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| Birth Name(s) : Elvis Costello |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Elvis Costello Biography
To support himself, he worked a number of office jobs, most famously at the Elizabeth Arden cosmetics firm—immortalised in the lyrics of "I'm Not Angry" as the "vanity factory"—where he worked as a data entry clerk. He worked for a short period as a computer operator at the Midland Bank computer centre in Bootle Merseyside. He continued to write songs, and began actively looking for a solo recording contract. On the basis of a demo tape, he was signed to noted independent label Stiff Records. His manager at Stiff, Jake Riviera, suggested a name change, using Elvis Presley's first name and his great grandmother's name to form Elvis Costello.
The first Costello single for Stiff was "Less Than Zero" b/w "Radio Sweetheart (single mix)," released on March 25, 1977. Two months later, Costello's first album, My Aim Is True (1977), was a moderate commercial success (No. 14 in the UK and Top 40 in the US) with Costello appearing on the cover in his trademark oversize glasses, bearing a striking resemblance to a menacing Buddy Holly. A highlight of the album was the country-influenced ballad "Alison" with a typically biting Costello lyric. Costello's backing on this first album was provided by American West Coast band Clover, a roots/country outfit living in England (contrary to rumor, Clover did not exactly become Huey Lewis and The News - Huey Lewis did play with Clover shortly before the recording of My Aim Is True, but he and Sean Hopper, who appears on Costello's record, struck out on their own later). Costello was originally marketed as a punk artist. Later on, as the term new wave was applied to the first post-punk bands, Costello was classified as new wave for a time.Elvis Costello, striking a classic pose.
The same year, Costello recruited via auditions his own permanent band, The Attractions, consisting of Steve Nieve (born Steve Nason; piano), Bruce Thomas (bass guitar), and Pete Thomas (unrelated to Bruce Thomas; drums). He released his first major hit single, "Watching The Detectives," which was recorded with Nieve and the pair of Steve Goulding (drums) and Andrew Bodnar (bass), both members of Graham Parker & The Rumour (whom he had used to audition for The Attractions).
A tour of the US and Canada also saw the release of the much bootlegged promo-only "Live at the El Mocambo," which finally saw an official release as part of the "2½ Years" box set in 1993. It was during the ensuing United States tour that Elvis met and developed a relationship with former Playboy model, Bebe Buell (mother of Liv Tyler). Their on-again-off-again courtship would last until 1984 and would allegedly become a deep well of inspiration for some of Costello's most lovelorn songs.
Imperial Bedroom (1982) marked a much darker, almost baroque sound for Costello, due in large part to the production of Geoff Emerick, famed for engineering several Beatles records. Featuring a superior set of songs—both musically and lyrically—it remains one of his most critically acclaimed records but again failed to produce any hit singles. Costello has said he disliked the marketing pitch for the album, weak ads consisting only of the phrase "Masterpiece?". Imperial Bedroom also featured Costello's song "Almost Blue"; jazz singer and trumpeter Chet Baker would later perform and record a beautifully morose version of this song.
In May of 1986 Costello performed at Self Aid, a benefit concert held in Dublin that focused on the problem of chronic unemployment which was widespread in Ireland at that time.
In 1991, infamously having grown a long beard, Costello released Mighty Like a Rose, which featured the single "The Other Side of Summer". He also found time to co-compose and co-produce, with Richard Harvey, the title and incidental music for the acclaimed mini-series G.B.H. by Alan Bleasdale. This entirely instrumental, and largely orchestral soundtrack garnered a BAFTA, for "Best Music for a TV Series" for the pair.
In 1993, Costello tested the classical music waters with a critically acclaimed collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet on The Juliet Letters. Costello returned to rock and roll the following year with a project that reunited him with The Attractions, Brutal Youth.
In 2001, Costello was announced as the featured "artist in residence" at UCLA (although he ended up making fewer appearances than expected) and wrote the music for a new ballet. He produced and appeared on an album of songs for opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter, For The Stars. Appropriately enough, this album came out on Deutsche Grammophon.
Costello released another album that same month: The Delivery Man, recorded in Oxford, Mississippi, and released on Lost Highway Records. Mainly blues, country, and folk, The Delivery Man received early acclaim as one of Costello's best albums, and continues Costello's personal quest to release an album on each of Universal's record labels.
Starting in 2001, Rhino Records began an eighteen double-disc reissue program for Costello's back catalogue prior to his Polygram/Universal contract. Except for the compilation, each of the reissues presented the remastered original album on one disc, and a separate bonus disc of B-sides, outtakes, live tracks, alternate versions and/or demos of songs.
Costello's early single on Stiff can be found on the Ultimate Stiff Records Discography site: http://www.buythehour.se/stiff/ |
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