Driscoll was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan to an American father and a Brazilian mother. He started playing piano and drums at an early age, eventually picking up the guitar when he turned 15. He soon began performing alongside his two older siblings in a band called Nectar.
The siblings embarked on a national tour and eventually landed a development deal with EMI Publishing when Bruce was aged 17. Soon after, they showcased for many of the US major record labels, including Warner Bros. Records, Maverick, and Capitol. In 2002 the siblings disbanded over creative differences and no worthy record deal on the horizon.[2]
Personal life
Driscoll is married to his Freedom Fry bandmate, Marie Seyrat. The couple have a young son and reside in Los Angeles, CA. [3]
Astaire
Bruce Driscoll performing live at The Hotel Café.
In 2003 Bruce and Erica Driscoll began recording songs in their parents' Michigan basement which would turn out to be early Astaire demos. The songs took a stylistically more left of center pop sound. The demos were sent to Andy Chase of Ivy who loved the songs and wanted to produce the duo at his studio, Stratosphere Sound, in New York. After working with Chase in the studio the siblings relocated to New York and released their first EP, Don't Whisper Lies, on their own label. The EP garnered the duo a feature in Entertainment Weekly as well as several film placements, including in the Jennifer Lopez film Monster-in-Law and the Nicolas Cage film Bangkok Dangerous.[4]
The EP's single, "L-L-Love" became an iTunes Free Single of the Week and the band embarked on a national tour with Ivy, Robbers on High Street, and Stars. In the middle of the tour, lawyers for the Fred Astaire Estate threatened to sue if the duo did not change their name. Lacking the money to afford legal fees they changed their name to Blondfire. [5]
Blondfire
The duo continued on as Blondfire signing a record contract with EMI UK in October 2006. Shortly thereafter EMI was bought out by Terra Firma and went through internal changes. The duo left the label in mid-2007 and self-released their debut album, My Someday, in April 2008.[6][7]
In April 2011, Driscoll met Parisian born Marie Seyrat during pre-production on Blondfire's "Where The Kids Are" video. Seyrat, the stylist on the video, played him a cover of her singing a song in French over a ukulele. Entranced by her whispery voice, Driscoll asked her if she would be interested in writing some songs together. In August of 2011 Freedom Fry released their first EP.[11]
Freedom Fry’s music combines many genres, with folk, indie pop, and dance elements. Their songs are primarily sung in English but there have been several French-language releases.[12]
Internationally, Driscoll has composed the score for Bangladeshi feature film, “Kingdom of Clay Subjects,” as well as for the Romanian comedy, Sweet Little Lies.
Driscoll composed the theme music for the cooking and travel TV series “From Scratch” starring David Moscow.
Collaborations
One of Driscoll’s most notable co-writes was with Tim Bergling, better known as Avicii, with whom and Erica Driscoll he co-wrote the song “Liar Liar” for his multi-platinum album, True.[19]
Freedom Fry collaborated with Chicago rapper Vic Mensa on the 2020 single “Happy Little Thoughts.” [20]
Throughout his career Driscoll has continued to collaborate with Ivy’sAndy Chase. First playing keyboards in Ivy, guitar in Chase's band Brookville, and then co-writing and producing tracks for his band, Camera2.[21]
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