The quirky voice and cerebral vision behind new wave pioneers Talking Heads, David Byrne has gone on to become a leading avant-garde musician, composer and performer, both with numerous solo albums and intriguing and inspiring collaborative works.

Born in Scotland and raised in Baltimore, Byrne formed Talking Heads at the Rhode Island School of Design during the height of the punk era. With fellow students Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, along with former Modern Lover Jerry Harrison, the Heads expanded the realms of the punk aesthetic with smart lyrics and distinctive rhythms. The group’s first three albums — Talking Heads ’77 (which included the punk-edged classic “Psycho Killer”), More Songs About Buildings and Food and Remain In Light — put the Heads in the vanguard of new wave art rock. Soon after, Byrne first collaborated with Roxy Music alumnus and Heads producer Brian Eno on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, an experimental polyglot that further explored Byrne’s passion for global rhythms and hypnotic vocal effects.

His fearless musical exploration drew Byrne into the worlds of theater and film scores, first with the next Heads album True Stories and then with soundtracks including the Jonathan Demme-directed Married to the Mob and Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, for which he won an Academy Award. Byrne formed his own label, Luaka Bop, to release soundtracks and world music, and pursued a solo career that has included an intoxicating mix of rhythm and contemporary rock, from Rei Momo, to Uh-Oh and Look Into the Eyeball. Byrne and Eno reunited for 2008's Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.

Provenance: Dumbarton, Scotland

Latest Release: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (2008)

© 2008 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.

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