A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(September 2022) |
Ben Watt | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Benjamin Brian Thomas Watt |
Born | Marylebone, London, England | 6 December 1962
Origin | Barnes, London, England |
Genres | |
Occupations |
|
Instruments |
|
Years active | 1981–present |
Labels |
|
Spouse | |
Website | benwatt |
Benjamin Brian Thomas Watt (born 6 December 1962) is a British musician, singer, songwriter, author, DJ, and radio presenter, best known as a member of the duo Everything but the Girl. [1]
Watt was born in Marylebone, London, and grew up in Barnes, the son of Scottish jazz bandleader and arranger Tommy Watt and Welsh showbusiness writer Romany Bain. [2] He has a total four older half-brothers and half-sisters. [1] [3]
Watt began recording in 1981 on the indie label Cherry Red. His first single 'Cant' was produced by folk-maverick Kevin Coyne and featured Richard Allen on viola and tambourine. His second release, 1982's 5-track EP Summer into Winter featured Robert Wyatt on backing vocals and piano. [4] His debut album North Marine Drive was released in 1983 and reached UK Independent Album Charts Top 10. He then put his solo career on hold and joined forces with vocalist Tracey Thorn, with whom he wrote and recorded for 17 years—together they created nine studio albums as Everything but the Girl (EBTG) after signing to Blanco Y Negro through Warners in 1984, and then Virgin in 1995. EBTG have received eight gold, and one platinum album BPI Certifications in the UK, and one gold album RIAA Certification in the US. [5] The song Missing reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1996.
Following EBTG's self-imposed hiatus in 2000, Watt immersed himself in the world of underground electronic music both as a DJ and recording artist/producer. His recorded output during this period includes club tracks such as Lone Cat (Holding On), A Stronger Man featuring Sananda Maitreya (formerly known as Terence Trent D'Arby), the Outspoken EP Part 1 including Pop A Cap in Yo' Ass featuring Estelle, Just a Blip and Guinea Pig. [6]
In 2014 Watt returned to his folk-jazz roots and released Hendra , his first solo album since 1983, the content of which was recorded with a new band including Bernard Butler, formerly of the band Suede—Watt explained that he knew that Butler would be the "perfect counterpoint to bring some darkness to the light." [7] Watt also worked with Berlin-based producer Ewan Pearson, and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. The album was released on a new record label, Unmade Road, founded by Watt in 2014. [8] [9] Watt completed over sixty live shows in support of Hendra including tours of UK, North America, Japan and Australia. The album won the 'Best 'Difficult' Second Album' category at the AIM Independent Music Awards 2014. [10] It was included at No 27 in Uncut's Top 75 Albums of 2014. [11] Rolling Stone (Germany) made it number two in its list of the best albums of 2014. [12] Japan's Music Magazine made it their No 3 best album of 2014. [13]
April 2016 saw the release of his third solo album Fever Dream . Self-produced at RAK Studios in London, it continued his relationship with Bernard Butler, and added guest cameos from MC Taylor of North Carolina folk-rock band, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Boston singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler. It received a 9/10 review in Uncut magazine. [14] In a four-star review, The Guardian said: "In his early 50s, he is making some of the best music of his career." [15]
In late 2022, Watt and Thorn announced a new Everything But The Girl album. [16] Fuse , released in April 2023, was the first EBTG album released in 24 years.
Watt's first memoir, Patient – The True Story of a Rare Illness (Penguin, 1996), describes his life-changing ordeal with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, a rare life-threatening autoimmune disease with which he was diagnosed and hospitalized in 1992, on the eve of a North American tour with Everything But The Girl. "An astonishingly assured anatomy of his ordeal, by turns terrifying, mordantly funny and intensely moving. Many people suffer the pain and indignities of intensive medical treatment; but few have written about it with quite such alarming vividness or clarity", wrote Mick Bown in The Daily Telegraph . [17] The book was listed as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Sunday Times Book of the Year chosen by William Boyd and a Village Voice Literary Supplement Favorite Book of the Year, and was also a finalist for the Esquire-Waterstones Best Non-Fiction Award in the UK. [18]
His second memoir, Romany and Tom—a portrait of his parents' lives and marriage—was published by Bloomsbury in February 2014. [19] "Neither sentimental nor savage, yet often wise, moving and entertaining within the same paragraph, Romany and Tom is a major achievement to rival any of Watt's recordings", said The Guardian. [20] "Watt captures what real life feels like, and he captures it with breathtaking clarity, beauty, and precision", said the Los Angeles Review of Books . [21] In September 2014 it was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2014. [22]
In 1998 Watt established the London deep house Sunday club night and compilation series Lazy Dog with Jay Hannan. The club night – where both Watt and Hannan DJ'd in a tag-team style – was hosted twice-monthly at the Notting Hill Arts Club in west London, and later every two months at The End in central London. Success led to appearances at the Miami Winter Music Conference and several tours of the United States. [23] Watt produced a string of dance remixes for Sade, Sunshine Anderson, Zero 7, Maxwell, Meshell Ndegeocello and Sandy Rivera. Lazy Dog ended on 16 May 2003 with a farewell closing party at The End in central London. Two mix compilations – Lazy Dog Vol. 1 [24] and Lazy Dog Vol. 2 [25] were released by Virgin Records in 2000 and 2001 respectively.
For three years between 2002 and 2005, Watt was a co-owner/founder of the West London nightclubs Neighbourhood and Cherry Jam. [26] Under Watt's creative direction Cherry Jam hosted underground club nights, art exhibitions, the inaugural events for the long-running spoken word night Book Slam [27] and The Libertines' official debut show. [28] [29] At Neighbourhood, Watt brought in artists such as Groove Armada and many international DJs to perform at his own in-house club nights. Watt also hosted the 25th Anniversary of the Rough Trade Records music label [30] and the inaugural House Music Awards ceremony. [31]
In April 2003, Watt launched his own independent deep house and techno record label Buzzin' Fly Records (named after the Tim Buckley song). The label proceeded to foster the careers of young and emerging producers/DJs such as Justin Martin, [32] Mademoiselle Caro & Franck Garcia, [33] and Rodamaal. [34] The label hosted Watt's own club productions as well as work from remixers such as Ame, Radio Slave, Charles Webster and John Tejada. Between 2003 and 2007 Watt also compiled and mixed four compilation albums, Buzzin' Fly Volumes 1–4, mixing tracks from the label with tracks from other artists.
Buzzin' Fly won Best Breakthrough Label at the House Music Awards in 2004, [31] and was awarded the Runner-up Best British Label by the DJ Magazine Awards in both 2007 and 2008. [35] In April 2013, on the label's tenth anniversary, Watt announced he was scaling back the label's activities to focus more fully on his own creative work. [36]
After a period of relative inactivity in 2017 Buzzin' Fly took control of the majority of the Everything But The Girl back catalogue, previously held by Warner Music. The transfer of rights was the result of Warner Music's obligation to release assets into the independent sector as part of the conditions surrounding its acquisition of EMI assets from Universal Music. A licensing deal with Chrysalis Records was simultaneously arranged for the shared curation of the catalogue. [37] A new Buzzin' Fly website was launched the same year presenting a new home for all three labels within the Buzzin' Fly group – Buzzin' Fly, Strange Feeling and Unmade Road. [38]
After several years of mostly London residencies, Watt performed as a DJ on the festival circuit in 2005, appearing at the Good Vibrations Festival in Australia, Homelands [39] and Lovebox in the UK, Coachella in the US, [40] and Ireland's Electric Picnic. In 2008 he opened the Sonar Festival in Barcelona, [41] appeared at the Exit Festival the same year and was a resident DJ from 2007 to 2009 at We Love Sundays on the Space Terrace in Ibiza. Giant Step promoted his three-year residency at Cielo in New York, and he played on the main stage at the inaugural Electric Zoo Festival on New York City's Randall's Island in 2009. [42] He was nominated four years running (2008–2011) as Best Deep House DJ at the global DJ Awards held in Ibiza, and for Outstanding Contribution to Dance Music at the DJ Magazine Best of British Awards 2009. [43]
Building upon the foundation of Buzzin' Fly, Watt launched Strange Feeling Records in 2007 as a sister label that would release alternative/indie music. The critically acclaimed Copenhagen band Figurines and the Hungarian trio The Unbending Trees were early signings of Strange Feeling. The label globally released and distributed the third solo album Love and Its Opposite by Watt's wife Tracey Thorn on 17 May 2010; the album was the label's fifth release. [44] This was followed by her alternative Christmas album, Tinsel and Lights, in 2012. [45] 2015 saw the release of Thorn's original soundtrack to The Falling – the debut feature film by British film director Carol Morley.
In 2014, Watt launched Unmade Road, a new label and production company to act as a vehicle for his return to recording and touring as a singer-songwriter. He secured a licensing deal for the label with Caroline International. The label released Watt's albums Hendra in 2014 and Fever Dream in 2016.
In 2006, Watt launched the online Buzzin' Fly radio show to showcase upcoming music from the label, new releases and guest mixes. It was re-broadcast on the Galaxy Network [46] and Kiss. In 2009, after more than 150 editions, Watt presented his last show and accepted an invitation to move to the BBC Radio 6 Music's flagship electronic radio show as a resident DJ on the 6 Mix; this show was cancelled in 2014. [47]
Watt lives with his spouse and creative partner Tracey Thorn in Hampstead, north London. They met at Hull University in 1981; after 27 years together, they married in 2009 at the Chelsea Register Office. [48] [49] They have three children. [50]
In 1992, Watt was diagnosed with Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), an extremely rare and potentially deadly autoimmune condition. [51] He eventually had 5 m (15 ft) of necrotized small intestine removed (about 75%), leaving him on a permanently restricted diet. He later wrote the memoir Patient about his experiences with the disease and recovery. [51]
Watt is part of an environmental advocacy group that advocates for cleanup and care of the Welsh Harp reservoir. He launched the group Cool Oak as part of his advocacy. [52]
Tracey Thorn is an English singer, songwriter, and author. She is best known as a member of the duo Everything but the Girl, active from 1982 to 2000, and again from 2022. She was in the band Marine Girls from 1980 to 1983. Since 2007 she has been active as a solo artist, and as a writer of books and essays.
Everything but the Girl are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer, songwriter, composer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, producer and singer Ben Watt. The group's early works have been categorized as sophisti-pop with jazz influences before undergoing an electronic music turn following the worldwide success of the 1994 hit single "Missing", remixed by Todd Terry.
Walking Wounded is the ninth studio album by English musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 6 May 1996 and issued by Virgin Records and Atlantic Records. The album saw the duo adopting a more electronica-based style, following the success of the remixed version of "Missing" from their previous album, Amplified Heart (1994).
Darren Paul Emerson is an English musician, DJ and producer best known as a former member of the British electronic music group Underworld.
Eden is the debut studio album by the British musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 4 June 1984, by Blanco y Negro Records. The album contains the single "Each and Every One", which peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart. The cover design was by lead singer Tracey Thorn's former colleague in Marine Girls, Jane Fox.
"Missing" is a song by English musical duo Everything but the Girl, taken from their eighth studio album, Amplified Heart (1994). It was written by the two band members, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, and was produced by Watt and John Coxon. It was taken as the second single off the album on 8 August 1994 by Blanco y Negro Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States. It initially did not achieve much success until it was remixed by Todd Terry and re-released in 1995, resulting in worldwide success, peaking at or near the top of the charts in many countries. The release of the remixed version of "Missing" gave an indication of the band's future experimentation with more electronic dance music on subsequent albums. Its music video was directed by Mark Szaszy.
Temperamental is the tenth studio album by English musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 27 September 1999 and issued by Virgin Records and Atlantic Records. It was the last Everything but the Girl album before they entered a two-decade hiatus.
Idlewild is the fourth studio album by British musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 29 February 1988 by Blanco y Negro Records and Sire Records.
Marine Girls were an English post-punk group from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The group was formed in 1980, by two sixth form schoolfriends; Tracey Thorn and Gina Hartman. Originally, Thorn just played guitar and Hartman was the lead vocalist and percussionist. Thorn overcame her shyness and started singing too by the time they started making records. They were later joined by Jane Fox on bass and her younger sister, Alice, on joint vocals and percussion.
Love Not Money is the second studio album by British band Everything but the Girl, which consisted of Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. It was produced by Robin Millar, recorded at Powerplant Studios in London and was released in the UK on 15 April 1985 by Blanco y Negro Records. It spent nine weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number 10. In the United States, Sire Records issued the album with two additional tracks.
The Language of Life is the fifth studio album by British musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 5 February 1990 by Atlantic Records and Blanco y Negro Records.
Worldwide is the sixth album by Everything but the Girl, released on 1 October 1991.
Acoustic is an album by Everything but the Girl, released in North America on 2 June 1992. It consists of Everything but the Girl's covers of six songs by other artists as well as two live recordings and four re-recordings of songs from the duo's repertoire. In the United Kingdom, the duo had released the Covers EP for Blanco y Negro, which had peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles chart dated 7 March 1992, with this release expanded into a full album for its release abroad.
Love and Its Opposite is the third solo studio album by former Everything but the Girl singer Tracey Thorn, released on 18 May 2010. The album was released on Thorn's husband Ben Watt's label Strange Feeling in the UK, and on Merge Records in North America. It was produced by Ewan Pearson, who also produced tracks on Thorn's previous album Out of the Woods. The album peaked at number 51 in the UK Albums Chart.
Tinsel and Lights is a Christmas album by British singer Tracey Thorn. It was released on 30 October 2012 on Buzzin' Fly Records and Merge Records. It is her fourth solo studio album.
Fever Dream is the third solo studio album by English singer, songwriter, author, and multi-instrumentalist Ben Watt. It was released on 8 April 2016 on Unmade Road. Self-produced at RAK Studios in London, it continues his relationship with guitarist Bernard Butler, begun on his award-winning 2014 album Hendra, and adds guest cameos from MC Taylor of North Carolina folk-rock band Hiss Golden Messenger, and Boston singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler. It received a 9/10 review in Uncut magazine. In a four-star review, the Guardian said: 'In his early 50s, he is making some of the best music of his career.'
Beach Party is the debut album of the British indie pop group, Marine Girls. The album was recorded in a home studio by Pat Bermingham and released as a cassette on his own In Phaze label in 1981. It was released on vinyl by Whaam! Records in 1981 and then by Cherry Red Records in 1987 and 2014. The albums Beach Party and Lazy Ways were reissued together on one CD with bonus tracks by Cherry Red Records in 1988.
Lazy Ways is the second album of the British indie pop group, Marine Girls. The album was released by Cherry Red Records in 1983. The song "Lazy Ways" appears on the Cherry Red showcase compilation Pillows & Prayers, while "A Place in the Sun" appears on Pillows and Prayers 2. The albums Lazy Ways and Beach Party were reissued together on one CD with bonus tracks by Cherry Red Records in 1988.
"Each and Every One" is the second single by the British music duo Everything but the Girl, that reached #28 in the UK charts in May 1984. It was the only single from the album Eden and the USA album Everything but the Girl.
Fuse is the eleventh studio album by British duo Everything but the Girl, released on 21 April 2023 through Buzzin' Fly and Virgin Records. It is their first studio album in almost 24 years following Temperamental (1999). The album was preceded by the single "Nothing Left to Lose" on 10 January 2023, followed by "Caution to the Wind", "Run a Red Light", and "No One Knows We're Dancing", in February, March, and April respectively.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)