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Beardyman
Beardyman at Camp Bestival - 20th July 2008
Background information
Birth name	Darren Foreman
Born	(1982-05-14) 14 May 1982 (age 30)
Origin	Stanmore, North London, UK
Instruments	Beatboxing, Kaoss Pad, MicroKORG, piano, guitar
Website	www.beardyman.co.uk

Darren Foreman (born 14 May 1982), better known as Beardyman, is a musician from London renowned for his beatboxing skills and use of live looping technology, and according to the BBC "King of Sound and Ruler of Beats".^[1]

Stage name and musical style[link]

He was given the nickname "Beardyman" because a name was quickly needed for a flyer for an early show, and he had a beard at the time.

As well as accomplished solo beatboxing, Beardyman was inspired by MC Xander to use music technology such as the Korg Kaoss Pad 3 in order to loop and sample his vocals. Through his use of looping tools he effectively produces whole DJ sets where the records are constructed live from his vocalisations, as well as live production of original material.

Early life[link]

Foreman was born to a Jewish family in Stanmore, North London. After studying at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys,^[2] Barnet, Foreman moved to Brighton in 2001 to study at the University of Sussex. Although he started making noises at the age of three by imitating Michael Winslow from the Police Academy movie series, it was seeing Rahzel perform live that convinced Foreman that beatboxing could sustain a whole show rather than simply provide interludes within the context of a broader presentation.^[3]

Beatbox championships and other awards[link]

In 2006 Beardyman battled to become UK Beatbox Champion and retained his title in 2007 making him the first beatboxer in UK history to win two championships in a row.^[4] He was on the 2008 judging panel.^[5]

Collaborators[link]

His interest in exploring new musical technology is also evident in the innovative Battlejam club nights he hosts with 2007 DMC champion turntablist JFB. Here the live looping technology is augmented with live sampling of the audience to make the hook of instantly composed tracks and even live video sampling and scratching.

He has gigged and recorded with MC Klumzy Tung as part of MC/beatbox duo The Gobfathers. Together, they presented Get Lucky TV's 'The Freestyle Show” in 2005, and also appeared as traffic wardens in a hidden camera show for E4.

In 2008 he collaborated with visual artist mr_hopkinson, to produce a video called 'Monkey Jazz' which visually describes the live looping process, which has had over 1 million views on YouTube. Since then they have worked together to produce various multi-camera videos of Beardyman's performances filmed at the Cube Microplex. Beardyman has also appeared on stage for improvised live shows with mr_hopkinson providing visual backdrops from images instantly searched from the internet in response to audience suggestions.

Use of humour, viral videos and other media appearances[link]

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Beardyman often incorporates humour into his act. He has impersonated Elvis, dressed as a monkey on stage at Bestival^[6] and once posed as an Austrian climate change lecturer, "Professor Bernhard Steinerhoff", before breaking into his set, with over 1 million views on YouTube.

Beardyman also features in the Funky Sage ring tones in which he plays a floating head who beatboxes and gives good advice. His video "Kitchen Diaries" which features him combining beatboxing with cooking has been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube.^[7] "Kitchen Diaries" also makes an appearance in 'South Coast', a Brighton based documentary about Hip Hop in the UK.

Beardyman has somewhat of a cult following, with many of his supporters sporting the phrase "Deus Ex Barba" - latin for "God out of beard". This is a reference to the phrase Deus Ex Machina. This has mainly spread over the internet, on websites such as YouTube or MySpace.

Beardyman cites the Lyrebird as a form of inspiration,^[6][8] and hosted a BBC Radio 4 documentary about the bird entitled, "Beardyman and the Mimics".

During November 2006 he took part in a series of children's choir charity concerts called Young Voices appearing in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Belfast.

On 10 February 2007 he made an appearance on the second episode of the BBC One show When Will I Be Famous.^[9] Despite winning over the studio audience and two of the three judges, he came second in a public vote. On the same day, he was on also on the Channel 4 show Homemade where he was profiled as the weirdest beatboxer around.

Beardyman supported Groove Armada on their UK tour in 2007.

In July 2009, he appeared at the Udderbelly during its residency at South Bank in London. This was for a ensemble comedy show called "Beardyman's Complete and Utter Shambles" featuring JFB, MC Klumzy Tung, Beardyman's comedian brother Jay Foreman, visual artist mr_hopkinson, guitarist 'J'm Black, saxophonist Hellanor and comedian Reggie Watts. The show took the technology based entertainment experiments of Battlejam to a more theatrical comedy club setting. A reduced cast version of the show renamed "Beardyman's Unplanned Explosion" went on to appear at the Udderbelly at the Edinburgh Festival in late August 2009, and again at Bristol Old Vic in October 2009.

Beardyman, September 2009

Beardyman appeared in the BBC Comedy Prom 2011 with Tim Minchin

Discography[link]

In a departure from his prior live work, Beardyman released his debut album I Done A Album on the 21st of March, 2011.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Beardyman
• Beardyman discography at Discogs
• Beardyman on Myspace
• George Bull interviews Beardyman for Heso magazine in March 2008
• Beardyman video interview at Hydro Connect Festival August 2008
• BeardyMan Interview - June 2008