David Byrne facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Byrne
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Byrne in April 2018
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| Born | May 14, 1952 Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland
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| Years active | 1971–present |
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Adelle Lutz
(m. 1987; div. 2004) |
| Children | 1 |
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| Origin | Arbutus, Maryland, U.S. |
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David Byrne (born May 14, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician, artist, and filmmaker. He is best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and main songwriter for the American new wave band Talking Heads.
Byrne has also released his own music and worked on many other projects, including movies, photography, and books. He has won major awards like an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, a Special Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He is also in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads.
Contents
Early Life and School
David Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland. His parents were Tom and Emma Byrne. When he was two, his family moved to Canada, and later they moved to Arbutus, Maryland, in the United States. His father was an electronics engineer, and his mother became a teacher.
Byrne said he felt like an outsider growing up. He once said, "I felt like a bit of an outsider. But then I realized the world was made up of people who were all different. But we're all here."
He learned to play the guitar, accordion, and violin before high school. He loved music from a young age. His parents said he was always playing his record player. His dad even changed a tape recorder so David could record music in layers, a technique called multitrack recording.
Byrne went to Lansdowne High School. After graduating, he attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the Maryland Institute College of Art but left before finishing.
Music Career
Starting Out
In high school, Byrne was in a band called Revelation. From 1971 to 1972, he was part of a duo called Bizadi. Later, he started a band called the Artistics with his friend Chris Frantz from RISD.
In 1974, Byrne moved to New York City. Frantz and his girlfriend, Tina Weymouth, followed him. They needed a bass player for their new band, so Weymouth learned to play the bass guitar.
Talking Heads (1975–1991)
By January 1975, the group began playing together as Talking Heads. They played their first show in June. In 1976, they signed a record deal with Sire Records. A year later, guitarist and keyboardist Jerry Harrison joined the band.
Talking Heads released eight studio albums. They became famous for their creative music and popular music videos on MTV. They were a key part of the new wave music movement. Some of their most famous songs include "Psycho Killer", "Burning Down the House", and "Once In A Lifetime".
The band took a break in 1988 and officially split up in 1991. In 2002, Talking Heads was welcomed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They got back together to play four songs at the ceremony.
Solo Music Career
While still in Talking Heads, Byrne worked with musician Brian Eno on an album called My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981). It was praised for its early use of sampling (reusing parts of other sounds) and found sounds.
After Talking Heads, Byrne released many solo albums.
- Rei Momo (1989) was his first solo album after the band. It was filled with Latin American music styles like samba and mambo.
- Uh-Oh (1992) was a rock album with a brass section.
- David Byrne (1994) was another rock record where he played most of the instruments himself.
- Grown Backwards (2004) featured an orchestra with string instruments.
In 2008, Byrne and Brian Eno worked together again on the album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. In 2012, he released Love This Giant, an album he made with the singer St. Vincent.
His 2018 album, American Utopia, was his first solo album in 14 years. The tour for this album was turned into a popular Broadway show and a movie.
In 2025, Byrne released the album Who Is the Sky? with the Ghost Train Orchestra.
Work in Theater and Film
Byrne has been very active in theater, film, and television. In 1981, he wrote the music for a ballet called The Catherine Wheel.
He also directed, wrote, and starred in the 1986 movie True Stories. He worked with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su on the music for the movie The Last Emperor (1987), which won an Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Some of his other projects include:
- The soundtrack for the play The Forest (1991).
- Guest-starring as himself on The Simpsons.
- Writing the music for the film Young Adam (2003).
- Creating a disco musical about the life of Imelda Marcos called Here Lies Love with Fatboy Slim. It opened on Broadway in 2023.
- Appearing in John Mulaney's TV special John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch (2019).
- Performing on Saturday Night Live three times, most recently in 2020.
Other Projects
Byrne has been involved in many other creative works. He started a world-music record label called Luaka Bop in 1990 to share music from around the globe. He also has an internet radio station, Radio David Byrne.
He has contributed to many benefit albums, including for the Red Hot Organization, which raises awareness and money for AIDS relief.
In 2001, a version of his song "Like Humans Do" was chosen by Microsoft as sample music for Windows XP to show how Windows Media Player worked.
Byrne also turned a ferry terminal building in Manhattan into a musical instrument. The project, called "Playing the Building", connected the building's pipes and beams to an organ, allowing people to create music with the building itself.
Personal Life
Byrne was a British citizen for most of his life but became a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States in 2012. He also holds Irish citizenship. He lives in New York City.
Byrne has said he is on the autism spectrum. He feels it can be like a superpower, helping him focus deeply on his creative work.
He was married to costume designer Adelle Lutz from 1987 to 2004. They have a daughter named Malu.
A Passion for Cycling
Byrne is a strong supporter of cycling. He has used a bicycle as his main way of getting around for most of his life, especially in New York City. He wrote a book about his experiences called Bicycle Diaries (2009).
In 2008, he designed artistic bicycle racks for New York City. The shapes of the racks matched their locations. For example, a rack shaped like a dollar sign was placed on Wall Street, and one shaped like an electric guitar was in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Discography
Studio Albums with Talking Heads
- Talking Heads: 77 (1977)
- More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978)
- Fear of Music (1979)
- Remain in Light (1980)
- Speaking in Tongues (1983)
- Little Creatures (1985)
- True Stories (1986)
- Naked (1988)
Solo Studio Albums and Collaborations
- My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) (with Brian Eno)
- Rei Momo (1989)
- Uh-Oh (1992)
- David Byrne (1994)
- Feelings (1997)
- Look into the Eyeball (2001)
- Grown Backwards (2004)
- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (2008) (with Brian Eno)
- Love This Giant (2012) (with St. Vincent)
- American Utopia (2018)
- Who Is the Sky? (2025) (with Ghost Train Orchestra)
Soundtracks and Music for Theater
- The Catherine Wheel (1981)
- Music for "The Knee Plays" (1985)
- Sounds from True Stories (1986)
- The Last Emperor (1987) (with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su)
- The Forest (1991)
- In Spite of Wishing and Wanting (1999)
- Lead Us Not into Temptation (2003)
- Big Love: Hymnal (2008)
- Here Lies Love (2010) (with Fatboy Slim)
- American Utopia on Broadway Original Cast Recording (2019)
See also
In Spanish: David Byrne para niños
