hospital stay that may have caused brain damage.^[20]

As his health declined, Monk's last six years were spent as a guest in the New Jersey home of his long-standing patron and friend, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, who had also nursed Charlie Parker during his final illness. Monk did not play the piano during this time, even though one was present in his room, and he spoke to few visitors. He died of a stroke on February 17, 1982, and was buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. In 1993, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award,^[22] and in 2006, Monk was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation.^[23]

Art Blakey reports that Monk was excellent at both chess and checkers (draughts).^[24]

Tributes[link]

Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy performed as Monk's accompanist in 1960. Monk's tunes became a permanent part of his repertoire in concert and on albums. Lacy released several albums entirely focused on Monk's compositions including Reflections, School Days, Epistrophy, Eronel, Only Monk, and More Monk.

Gunther Schuller wrote the work "Variants on a Theme of Thelonious Monk" in 1960. It was later performed and recorded by other artists, including Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, and Bill Evans.

Stevie Wonder wrote the song "Thelonious" which appears on Jeff Beck's 1975 album Blow by Blow.

In 1983, saxophonist Arthur Blythe's album Light Blue: Arthur Blythe Plays Thelonious Monk was released by Columbia Records.

Anthony Braxton recorded Six Monk's Compositions (1987) in 1987, and pianist Ran Blake recorded Epistrophy in 1991.

Round Midnight Variations is a collection of variations on the song "'Round Midnight" premiered in 2002. Composers contributing included Roberto Andreoni, Milton Babbitt, Alberto Barbero, Carlo Boccadoro, William Bolcom, David Crumb. George Crumb, Michael Daugherty, Filippo Del Corno, John Harbison, Joel Hoffman, Aaron Jay Kernis, Gerald Levinson, Tobias Picker, Matthew Quayle, Frederic Rzewski, Augusta Read Thomas and Michael Torke.^[25]

Free jazz pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and his band recorded every composition by Monk for Monk's Casino, released as a triple CD set in 2004.

Salim Ghazi Saeedi has dedicated a song entitled "For Thelonious, and His 88 Holy Names" to Thelonious Monk in his 2011 album, Human Encounter.^[26]

Discography[link]

Blue Note Records (1948–1952)[link]

• Genius of Modern Music: Volume 1 (1947 Blue Note recordings)
• Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2 (1951–1952 Blue Note recordings)

Prestige Records (1952–1954)[link]

• Thelonious Monk Trio (Prestige 7027), 1952-4
• Monk (Prestige 7053) recorded 1953-4
• Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (Prestige 7075), recorded 1953-4

Riverside Records (1955–1961)[link]

• Thelonious Monk plays the Music of Duke Ellington (1955)
• The Unique Thelonious Monk (1955)
• Brilliant Corners (1956 recording with Sonny Rollins and Clark Terry)
• Thelonious Himself (1957)
• Monk's Music (1957)
• Mulligan Meets Monk (1957, with Gerry Mulligan)
• Thelonious in Action and Misterioso (1958, live at the Five Spot with Johnny Griffin)
• The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall (1959, Charlie Rouse joined the band then)
• 5 by Monk by 5 (1959)
• Thelonious Alone in San Francisco (1959)
• Thelonious Monk at the Blackhawk (1960, with Charlie Rouse)
• Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (1957 recordings, 1961 issue) - Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007.^[27]
• Monk in France (recorded in 1961)
• Thelonious Monk in Italy (recorded 1961)
• Thelonious Monk and the Jazz Giants (1987)
• Thelonious Monk Quartet Live at the Five Spot: Discovery! (with Coltrane recorded 1957, released in 1993 on Blue Note)
• Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (1957, released 2005 on Blue Note.)
• The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (2006 collection of the 1957 studio recordings with Coltrane)

Columbia Records (1962–1968)[link]

• Monk's Dream (1963)
• Criss Cross (1963)
• Monk in Tokyo (1963)
• Miles & Monk at Newport (1963, with unrelated 1958 Miles Davis performance)
• Big Band and Quartet in Concert (1963)
• It's Monk's Time (1964)
• Monk (1964)
• Solo Monk (1964)
• Live at the It Club (1964)
• Live at the Jazz Workshop (1964)
• Straight, No Chaser (1966)
• Underground (1967)
• Monk's Blues (1968)

Other labels[link]

• Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (Atlantic, 1958)
• Thelonious Monk Nonet Live In Paris 1967 (France Concert LP FC-113, 1967)
• The Giants of Jazz (Atlantic, 1971) with Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Al McKibbon, Sonny Stitt and Kai Winding

As sideman[link]

With Coleman Hawkins

• Bean and the Boys (Prestige 7824) 1944

With Milt Jackson

• Wizard of the Vibes (Milt Jackson: 1948 Blue Note recordings)

With Miles Davis

• Bags' Groove (Prestige, 1954)
• Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants (Prestige, 1954)

With Sonny Rollins

• Moving Out (Prestige 7058) 1954 (on one track)
• Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1957)

With Gigi Gryce

• Nica's Tempo (Savoy, 1955)

With Clark Terry

• In Orbit (Riverside, 1958)

Compilations[link]

• Monk's Miracles (1966)
• Monk's Greatest Hits (Columbia, 1968)
• Midnight at Minton's (c.1941, issued 1973 under Don Byas' name. Monk does not play on all tracks of this or the other two CDs of 1941 material)
• After Hours (c.1941, issued 1973 under Charlie Christian's name)
• After Hours in Harlem c.1941, issued 1973 under Hot Lips Page's name
• April in Paris (Monk album)|April in Paris (1981 2-LP set of the 18 April 1961 Paris recordings)
• Monk's Classic Recordings (1983)
• Blues Five Spot (1984, unissued recordings from 1958–61, with various saxophonists and Thad Jones, cornet)
• Something in Blue, Nice Work in London, Blue Sphere and The Man I Love (all 1971 recordings, collected in The London Collection 1988, three CDs)
• The Complete Riverside Recordings of Thelonious Monk (1991, 15 CD, Riverside)
• The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Thelonious Monk (1994, 4 CD, Blue Note)
• Live at Monterey Jazz Festival '63 (sept. 21–2, 1963, MFSL, 2 vols. issued 1996-7)
• Monk Alone: The Complete Solo Studio Recordings of Thelonious Monk 1962-1968 (1998, 2 CD, Sony)
• The Complete Prestige Recordings of Thelonious Monk (2000, 3 CD, Prestige)
• The Columbia Years: '62–'68 (2001, 3 CD, Sony)
• The Complete Vogue Recordings/The Black Lion Sessions (1954–71) (3LP, Mosaic)

Compositions[link]

See List of Thelonious Monk Compositions

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Thelonious Monk

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thelonious Monk

• Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz
• The Official Thelonious Sphere Monk Website
• Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original - Official Website
• Thelonious Monk page in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame
• Thelonious Monk's birth certificate
• The Thelonious Monk Website
• Roundabout Monk: The European Monk Website
• Thelonious Monk at All About Jazz
• IMDb entry for Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser
• CBC.ca Article on 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners
• Thelonious Monk Multimedia Directory - Kerouac Alley
• Not So Misterioso: Robert Christgau on Monk
• Photo of Monk's grave at Findagrave

Adam Buxton
Born	Adam Offord Buxton (1969-06-07) 7 June 1969 (age 43) London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Actor/Comedian
Years active	1995–present

Adam Offord Buxton (born 7 June 1969) is an English comedian and actor. With Joe Cornish, he forms one half of the duo Adam and Joe. The pair presented Adam and Joe on BBC 6 Music, whilst Buxton also presents his own show on 6 Music on Sundays, called Adam Buxton's Big Mix Tape, currently on hiatus.

Biography[link]

Major work[link]

His first television appearance was in an episode of Channel 4's Takeover TV as a man called "Louise" dressed as a Klingon, complaining about Star Trek: The Next Generation being taken off the air. In 1995, he hosted the show itself, and following this he and Joe Cornish created The Adam and Joe Show for the same channel, which ran for four series. In 1999, The Adam and Joe Book, a spin-off book written by Buxton and Cornish, was published.

Buxton co-wrote and acted in the Channel 4 mini-series The Last Chancers (broadcast in December 2004). In 2005, he moved from screen to stage, performing character-driven stand-up comedy at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival, with a show entitled "I, Pavel", for which he grew a large beard.^[1] He continues to work as a stand-up comedian, appearing primarily at London venues.

His work with Cornish has extended beyond their Channel 4 series, with the pair presenting radio shows on Xfm and later 6 Music. Expanded extracts from the Xfm radio shows have been released as podcasts, which were placed in the UK's top 10 most downloaded. In 2007, Buxton portrayed the ill-fated journalist Tim Messenger in Edgar Wright's action-comedy film Hot Fuzz. Buxton also appeared in the BBC Three comedy sketch show Rush Hour, which premièred on 19 March 2007. Buxton plays many different characters throughout the show.

In November 2007, Buxton recorded the video for "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" for British band Radiohead, which was the first single from their album In Rainbows. The concept of the video involved each member of the band wearing bicycle helmets with cameras attached, shooting video of the band members' faces.

In January 2010, he appeared in the BBC2 comedy The Persuasionists.

Other appearances[link]

Buxton has made appearances on Have I Got News For You, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, The IT Crowd, Don't Watch That, Watch This, and Look Around You. He appeared as a future version of himself in the BBC Two comedy series Time Trumpet, which began a six-part series in August 2006.

He also appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama The One Doctor by Big Finish Productions, and has taken other comedy roles on productions for BBC Radio 4.

He has taken part in a number of major films, including his aforementioned performance in Hot Fuzz, as well as appearing in the film Stardust, deputizing for Noel Fielding, who was ill at the time of production. He featured in the film Son of Rambow as a teacher. He has released a number of popular videos on YouTube, and was commissioned to produce a pilot programme for the BBC based around work of this kind. This was broadcast as MeeBOX on BBC Three in June 2008, but a full series was not commissioned.

He narrated "Francis and Bunty", a short story used to front the 2009 "Best Writer in the Universe" short story competition, on The Story of Egmo podcast.

He also makes short videos that are on the BBC Comedy Channel called "Country Man", featuring himself doing a posh accent in the countryside.

Personal life[link]

Buxton was born in London, and spent some of his childhood in Wales. His father is Nigel Buxton, known as a travel writer and wine critic and later to appear on The Adam and Joe Show as "Baaad Dad". His mother is Chilean.^[2] Along with Joe Cornish and friend Louis Theroux, Buxton was educated at the independent Westminster School. According to an interview with The Guardian newspaper, he attended the University of Warwick for two terms, before dropping out to study sculpture at Cheltenham College of Art.^[3]

Buxton lives in Norwich with his wife, Sarah, and their three children: sons Frank and Natty, and daughter Hope.

References[link]

• Adam Buxton: Chancer of a lifetime - Ed Caesar, The Independent (2004)
• Fame: 60 Seconds - Adam Buxton - Andrew Williams, Metro (2008)
• Norfolk home for TV's Adam Buxton - David Keller, BBC Norfolk
• Fringe diary: Stand-up comedian - BBC News (2005)
• Close-up: Adam Buxton - Esther Walker, The Independent (2008)
• Joe, Adam and the Ant-man - The Independent

External links[link]

• http://adam-buxton.co.uk/ - official site and blog
• Adam Buxton on YouTube
• Adam Buxton at the Internet Movie Database
• Adam Buxton on Chortle

Eddie Murphy
Murphy at the Tribeca Film Festival for Shrek Forever After in 2010.
Birth name	Edward Regan Murphy
Born	(1961-04-03) April 3, 1961 (age 51) Brooklyn, New York, United States
Medium	Film, television, stand-up, music, books
Nationality	American
Years active	1976–present
Genres	Observational comedy, musical comedy, black comedy, satire, physical comedy, Dance Pop
Subject(s)	African American culture, race relations, racism, marriage, everyday life, current events, pop culture, human sexuality
Influences	Bill Cosby,[1] Richard Pryor,[1] Peter Sellers, Redd Foxx[1] Robin Williams,[1]
Spouse	Nicole Mitchell (1993–2006) (divorced) 5 children Tracey Edmonds (2008) (unofficial)
Domestic partner(s)	Melanie Brown (2006–07) 1 child
Notable works and roles	Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop Various on Saturday Night Live Shrek series

Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician.

Box office takes from Murphy's films make him the second-highest grossing actor in the United States.^[2][3] He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984 and has worked as a stand-up comedian. He was ranked #10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.^[4]

He has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs, Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls.^[5]

Eddie Murphy's work as a voice actor includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan. In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in Coming to America, Wes Craven's Vampire In Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, Norbit, and Meet Dave.

Early life[link]

Murphy grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick.^[6] His mother, Lillian, was a telephone operator, and his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer and an amateur actor and comedian.^[1][7][8][9] His father died when he was young. When Murphy's single mom became ill, the eight-year-old Eddie Murphy and his older brother lived in foster care for one year.^[10] In interviews, the actor and comedian says that his time in foster care was influential in developing his sense of humour. Later Murphy and his older brother Charlie were raised in Roosevelt, New York by his mother and stepfather Vernon Lynch, a foreman at an ice cream plant.^[1] Around the age of 15, Murphy was writing and performing his own routines, which were heavily influenced by Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor.^[1]

Career[link]

Stand-up comedy[link]

Murphy performed stand-up at the same Bay Area Comedy Club as Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. His early comedy was characterized by frequent swearing and sketches lampooning a diverse group of people (including WASPs, African Americans, Italian Americans, overweight people, and gay people). This racy content was akin to that of Richard Pryor, whom Murphy has credited as his inspiration to enter comedy;^[1] however, in his autobiography, Pryor Convictions, Pryor wrote that he found Murphy's comedy at times excessively insensitive. Murphy later apologized for insensitive jokes about gay people and HIV. The stand-up shows Delirious and Raw have been recorded and released.

1980s acting career[link]

Murphy in 1988

Murphy first earned attention as a regular actor at Saturday Night Live, and was credited with helping revitalize the series during its first true slump in quality in the early 1980s.^[11] Some of his notable characters included a grown version of the Little Rascals character Buckwheat,^[12] impoverished but street-wise children's show host Mr. Robinson (a spoof of Fred Rogers, who found it amusing),^[13] and Gumby,^[12] a harshly cynical version of the animated character; Murphy's take on the latter character spawned one of SNL's many catchphrases, "I'm Gumby, dammit!" Although Buckwheat was his most popular character, Murphy asked that he be retired because the actor grew tired of people asking him to "Do Buckwheat! Do Buckwheat!"; the character was assassinated on camera in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.^[14]

In 1982, Murphy made his big screen debut in the film 48 Hrs. with Nick Nolte.^[1] 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released in the Christmas season of 1982. Nolte was scheduled to host the December 11, 1982 Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live, but became too ill to host, so Murphy took over. He became the only cast member to host while still a regular. Murphy opened the show with the phrase, "Live from New York, It's the Eddie Murphy Show!" The following year, Murphy starred in Trading Places with fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd.^[1] The movie marked the first of Murphy's collaborations with director John Landis (who also directed Murphy in Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III) and proved to be an even greater box office success than 48 Hrs. In 1984, Murphy starred in the successful action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop.^[1] The film was Murphy's first full-fledged starring vehicle, originally intended to star Sylvester Stallone (who later tweaked the script as his own starring vehicle Cobra in 1986).^[1] Beverly Hills Cop grossed over $230 million at the box office and is 40th in the list of all-time total U.S. box office grosses (4th-highest amongst "R" rated films), after adjusting for inflation, as of March 2011^[update].^[15]

In 1984, Murphy appeared in Best Defense, co-starring Dudley Moore. Murphy, who was credited as a "Strategic Guest Star", was added to the film after an original version was completed but tested poorly with audiences. Best Defense was a major financial and critical disappointment. When he hosted SNL, Murphy joined the chorus of those bashing Best Defense, calling it "the worst movie in the history of everything". Murphy's Trading Places co-star Dan Aykroyd had originally written the character of Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters specifically for Murphy, but he was unable to commit at the time due to the Beverly Hills Cop shooting schedule. The part ultimately went to Ernie Hudson. Murphy was also offered a part in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a role that, after being heavily re-written from comic relief to love interest, ultimately went to future 7th Heaven star Catherine Hicks. By this point^[16] Murphy's near-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures rivaled Star Trek as Paramount's most lucrative franchise.

In 1986, Murphy starred in the supernatural comedy, The Golden Child.^[1] The Golden Child was originally intended to be a serious adventure picture starring Mel Gibson. After Gibson turned the role down, the project was offered to Murphy as it was subsequently rewritten as a partial comedy. Although The Golden Child (featuring Murphy's "I want the knife!" routine) performed well at the box office, the movie was not as critically acclaimed as 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop. The Golden Child was considered a change of pace for Murphy because of the supernatural setting as opposed to the more "street smart" settings of Murphy's previous efforts. A year later, Murphy reprised his role of Axel Foley in the Tony Scott-directed Beverly Hills Cop II. It was a box office success, grossing over $150 million. Producers reportedly wanted to turn the Beverly Hills Cop franchise into a weekly television series. Murphy declined the television offer, but was willing to do a film sequel instead.

Murphy was one of the last movie actors to sign an exclusive contract with a studio. In this case, it was Paramount Pictures, which released all of his early films.

Singing career[link]

Murphy is also a singer and musician, having frequently provided background vocals to songs released by The Bus Boys, which their song "The Boys Are Back in Town" was featured in 48 Hrs. and Murphy's comedy special Eddie Murphy Delirious. As a solo artist, Murphy had two hit singles, "Party All the Time" (which was produced by Rick James) and "Put Your Mouth on Me" in the mid-1980s (although he actually started singing earlier in his career, with the songs "Boogie In Your Butt" and "Enough Is Enough", the latter being a parody of Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer's 1979 song, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". They both appear on his 1982 self-titled comedy album.) "Party All the Time" was featured on Murphy's 1985 debut album How Could It Be, which included a minor follow-up R&B hit in the title track, a duet with vocalist Crystal Blake. This track was written by Rusty Hamilton and was produced by Stevie Wonder's cousin Aquil Fudge after a brief falling out and bet with Rick James. In 2004, VH-1 and Blender voted "Party All the Time" number seven among the "50 Worst Songs of All-Time." Sharam used a sample of the song for the UK #8 hit "PATT (Party All The Time)" in 2006.

Murphy recorded the album Love's Alright in the early 1990s. He performed in a music video of the single "Whatzupwitu", featuring Michael Jackson. He recorded a duet with Shabba Ranks called "I Was a King". In 1992, Murphy appeared in Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" alongside Magic Johnson and Iman.

Though uncredited, Murphy provided vocal work on SNL castmate Joe Piscopo's comedy single, "The Honeymooners Rap."^{[citation needed]} Piscopo impersonated Jackie Gleason on the single, while Murphy provided an imitation of Art Carney.

In Coming to America, he imitated Jackie Wilson when he sang "To Be Loved", but because the character he was playing had a thick accent, he had to sing it in character. In later years, Murphy performed several songs in the Shrek film franchise. In the first film, he performed a version of "I'm a Believer" in the film's final scene; in Shrek 2 he performed Ricky Martin's hit "Livin' La Vida Loca" along with co-star Antonio Banderas.

Murphy's all-time favorite singer is Elvis Presley.

Early 1990s career[link]

From 1989 until the mid 1990s, box office results and reviews for Murphy's films dropped, hitting a low point with the critically panned Beverly Hills Cop III (1994),^[17] a movie Murphy would ultimately denounce during an appearance on Inside the Actors Studio,^[1] although he did find box office success with Boomerang and Another 48 Hrs. Harlem Nights featured Murphy, who had previously been known only as a performer, as director, producer, star, and co-writer, with his brother, Charlie Murphy, as well as supporting roles for Murphy's comic idols Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor.^[1]

During this period Murphy was criticized by filmmaker Spike Lee for not using his show business stature to help black actors break into film, despite Murphy's films (especially those he produced) often being populated with predominantly black casts (Coming To America, Harlem Nights, Boomerang, Vampire In Brooklyn, Life). Many black actors who would later gain wider recognition make early appearances in Murphy films such as Damon Wayans in Beverly Hills Cop, Halle Berry and Martin Lawrence in Boomerang, Samuel L. Jackson and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Coming to America, Dave Chappelle in The Nutty Professor and Chris Rock in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Although Murphy has enjoyed commercial success since Saturday Night Live, he has never attended cast reunions or anniversary specials, nor did he participate in the making of the Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live retrospective book by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller (2002).

Comeback and image makeover[link]

Murphy's box office results began to recover in 1996, starting with The Nutty Professor. He followed with a series of very successful family-friendly movies like Mulan, Dr. Dolittle and its sequel, the Shrek series, Daddy Day Care, and The Haunted Mansion, along with Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. However, most of his movies meant for more adult audiences performed moderately; Metro, I Spy, and Showtime all ended to gross less than $40 million domestically, Holy Man performed poorly, grossing less than $13 million, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash is on record as one of the biggest theatrical money-losers of all time, grossing just $7 million worldwide on a reported $110 million budget. A notable exception to this run of poorly received adult-themed films was the Frank Oz comedy Bowfinger, also starring Steve Martin. The film garnered generally positive critical reviews, and grossed $98 million at the box office.

In 2006, he starred in the motion picture version of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls as soul singer James "Thunder" Early. Murphy won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award in that category. Several reviews for the film highlighted Murphy's performance while he received some pre-release Academy Awards buzz.^[18] Murphy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on January 23, 2007, but lost to Alan Arkin for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine. Dreamgirls was the first film distributed by Paramount Pictures to star Murphy (who once was on an exclusive contract with the studio) since Vampire in Brooklyn in 1995.

In 2007, Murphy was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[19] As a result of Viacom's acquisition of Dreamworks SKG, Paramount distributed his other 2007 releases: Norbit and Shrek the Third. He starred in the 2008 film Meet Dave and the 2009 film Imagine That for Paramount Pictures.

Murphy co-starred in Tower Heist, directed by Brett Ratner. Murphy played a thief who joins a group of hardworking men who find out they have fallen victim to a wealthy businessman's Ponzi scheme, and conspire to rob his high-rise residence. Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck also starred in the film, released on November 4, 2011.^[1][20][21]

It was reported in late 2011 that Murphy would host the 84th Academy Awards in 2012. However, he dropped out of his hosting duties on November 9, 2011, in the wake of the Brett Ratner scandal.^[22]

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Eddie Murphy in Hollywood Walk of Fame

Murphy began a longtime romantic relationship with Nicole Mitchell (born January 5, 1968) after meeting her in 1988 at an NAACP Image Awards show. They lived together for almost two years before getting married at the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City on March 18, 1993.^[23] Murphy and Mitchell had five children together: Bria L. Murphy (born November 18, 1989), Myles Mitchell (born November 7, 1992), Shayne Audra (born October 10, 1994), Zola Ivy (born December 24, 1999) and Bella Zahra (born January 29, 2002). In August 2005, Mitchell filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized on April 17, 2006.^[24]

He also has a child by Tamara Hood: son Christian Murphy (born on 29 November 1990).^[25]

Murphy as of 2008 resided in Long Island, New York.^[26]

Following his divorce from Mitchell, in 2006, Murphy began dating former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who became pregnant and stated that the child was Murphy's. When questioned about the pregnancy in December 2006 by RTL Boulevard, Murphy told Dutch reporter Matthijs Kleyn, "I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir". Brown gave birth to a baby girl, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on Murphy's 46th birthday, April 3, 2007. On June 22, 2007, representatives for Brown announced in People that a DNA test had confirmed that Murphy was the father.^[27] Brown has stated in an interview that Murphy has not sought a relationship with Angel.^[28][29]

Murphy exchanged marriage vows with film producer Tracey Edmonds, former wife of Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, on January 1, 2008, in a private ceremony on an island off Bora Bora.^[30] On January 16, the couple released a statement saying, "After much consideration and discussion, we have jointly decided that we will forego having a legal ceremony as it is not necessary to define our relationship further," and called the Bora Bora wedding a "symbolic union". The two had planned on having a legal ceremony upon their return to the U.S. but did not, and their wedding was never official.^[31]

Legal problems[link]

According to Murphy's childhood friend Harris Haith in his book, Growing Up Laughing With Eddie, long before Murphy did any writing for Coming to America, Art Buchwald had approached Paramount Pictures with the idea for a similar film. His material was rejected, but the information was retained by Paramount. They liked Buchwald's idea but did not see fit to pay him and saved it for use later down the road. Some years later, Paramount presented the idea of Coming to America to Eddie and gave him the contract. Murphy wrote a screenplay that came to light exactly as it aired on the silver screen. In 1988, Buchwald sued Murphy and Paramount Pictures, but Murphy was not found liable because Paramount had received the material.

Philanthropy[link]

Murphy has donated money to the AIDS Foundation, and cancer, education, creative arts, family/parent support, health and homeless charities. He has donated to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, various cancer charities and $100,000 to the Screen Actors' Guild's strike relief fund.^[32]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Compilation albums[link]

Singles[link]