Damien Rice was born in Ireland on 7th December 1973. As an musician he plays the guitar, piano and violin. He creates music for the singer-songwriting genre which is a branch off from the genre of Folk.
He was originally in a band called Juniper however apparently due to the record company interference with the music they originally wanted to produce, he decided to pursue a solo musical career. During this time of self-reflection about what he really wanted to write about, he travelled the world, reportedly working as a farmer in Tuscany, busking his way around Europe and eventually moving back to Ireland to where he got into contact with a music producer and began to write his first album O, which was available in shops from Februally 2002.
In an interview about why he split from his original band he replied with the statement '“They were asking, "Can we just make it a little bit more radio-friendly?" And there was that sort of guilt feeling….”' (Yahoo music). This is strongly understandable as Damien Rice was an artist and musician who wanted to create songs in the singer-songwriter genre, therefore his music should conventionally be about what he personally wants to say to his audience, rather then having to edit it to make it target a more mainstream audience.
He also stated whilst busking around Europe, he felt an element of 'freedom' which he realised he craved this 'freedom' with creating his own music, rather then being in control my a record company.
As he came back from his traveling exploration, his grandmother informed him about his cousin, 
David Arnold who was a music producer and through the money Damien had earned from busking around Europe, he used to create a demo, to which David Arnold heard and immediately brought a mobile studio in which Damien Rice recorded his debut album 'O' (released 2002). Following the success of his first complete album as a soloist, he then followed onto recording his second studio album '9' (released 
2005).
David Arnold who was a music producer and through the money Damien had earned from busking around Europe, he used to create a demo, to which David Arnold heard and immediately brought a mobile studio in which Damien Rice recorded his debut album 'O' (released 2002). Following the success of his first complete album as a soloist, he then followed onto recording his second studio album '9' (released 
2005).Since then his music has been a hit being played constantly within films and hit television shows such as 'I Am David' (2003), the series 'The L Word,' 'One Tree Hill,' 'Grey's Anatomy' and also 'The Inbetweeners.' On these programmes and films songs such as, 'The Blowers Daughter,' 'Cannonball,' and '9 Crimes' have been used. However when his songs aren't played in full on television shows and in films, instrumentals from his songs '9 crimes' and 'cold water' i have personally heard on such documentary shows such as 'Comic Relief,' 'Children In Need,' and 'Around The World In 80 Days.'
Damien Rice - Discography
With Damien Rice not being that well known when his 'singles' go on sales, his albums have made a strong impact on the UK and Ireland's chart, with 'O' reaching number 8 in the album charts, the album reaching number 2 in the Irish charts and also number 6 in the Norway album charts. With the album also reaching triple platinum in the UK, whilst in Ireland it received ten times Platinum whereas in USA it received a disappointing Gold disk awarded.
His second album '9' was received more welcoming in the album charts whist reaching number 86 in the French album charts, overall it received in the chart top 100 across Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, UK and America. Reaching the top 20 in 4 out of ten of them countries, as well as receiving a gold disk from America.
His single Cannonball is the most successful single sold in the UK of his, which reached number 19 in the singles chart and in UK and Ireland he's had 6 singles in the top 40 chart.
No comments:
Post a Comment