Children at a primary school in Paris

Biologically, a child (plural: children) is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child.^[1] The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. "Child" may also describe a relationship with a parent (such as sons and daughters of any age)^[2] or, metaphorically, an authority figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe, or religion; it can also signify being strongly affected by a specific time, place, or circumstance, as in "a child of nature" or "a child of the Sixties".^[3]

Legal, biological, and social definitions[link]

Population aged under 15 years in 2005

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as "a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier".^[4] Ratified by 192 of 194 member countries. Some English definitions of the word 'child' include the fetus and the unborn.^[5] Biologically, a child is anyone between birth and puberty or in the developmental stage of childhood, between infancy and adulthood. Children generally have fewer rights than adults and are classed as not able to make serious decisions, and legally must always be under the care of a responsible adult.

Recognition of childhood as a state different from adulthood began to emerge in the 16th and 17th centuries. Society began to relate to the child not as a miniature adult but as a person of a lower level of maturity needing adult protection, love and nurturing. This change can be traced in painting: In the Middle Ages, children were portrayed in art as miniature adults with no childish characteristics. In the 16th century, images of children began to acquire a distinct childish appearance. From the late 17th century onwards, children were shown playing. Toys and literature for children also began to develop at this time.^[6]

Children's Games, 1560, Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Socialization[link]

Sikh children playing on Nintendo DSi in Punjab, India

Children in Namibia

All children go through stages of social development. An infant or very young child will play alone happily. If another child wanders onto the scene, he or she may be physically attacked or pushed out of the way. Next, the child is able to play with another child, gradually learning to share and take turns. Eventually, the group grows larger, to three or four children. By the time a child enters kindergarten, he or she is usually able to join in and enjoy group experiences.^[7]

Children with ADHD and learning disabilities may need extra help in developing social skills. The impulsive characteristics of an ADHD child may lead to poor peer relationships. Children with poor attention spans may not tune in to social cues in their environment, making it difficult for them to learn social skills through experience.^[7]

Attitudes toward children[link]

Social attitudes toward children differ around the world in various cultures. These attitudes have changed over time. A 1988 study on European attitudes toward the centrality of children found that Italy was more child-centric and Holland less child-centric, with other countries, such as Austria, Great Britain, Ireland and West Germany falling in between.^[8]

Age of responsibility[link]

The age at which children are considered responsible for their society-bound actions (e. g. marriage, voting, etc.) has also changed over time, and this is reflected in the way they are treated in courts of law. In Roman times, children were regarded as not culpable for crimes, a position later adopted by the Church. In the nineteenth century, children younger than seven years old were believed incapable of crime. Children from the age of seven forward were considered responsible for their actions. Therefore, they could face criminal charges, be sent to adult prison, and be punished like adults by whipping, branding or hanging. ^[9] Today, in many countries like Canada and the United States, children twelve and older are held responsible for their actions and may be sent to special correctional institutions, such as juvenile hall.

Surveys have found that at least 25 countries around the world have no specified age for compulsory education. Minimum employment age and marriage age also vary. In at least 125 countries, children aged 7–15 may be taken to court and risk imprisonment for criminal acts. In some countries, children are legally obliged to go to school until they are 14 or 15 years old, but may also work before that age. A child's right to education is threatened by early marriage, child labour and imprisonment.^[10]

One-child policy[link]

See also: Two-child policy

China's one-child policy forces some couples to have no more than one child. China's population policy has been credited with a very significant slowing of China's population growth which had been higher before the policy was implemented. It has come under criticism that the implementation of the policy has involved forced abortions and forced sterilization. However, while the punishment of "unplanned" pregnancy is a fine, both forced abortion and forced sterilization can be charged as intentional assault, which is punished with up to 10 years' imprisonment. If born with another child and kept, parents must pay a large fine for every day he/she is alive.

Child mortality[link]

Children rounded up for deportation to the Chełmno extermination camp. Some 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered by the Nazis.

During the early 1600s in England, life expectancy was only about 35 years, largely because two-thirds of all children died before the age of four.^[11] During the Industrial Revolution, the life expectancy of children increased dramatically.^[12]

According to population health experts, child mortality rates have fallen sharply since the 1990s. Deaths of children under the age of five are down by 42% in the United States, while Serbia and Malaysia have cut their rates by nearly 70%.^[13]

See also[link]

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Child" article dated 2008-06-24, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• Childhood
• Childlessness
• Child sexual abuse
• Index of youth articles
• Outline of children
• Religion and children

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Children

• Wikichild.org
• United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
• Family database, OECD

Robert Miles (born Roberto Concina, November 3, 1969) is a Swiss-born Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ in electronica and alternative music.^[1]

Biography[link]

Robert Miles was born to Italian immigrants Antonietta Lauro and Albino Concina in Fleurier, Switzerland.

Miles became proficient at playing the piano during his youth in Friuli, Italy, in the small town of Fagagna, where his family moved when he was still a young boy, and has been in the music scene since 1984. He worked as a DJ in some Italian clubs and private radio networks and in 1990, he used his savings to establish his own recording studio and a pirate radio station.

In 1994, Miles wrote a house/chill-out piece based on acoustic guitar chords and soft synthesizer effects, "Children", which was later developed into a dream trance track featuring a piano theme on top. The single picked up sales slowly, but within two weeks of its official release in 1995, it had sold more than 350,000 copies all over Europe and topped the charts in many countries. After occupying the Euro Top 100 chart number 1 spot for thirteen consecutive weeks,^[2] by 1997, "Children" had sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. It earned Miles platinum records^[3][4] in many countries, a Brit Award (Robert Miles is, to date, the only Italian artist who has received the award) as Best International Male Newcomer 1997,^[5] a World Music Award as World's Best Selling Male Newcomer and various other awards.

Miles' next single was "Fable". Part of this song was used in the theatrical trailer for the U.S. movie Ever After^[6] starring Drew Barrymore and Dougray Scott. His debut album Dreamland was released on June 7, 1996 in Europe, and released in the United States about a month later, with a new track, "One and One". This new track became very popular (it reached number 1 in the Euro Top 100 Singles Chart during the Christmas period and remained in the top spot for six consecutive weeks)^[7] and was later released as a single in Europe and the U.S.

In November 1997, Miles released another track, "Freedom", which was one of the key tracks on his second album 23am featuring vocals provided by Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge. Containing a different feel from the previously more club-oriented Dreamland, 23am incorporated more lyrics-driven songs than its predecessor while maintaining Miles' trademark piano sound from the first album.

After splitting from BMG/Deconstruction and his former management in London, he set up his own independent record label S:alt Records (with S:alt being short for suitably:alternative) in 2001 and released his third album, Organik,^[8] featuring the new single "Paths" with vocals provided by Nina Miranda of Smoke City. Guests on the album included Trilok Gurtu, Bill Laswell and Nitin Sawhney. Music from Organik was used on various movie soundtracks such as The Bourne Identity, Derrida, and City of Ghosts. In 2002, an album containing mainly remixes of songs found on Organik was released. The album, appropriately entitled Organik Remixes,^[9] contained remixes by the winners of the remixing contest held on Robert Miles' website, as well as remixes from well known artists such as The Future Sound of London, Riton, and Alexkid amongst others. The album also had one new track, "Bhairav", which featured the vocals of Amelia Cuni.

In 2004, Miles released Miles_Gurtu,^[10] his fourth album which was a collaboration with percussionist Trilok Gurtu and included jazz and electronica elements. Also guesting on the album were Nitin Sawhney, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Paul Falloon.

His fifth album entitled Th1rt3en^[11] was released worldwide on S:alt Records in February 2011, and featured guests such as Robert Fripp, Dave Okumu, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Davide Giovannini. For this album, Miles produced a blend of alternative and progressive rock with ambient and electronic soundscapes.

Miles is currently working on a soundtrack for the forthcoming movie documentary The Turn of This Century, directed by Peter Beyak and featuring the photography of Life Magazine.

Selected discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 1996: Dreamland
• 1997: 23am
• 2001: Organik
• 2004: Miles_Gurtu
• 2011: Th1rt3en

Singles[link]

Remix albums[link]

• 1997: In the Mix
• 1997: Renaissance Worldwide — London (with Dave Seaman)
• 2002: Organik Remixes
• 2011: Th1rt3en Remixes

See also[link]

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Robert Miles website
• Robert Miles discography at Discogs
• Robert Miles at Allmusic
• Robert Miles on Myspace

Little Red is a rock band from Melbourne, Australia consisting of Adrian Beltrame (guitar, vocals), Dominic Byrne (guitar, vocals), Quang Dinh (bass, vocals), and Taka Honda (drums).

Biography[link]

The band was formed in 2005 and were featured on Triple J Unearthed.^[1] The band won the 2008 Australia-wide 'Garage to V' competition held by Virgin Mobile to win a slot at all shows of the Australian V Festival in 2008,^[2] while the band has also performed at the Falls Festival, Meredith Music Festival, the Big Day Out, the Pyramid Rock Festival and the Laneway Festival.

Little Red's songs "Waiting", "Coca-Cola" and "Witch Doctor" have all received regular play on Australian nation-wide radio station Triple J,^[3] while "Coca-Cola" was also included on the official soundtrack of Australian TV series Underbelly, and was voted #47 on the 2008 Triple J Hottest 100.

The band independently released in Australia an album entitled Listen to Little Red on 28 June 2008,^[4] which debuted at number 29 on the ARIA Charts.^[5] The album was licensed for release outside of Australia by the UK independent Lucky Number Music^[6] and was released on 16 November 2009 in the UK and early 2010 internationally.

In September, 2010, the band released a second album, Midnight Remember, featuring their latest single, "Rock It" which gained a gold accreditation^[7] and second place in Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2010, with the album's second single "Slow Motion" securing 79th position.^[8]

On 21 April 2011 they released a music video to "All Mine," also from Midnight Remember on youtube, through the Liberation Music record label's account.

Touring[link]

• Headlined their 'All Mine' National Tour featuring Worlds End Press & Passport For Amy 2011
• Toured with Blondie and The Pretenders, Evening On The Green 2010
• Big Day Out 2011
• Pyramid Rock 2010/2011
• Splendour in the Grass July/August 2010
• Toured with Kasabian in July 2010
• Headline tour of Australia supported by Ground Components in April/May 2009
• Headline tour of Australia - University Tour - in October 2008
• Toured with Vampire Weekend on their national Australian tour in August 2008
• Headline tour of Australia - album tour - in August/September 2008 supported by The Holidays and Andy Bull
• Toured with The Panics on their national album tour in May 2008
• Toured with Spoon in January 2008
• Toured with Operator Please on their national Australian tour in April 2008
• Toured with Art of Fighting in September 2007

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Listen to Little Red — Hooch Hound/Shock (28 June 2008) AUS #29^[9] — Lucky Number/Lucky Number Music (2009)
• Midnight Remember — Liberation (September 2010) AUS #5^[9]

EPs[link]

• Get Ready! EP

Singles[link]

• "Coca Cola"/"It's Alright" — Neon Gold/Lucky Number/Lucky Number Music (2009)
• "Waiting"/"Wait Is Over" — Neon Gold/Lucky Number/Lucky Number Music (2009)
• "Rock It" (2010) AUS #19^[9]
• "Slow Motion" (2010)
• "All Mine" (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Little Red on Myspace
• Little Red video interview @ VFestival

Nick Cave
Nick Cave at an event in New York City, 2009
Background information
Born	(1957-09-22) 22 September 1957 (age 54) Warracknabeal, Victoria, Australia
Genres	Post-punk, gothic rock,[1][2] alternative rock, garage rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, writer, actor, composer
Instruments	Guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
Years active	1973–present
Labels	Mute
Associated acts	Boys Next Door, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Grinderman, The Birthday Party

Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor.

He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1983, a group known for its eclectic influences and musical styles. Before that, he had fronted the group The Birthday Party in the early 1980s, a band renowned for its highly gothic,^[1][2] challenging lyrics and violent sound influenced by free jazz, blues, and post-punk. In 2006, he formed the garage rock band Grinderman that released its debut the following year. Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with religion, death, love and violence.^[3]

Upon Cave's induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, ARIA Awards committee chairman Ed St John said, “Nick Cave has enjoyed—and continues to enjoy—one of the most extraordinary careers in the annals of popular music. He is an Australian artist like Sidney Nolan is an Australian artist—beyond comparison, beyond genre, beyond dispute."^[4]

Youth, education and family[link]

Cave was born in the small town of Warracknabeal in the state of Victoria, Australia, to Dawn Cave (née Treadwell) and Colin Frank Cave. He has two brothers: Tim (b. 1952) and Peter (b. 1954), and a sister, Julie (b. 1959). As a child, he lived in Warracknabeal and then Wangaratta in rural Victoria. His father was an English teacher and administrator, with a love of literature, and his mother was a librarian. Cave's paternal grandfather's surname was originally Landvoigt, he later in his life became known as Frank Jason Cave.^[5][6][7][8]

Raised as an Anglican, Cave sang in the boys choir at Wangaratta Cathedral. He grew to detest the attitudes of small-town Australia, and he was often in trouble with the local school authorities,^[9] so his parents sent him to boarding school at Melbourne's Caulfield Grammar School in 1970. Cave joined the school choir under choirmaster Norman Kaye, and also benefited from having a piano in his home. The following year he became a "day boy" when his family moved to Murrumbeena, a suburb of Melbourne. Cave was 19 when his father was killed in a car accident; at the moment he was informed of this, his mother Dawn Cave was bailing him out of a St Kilda police station for a charge of burglary. Cave would later recall that his father "died at a point in my life when I was most confused", and "the loss of my father created in my life a vacuum, a space in which my words began to float and collect and find their purpose".^[10]

After his secondary schooling, Cave studied painting (Fine Art) at the Caulfield Institute of Technology (now Monash University, Caulfield campus) in 1976, but dropped out in 1977 to pursue music. He also began using heroin around this time.^{[citation needed]} On 28 March 2008, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from this university.

Music career[link]

Early years and The Birthday Party (1973–83)[link]

In 1973, Cave met Mick Harvey (guitar), Phill Calvert (drums), John Cochivera (guitar), Brett Purcell (bass), and Chris Coyne (saxophone); fellow students at Caulfield Grammar. They founded a band with Cave as singer. Their repertoire consisted of proto-punk cover versions of songs by Lou Reed, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Roxy Music and Alex Harvey, among others. Later, the line-up slimmed down to four members including Cave's friend Tracy Pew on bass. In 1977, after leaving school, they adopted the name The Boys Next Door and began playing predominantly original material. Guitarist and songwriter Rowland S. Howard joined the band in 1978, expanding to five members.

From 1977 until their dissolution in 1983 (by which time they were known as The Birthday Party) the band explored various styles. They were a part of Melbourne's post-punk music scene in the late 1970s, playing hundreds of live shows in Australia before changing their name to the Birthday Party in 1980 and moving to London, then West Berlin. Cave's Australian girlfriend and muse Anita Lane accompanied them to London. The band were notorious for their provocative live performances which featured Cave shrieking, bellowing and throwing himself about the stage, backed up by harsh pounding rock music laced with guitar feedback. Cave utilised old testament imagery with lyrics about sin, curses and damnation.^[1] The lyrics were full of "American gothic imagery", talking about horror stories.^[1] The single "Release the Bats" with its story about "vampire sex" was "influential" in the emerging "gothic scene".^[1][2] At that time, Cave also became a regular member of a gothic club in London called The Batcave.^[11]

After establishing a cult following in Europe and Australia, The Birthday Party disbanded in 1984. Howard and Cave found it difficult to continue working together and both were rather worn down from alcohol and drug use.

Cave and the Seeds (1984-present)[link]

Cave performing in 1986

The band with Cave as their leader and frontman has released fourteen studio albums. Their most recent album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! was released on 8 April 2008. Though their sound tends to change considerably from one album to another, the one constant of the band is an unpolished blending of disparate genres, and song structures which provide a vehicle for Cave's virtuosic, frequently histrionic theatrics. NME used the sentence "gothic psycho-sexual apocalypse" to describe the "menace" present in the lyrics of the title track.^[12]

Critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Steve Huey write, "With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk, although in a more subdued fashion than his work with the Birthday Party".^[3] Pitchfork Media calls the group one of rock's "most enduring, redoubtable" bands, with an accomplished discography.^[13] A documentary film about the band The Road to God Knows Where/Life at paradiso directed by Uli M Schueppel, about their 1989 tour, was voted in the year 2008, under the 20 best musicmovies of all the time of the reader and journalists of Total Film.

Cave and the band curated an edition of the famous All Tomorrow's Parties music festival, the first in Australia, throughout the country in January 2009.

Solo work and Grinderman[link]

In addition to his performances with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cave has, since the 1990s, performed live 'solo' tours with himself on piano/vocals, Warren Ellis on violin/accordion and various others on bass and drums. The current trio are Bad Seeds' Martyn P. Casey, Jim Sclavunos and Ellis (nicknamed the Mini-Seeds). In 2006, this line-up, now including Cave on electric guitar, continued his 'solo' tours performing Bad Seeds material.

In the same year three other Bad Seeds, Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler and James Johnston, undertook Harvey's first 'solo' tours of Europe and Australia performing material from his own albums. Melbourne double bassist Rosie Westbrook completed the quartet.

An album of new material by Cave's 'solo' quartet, now named Grinderman, was released in March 2007.

Nick Cave 'solo' and Grinderman both played at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in April 2007. This was Grinderman's first public performance. Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream accompanied Grinderman on backing vocals and percussion.

In December 2011, after performing at Meredith Music Festival, Cave announced that Grinderman were over.^{[14][dead link]}

Soundtrack involvement[link]

Many of Nick Cave's songs have found their way into movie soundtracks. One of the earliest to feature Cave's distinctive style by incorporating him as part of the movie's music scene—circa 1979—was Dogs in Space, a film by Richard Lowenstein.^[15] Cave performed parts of the Boys Next Door song "Shivers" twice during the film, once on video and once live.

Another early fan of Cave's was German director Wim Wenders, who lists Cave, along with Lou Reed and Portishead, as among his favorites.^[16] Two of Cave's songs were featured in his 1987 film Wings of Desire.^[17] Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds also make a cameo appearance in this film. Two more songs were included in Wenders' 1993 sequel Faraway, So Close!, including the title track. The soundtrack for Wenders' 1991 film Until the End of the World features Cave's "(I'll Love You) Till the End of the World." His most recent production, Palermo Shooting, also contains a Nick Cave song, as does his 2003 documentary The Soul of a Man.^[18]

Cave's songs have also appeared in a number of Hollywood blockbusters and major TV shows. For instance, his "There is a Light" appears on the 1995 soundtrack for Batman Forever, and "Red Right Hand" appeared in a number of films and TV shows, including The X-Files, Dumb & Dumber; Scream, its sequels Scream 2 and 3, and Hellboy (performed by Pete Yorn). In Scream 3, the song was given a reworking with Cave writing new lyrics and adding an orchestra to the arrangement of the track. This version appears on The Bad Seeds B-Sides and Rarities album. The song "People Ain't No Good" was featured in the animated movie Shrek 2, as well as in one of the episodes of the television series The L Word. Cave also sang a cover of The Beatles' "Let It Be," for the 2001 film I Am Sam.

Original material written for movie productions includes the song "To Be By Your Side," for the soundtrack of the 2001 French documentary Le Peuple Migrateur (called Winged Migration in the US). Cave composed the soundtrack for the 2005 film The Proposition with fellow Australian and Bad Seed Warren Ellis. Cave and Ellis once again collaborated on the music for the 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Also in 2007, Cave and Ellis wrote the soundtrack for the feature documentary The English Surgeon. The duo also provided original music for The Road in 2009 and the soundtrack for the audiobook of Cave's novel The Death of Bunny Munro.^[19]

Most recently, his song "Up Jumped the Devil" was featured in the Remedy-developed 2010 video game Alan Wake.

Cave's song "O Children" was featured in the 2010 movie, though not in the official soundtrack, of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1.

Work with other artists[link]

Nick Cave has also played with Shane MacGowan, in a cover version of Bob Dylan's "Death is Not the End", and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". Cave has also performed "What a Wonderful World" live with The Flaming Lips. Cave recorded a cover version of the Pogues song "Rainy Night in Soho", written by MacGowan.

Nick Cave at a solo concert in Mainz, Germany on 11 November 2006.

MacGowan also sings a version of "Lucy", released on B-Sides and Rarities. On 3 May 2008, during the Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! tour Shane MacGowan joined Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds on stage to perform "Lucy" at Dublin Castle in Ireland. Pulp's single "Bad Cover Version" includes on its B-side a cover version by Cave of that band's song "Disco 2000". On the Deluxe Edition of Pulp's Different Class another take of this cover can be found.

In 2000, one of Cave's heroes, Johnny Cash, covered Cave's "The Mercy Seat" on the album American III: Solitary Man, seemingly repaying Cave for the compliment he paid by covering Cash's "The Singer" (originally "The Folk Singer") on his Kicking Against the Pricks album. Cave was then invited to be one of many rock and country artists to contribute to the liner notes of the retrospective The Essential Johnny Cash CD, released to coincide with Cash's 70th birthday. Subsequently, Cave cut a duet with Cash on a version of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" for Cash's American IV: The Man Comes Around album (2002). A similar duet, the American folk song "Cindy", was released posthumously on the "Johnny Cash: Unearthed" boxset. Cave's song "Let the Bells Ring" is a posthumous tribute to Cash. Cave has also covered the song "Wanted Man" which is best known as performed by Johnny Cash but is a Bob Dylan composition.

In 2004, Cave gave a hand to Marianne Faithfull on the album, Before the Poison. He co-wrote and produced three songs ("Crazy Love", "There is a Ghost" and "Desperanto"), and the Bad Seeds are featured on all of them. He is also featured on "The Crane Wife" (originally by The Decemberists), on Faithfull's 2008 album, Easy Come, Easy Go.

Cave collaborated with the band Current 93 on their album All the Pretty Little Horses, where he sings the title track, a lullaby. For his 1996 album Murder Ballads, Cave recorded "Where The Wild Roses Grow" with Kylie Minogue, and "Henry Lee" with P.J. Harvey.

Cave also took part in the "X-Files" compilation CD with some other artists, where he reads parts from the Bible combined with own texts, like "Time Jesum...", he outed himself as a fan of the series some years ago, but since he does not watch much TV, it was one of the only things he watched. He collaborated on the 2003 single "Bring It On", with Chris Bailey, formerly of the Australian punk group, The Saints. Cave contributed vocals to the song "Sweet Rosyanne", on the 2006 album Catch That Train! from Dan Zanes & Friends, a children's music group.

In 2011, Cave recorded a cover of the Zombies' "She's Not There" with Neko Case, which was used at the end of the first episode of the fourth season of True Blood.

Literary career[link]

Cave released his first book, King Ink, in 1988. It is a collection of lyrics and plays, including collaborations with Lydia Lunch. In 1997, he followed up with King Ink II, containing lyrics, poems, and the transcript of a radio essay he did for the BBC in July 1996, "The Flesh Made Word," discussing in biographical format his relationship with Christianity.

Cave reading from The Death of Bunny Munro in New York City, 2009.

While he was based in West Berlin, Cave started working on what was to become his debut novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989). Significant crossover is evident between the themes in the book and the lyrics Cave wrote in the late stages of the Birthday Party and the early stage of his solo career. "Swampland", from Mutiny, in particular, uses the same linguistic stylings ('mah' for 'my', for instance) and some of the same themes (the narrator being haunted by the memory of a girl called Lucy, being hunted like an animal, approaching death and execution). On 21 January 2008, a special edition of Cave's novel And the Ass Saw the Angel was released.^[20] Cave's second novel The Death of Bunny Munro was published on 8 September 2009 by Harper Collins books.^[21][22] It tells the story of a sex-addicted salesman, was also released as a binaural audio-book produced by British Artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard and an iPhone app.^[23] The book originally started as a screenplay Cave was going to write for John Hillcoat.^[24]

As proof of his interest in scripture, so evident in his lyrics and his prose writing, Cave wrote the foreword to a Canongate publication of the Gospel according to Mark, published in the UK in 1998. The American edition of the same book (published by Grove Press) contains a foreword by the noted American writer Barry Hannah.

Cave and Ellis composed scores for a production by the Icelandic theatre company Vesturport of Woyzeck by Georg Büchner, performed at the Barbican Theatre in the Barbican Arts Centre in London in 2005,^[25] and a stage adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis at the Lyric Hammersmith in London in 2006.^[26]

Cave is a contributor to the 2009 rock biography on The Triffids Vagabond Holes: David McComb and the Triffids, edited by Australian academics Niall Lucy and Chris Coughran.^[27]

Acting and screenwriting[link]

Cave has made occasional appearances as an actor, most prominently in the 1989 film Ghosts ... of the Civil Dead, written and directed by John Hillcoat, and in the 1991 film Johnny Suede with Brad Pitt.

Cave appeared in the 2005 homage to Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, in which he performed "I'm Your Man" solo, and "Suzanne" with Julie Christensen and Perla Batalla. He also appeared in the 2007 film adaptation of Ron Hansen's novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, where he sings a song about Jesse James. Cave and Warren Ellis are credited for the film's soundtrack.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are also featured in Wim Wenders' 1987 film Wings of Desire.

Displaying a keen interest in other aspects of film, Cave wrote the screenplay for The Proposition, a film set in the colonial Australian Outback. Directed by John Hillcoat and filmed in Queensland in 2004, it premiered in October 2005 and has since been released worldwide to critical acclaim.^[28] The movie reviewer for British newspaper The Independent called it "peerless," "a star-studded and uncompromisingly violent outlaw film."^[29] It even features on a website promoting tourism to the area.^[30] The generally ambient soundtrack was recorded by Cave and Warren Ellis.

At the request of friend Russell Crowe, Cave wrote a script for a proposed sequel to Gladiator which was rejected by the studio.^[31]

His interest in the work of Edward Gorey led to his participation in the BBC Radio 3 programme, guest+host=ghost, featuring Peter Blegvad and the radiophonic sound of the Langham Research Centre.^[32]

Cave has also lent his voice in narrating an award winning animated film called The Cat Piano. It was directed by Eddie White and Ari Gibson (of The People's Republic Of Animation), produced by Jessica Brentnall and has music by Benjamin Speed.^[33]

Cave wrote the screenplay for The Wettest County in the World.,^[34] which has been renamed "Lawless", and has completed the script for a new film titled Death of a Ladies' Man and will rewrite the script of The Crow remake.

Currently, Cave is collaborating with Andy Serkis to develop a screen version of the Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht musical, The Threepenny Opera.^[35]

Personal life[link]

Cave dated Anita Lane from the late 1970s to mid 1980s. She had an undeniably strong influence upon Cave and his work, often cited as his "muse".^{[citation needed]} Despite this, Cave and Lane recorded together on only a few occasions. Their most notable collaborations include Lane's 'cameo' verse on Cave's Bob Dylan cover "Death Is Not The End" from the album Murder Ballads, and a cover of the Serge Gainsbourg/Jane Birkin song "Je t'aime, moi non plus/ I love you, nor do I". Lane co-wrote the lyrics to the title track for Cave's 1984 LP, From Her to Eternity, as well as the lyrics of the song "Stranger Than Kindness" from Your Funeral, My Trial. Cave, Lydia Lunch and Lane wrote a comic book together, entitled AS-FIX-E-8, in the style of the old "Pussy Galore"/Russ Meyer movies.

After completing his debut novel And the Ass Saw the Angel, Cave left West Berlin shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall and moved to São Paulo, Brazil, where he met Brazilian journalist Viviane Carneiro. The two have a son, Luke (b. 10 May 1991), but never married. Cave's son Jethro (born in 1991) lives with his mother, Beau Lazenby, in Australia and has a career in modelling.^[36]

Cave briefly dated PJ Harvey during the mid 1990s. The love affair and their break-up inspired him to write the album The Boatman's Call.

He met British model Susie Bick in 1997. A cover star of the Damned's 1985 album Phantasmagoria and a Vivienne Westwood model, she gave up her job when they married in summer 1999. They have twin sons, Arthur and Earl (born in 2000).^[37][38] Cave and Bick lived for some time on a houseboat near Hove. They currently live in Brighton and Hove, England.

Cave performed "Into My Arms" at the televised funeral of Michael Hutchence, but refused to play in front of the cameras. Cave is godfather of Hutchence's only child, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.^[39]

In the past, Cave identified as a Christian. In his recorded lectures on music and songwriting, he has claimed that any true love song is a song for God and has ascribed the mellowing of his music to a shift in focus from the Old to the New Testaments. He does not belong to a particular denomination and has distanced himself from "religion as being an American thing, in which the name of God has been hijacked".^[40] He said in a recent Los Angeles Times article: "I'm not religious, and I'm not a Christian, but I do reserve the right to believe in the possibility of a god. It's kind of defending the indefensible, though; I'm critical of what religions are becoming, the more destructive they're becoming. But I think as an artist, particularly, it's a necessary part of what I do, that there is some divine element going on within my songs".^[41]

Discography[link]

Cave performing in 2008

Soundtracks/scores[link]

• And the Ass Saw the Angel, readings of the novel (1988), plus theatre score (1993) – text by Cave, music composed by Harvey and Ed Clayton-Jones
• To Have and to Hold, soundtrack (1996) – composed with Harvey & Bargeld
• Woyzeck, theatre score (2005) – composed with Warren Ellis^[42] (Not available on CD or vinyl.)
• The Proposition, soundtrack (2005) – composed with Ellis
• Metamorphosis, theatre score (2006) – composed with Ellis^[43] (Not available on CD or vinyl.)
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, soundtrack (2007) – composed with Ellis
• The English Surgeon, soundtrack (2007) – composed with Ellis^[44] (Not available on CD or vinyl; only available on White Lunar; see below.)
• The Girls of Phnom Penh, soundtrack (2009) – composed with Ellis^[45] (Not available on CD or vinyl; only available on White Lunar; see below.)
• The Death of Bunny Munro, soundtrack (2009) – composed with Ellis^[46]
• The Road, soundtrack (2009) – composed with Ellis^[47] (Soundtrack released in January 12, 2010)^[48]
• White Lunar, soundtrack compilation (2009) – composed with Ellis^[49] (2CDs. Disc one contains high lights from The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and The Road. Disc 2 contains work from The English Surgeon and The Girls of Phnom Penh, as well as four unreleased pieces "from the archives".^[50]
• The Metamorphosis, (Forvandlingen- Norwegian national theatre) soundtrack (2012) –

Contributions/appearances[link]

• Die Haut and Nick Cave: Burnin' the Ice (1982), features Nick Cave's vocals on songs 1,3,5,6 (Stow-A-Way, Truck Love, Pleasure Is The Boss, Dumb Europe).
• Smack My Crack (1987), features Nick Cave performing "The Altra Virago Or The Vargus Barking Spider".
• Wings Of Desire (1987), Nick Cave appears in the film, where he performs "The Carny" and "From Her To Eternity".
• "Helpless" single by Neil Young. He did this in 1989 for the Neil Young tribute album The Bridge.
• Leonard Cohen: I'm your Fan (1991), Nick Cave "Tower Of Song".
• Until The End Of The World (1991), Nick Cave "(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World".
• In Weiter Ferne, So Nah! (aka Faraway So Close!) (1993), Nick Cave "Faraway So Close" and "Cassiel's Song".
• Zero Effect (1994), Nick Cave "Into My Arms".
• Batman Forever soundtrack (1995). Cave contributes the track "There is a Light".
• Scream (1996), Nick Cave "Red Right Hand".
• X-Files Songs In The Key Of X (1996), Nick Cave "Red Right Hand".
• September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill (1997) produced by Hal Willner. Cave contributes a cover version of "Mack the Knife".
• Nick Cave i Przyjaciele (Nick Cave and Friends) (1991). A tribute album by Polish musicians. Cave appears on tracks 1 & 10. (Into My Arms, The Weeping Song)
• The Acid House (1999), Nick Cave/Barry Adamson "Sweetest Embrace".
• A Tribute to Polnareff, a Tribute album to Michel Polnareff. Nick Cave contributes a cover version of "Goodbye Marylou".
• Ute Lemper's Punishing Kiss (2000). Cave co-wrote (with Bruno Pisek) "Little Water Song".
• He Died With A FelaFel In His Hand (2001) Nick Cave "The Mercy Seat (Live)" & "Into My Arms".
• Intimite (aka Intimacy) (2001), Nick Cave "In The Ghetto".
• "To Be By Your Side" – from the OST for French documentary film Le Peuple Migrateur (2001).
• I Am Sam (2002). Cave contributes a cover version of The Beatles' "Let It Be", which was later issued as a single with a cover version of "Here Comes the Sun" as the B-side.
• "Bad Cover Version" single by Pulp (2002). Cave contributes a cover version of Pulp's "Disco 2000".
• American IV: The Man Comes Around (2003) Duet with Johnny Cash on "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".
• "Kiss of Love" (duet with Sam Brown) from Jools Holland's 2003 album Small World Big Band Friends 3 – Jack O The Green.
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds appear on the Martin Scorsese series The Blues (2003) singing J. B. Lenoir's "I Feel So Good".
• Shrek 2 (2004), Nick Cave "People Aint' No Good".
• The Passion Of The Christ - Songs Inspired By (2004), Nick Cave "Darker With The Day".
• Harry Smith Project Vol 1 (2006), Nick Cave "John The Revelator" and Vol 2 "Shine On Me".
• Cave performs "I'm Your Man" and "Suzanne" in the documentary/concert film Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2006).
• Q Covered - Best Of 86/06 (2006), Nick Cave sings Pulp's "Disco 2000".
• Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys (2006). Cave contributes the tracks "Fire Down Below" and "Pinery Boy".
• Seasick Steve's song "Just Like A King", from the album I Started Out With Nothin' (2008)includes Cave's vocals.
• Californication Season 2 (2009), Nick Cave "Moonland".
• Mojo Presents The Score 20 Ultra Cool Soundtracks (2009), Nick Cave "Let It Be".
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song "Up Jumped The Devil" was featured in the video game Alan Wake. (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010). Cave contributed the song "O Children".
• Leonard Cohen By En Boca De (2011), Nick Cave "Avalanche".
• Trentemoller - Late Night Tales (2011), Nick Cave & Warren Ellis "The Proposition #1".
• Nick Cave joins Neko Case to cover the The Zombies song She's Not There for HBO show True Blood.^[51] (2011)

Spoken-word lectures[link]

• The Secret Life Of The Love Song & The Flesh Made Word: Two Lectures (2000).

Bibliography[link]

• King Ink (1988)
• And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989)
• King Ink II (1997)
• The Pocket Canons: Books of the Bible (1998)
  • Cave wrote the introduction to The Gospel According to Mark.
• Complete Lyrics (2001)
• The Complete Lyrics: 1978-2006 (2007)
• The Death of Bunny Munro (2009)

Awards and honours[link]

• 2012 Doctor of Letters, an honorary degree from the University of Brighton.^[52]
• 2011 Straight to you - Triple j's tribute tour to Nick Cave for his work in Australian music for Ausmusic Month
• 2011 MOJO Awards: Song of the Year for "Heathen Child" by Grinderman
• 2010 made an honorary Doctor of Laws, by University of Dundee.^[53]
• 2008 ARIA Awards Male Artist of the Year (Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!).^[54]
• 2008 MOJO Awards: Best Album of 2008 (Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!).
• 2008 Awarded an Honorary degree as Doctor of Laws, by Monash University.^[55]
• 2007 ARIA Awards ARIA Hall of Fame inductee.^[54]
• 2006 Venice Film Festival: Gucci Award (for the script to The Proposition).
• 2005 Q magazine: Q Classic Songwriter Award.
• 2005 AFI Awards: Best Original Music Score with Warren Ellis (The Proposition).
• 2005 Inside Film Awards: Best Music (The Proposition).
• 2005 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards: Best Musical Score (The Proposition).
• 2004 MOJO Awards: Best Album of 2004 (Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus).
• 2001 ARIA Awards: Best Male Artist (No More Shall We Part).^[54]
• 2001 APRA Music Awards: "The Ship Song" voted in the Top 30 Best Australian Songs of the previous 75 years.^[56]
• 1997 APRA Music Awards: Songwriter of the year.
• 1997 ARIA Awards: Best Original Soundtrack (To Have and to Hold).^[54]
• 1996 ARIA Awards: Song of the Year & Single of the Year & Best Pop Release ("Where the Wild Roses Grow").^[54]
• 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards: Nick Cave formally requested that his nomination for "Best Male Artist" be withdrawn as he was not comfortable with the "competitive nature" of such awards.
• 1990 Time Out Magazine: Book Of The Year (And the Ass Saw the Angel).