Edie Brickell | |
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![]() Brickell performing in 2011 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Edie Arlisa Brickell |
Born | Dallas, Texas | March 10, 1966
Genres | Alternative rock, folk rock, jam rock, jangle pop, neo-psychedelia, bluegrass |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, guitarist |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
Years active | 1985–present |
Labels | Geffen |
Member of |
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Spouse(s) |
Edie Arlisa Brickell (born March 10, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter widely known for 1988's Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars , the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went to No. 4 on the Billboard albums chart. She is married to singer-songwriter Paul Simon.
Brickell was born in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, to Larry Jean (Sellers) Linden and Paul Edward Brickell. [1] [2] She was raised with her older sister, Laura Strain. She attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts [3] in Dallas, and later studied at Southern Methodist University [4] until she joined a band and decided to focus on songwriting.
In 1985, Brickell was invited to sing one night with friends from her high school in a local folk rock group, New Bohemians. She joined the band as lead singer. After the band was signed to a recording contract, the label changed the group's name to Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. Their 1988 debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars , became a critical and commercial success, including the Top Ten single "What I Am". The band's follow-up album, Ghost of a Dog (1990), was a deliberate effort to highlight the band's eclectic personality and move away from the pop sound of their first record. [5]
In these first two albums and subsequent tours Brickell became known as a singer who could create lyrics on the spot. Of this talent she said, "It's nothing special...strange thoughts are always running through my head." [6]
The band sporadically played gigs after the album Ghost of a Dog in 1990, and in 2006 released Stranger Things . [7] [8] In 2018 they announced their latest album, Rocket , along with dates for a US tour. [9] The band released their fifth studio album Hunter and the Dog Star in 2021 available on CD and vinyl. [10]
Brickell had a role as a folk singer in the 1989 film Born on the Fourth of July . Her version of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" is featured on the film's soundtrack. She also sang a cover version of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" in the 1990 film Flashback .
As a solo artist, Brickell released Picture Perfect Morning (1994) and Volcano (2003). The video for Picture Perfect Morning's "Good Times" was included as part of the multimedia samples featured on Microsoft's Windows 95 Companion CD-ROM. [11] In 1992, she worked with producer Bob Wiseman in New York and Toronto on a collection of songs, utilizing a wind ensemble, unusual keyboards, and Ron Sexsmith. The songs were rejected by the record company and remain unreleased.
In 2010, Brickell became a founding member of new band The Gaddabouts, consisting of Steve Gadd on drums, Edie Brickell as lead vocalist and guitar, Andy Fairweather Low on electric and acoustic guitars and background vocals, Pino Palladino on bass and guitar, and featuring Dan Block, Ronnie Cuber, Joey DeFrancesco, Gil Goldstein, and Marcus Rojas. [12] In 2011, Brickell wrote the title track, "The Meaning of Life", for Tamar Halpern's film, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life .
Love Has Come for You was released on April 23, 2013. The album is a collaboration with Steve Martin. [13] Both appeared on talk shows, such as The View and Late Show with David Letterman , to promote the album in April 2013. [14] [15] [16] [17]
Starting in May 2013, she toured with Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers throughout North America. [18]
In 2016, the musical Bright Star –to which she contributed music, lyrics, and story [19] –opened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre.
In 2017, Brickell and Martin appeared in the documentary film The American Epic Sessions directed by Bernard MacMahon. They recorded "The Coo Coo Bird", a traditional English folk song, [20] live on the first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s. [21] The track appeared on the accompanying soundtrack, Music from The American Epic Sessions.
Brickell married singer-songwriter Paul Simon on May 30, 1992. [22] It was her first marriage and Simon's third. Brickell was performing "What I Am" [23] [24] on NBC's Saturday Night Live on November 5, 1988, when she noticed Simon standing in front of the cameraman. "Even though I'd performed the song hundreds of times in clubs, he made me forget how the song went when I looked at him. We can show the kids the tape and say, 'Look, that's when we first laid eyes on each other.'" Brickell and Simon have three children, Adrian, Lulu, and Gabriel. [25] [26]
Stephen Glenn Martin is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for his work in comedy films, television, and recording, he has received many accolades, including five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and an Honorary Academy Award, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards. He also received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2005, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, and an AFI Life Achievement Award in 2015. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics. The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians is an alternative rock jam band that originated in Dallas, Texas, in the mid-1980s. The band is widely known for their 1988 hit "What I Am" from the album Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars. Their music contains elements of rock, folk, blues, and jazz. Following the 1990 release of their second album Ghost of a Dog, lead singer Edie Brickell left the band and married singer-songwriter Paul Simon. In 2006, she and the band launched a new web site and released a new album, Stranger Things.
Matthew Chamberlain is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. He has played with various artists, including Pearl Jam, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, David Bowie, Tori Amos, The Wallflowers, Elton John, Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, Brandi Carlile, Garbage, Macy Gray, Soundgarden, Painted Shield.
Ghost of a Dog is the second album by American alternative rock band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released in 1990.
Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released on August 9, 1988, by Geffen Records. The album went 2× platinum in the United States.
"What I Am" is a song written by Edie Brickell and Kenny Withrow and recorded by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians for their debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars (1988). The song is highlighted by a guitar solo that notably features an envelope filter. It peaked at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100, topped the Canadian RPM 100 Singles chart, and became a top-20 hit in Australia and New Zealand. "What I Am" was ranked number 23 on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s".
Paul "Wix" Wickens is an English musician best known as keyboardist and musical director of Paul McCartney's touring band since 1989. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Wickens has also worked with artists including Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bon Jovi, Edie Brickell, Kevin Coyne and many others.
Robert William Blunt is a rock guitarist who has worked with a variety of bands, most notably with Robert Plant's solo band in the 1980s. Since leaving Plant's band in the mid-1980s, Blunt has provided session work for a number of artists such as Julian Lennon and Clannad. He was member of the band Bronco in the early 1970s.
Stranger Things is the third album by American jam band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, their first studio album in sixteen years. It was released on July 25, 2006, via Fantasy Records.
John Bradley Houser was an American bass guitar, baritone saxophone and bass clarinet player, originally from Dallas, Texas. He was a co-founding member of the New Bohemians, later to become known as Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. He also co-founded Critters Buggin with fellow New Bohemian Matt Chamberlain, Mike Dillon, and Skerik.
Jeffrey Carter Albrecht was an American musician best known for his keyboard and guitar work in Edie Brickell & New Bohemians.
Steep Canyon Rangers is an American bluegrass band based in Asheville and Brevard, North Carolina.
Love Has Come for You is a 2013 bluegrass music CD featuring a collaboration of 13 original songs composed by Steve Martin (music) and Edie Brickell. The album cover art is a painting entitled "After Dinner Drinks" (2008) by Martin Mull; the original work is in Steve Martin's personal art collection.
Nicky Sanders is a Grammy Award-winning, American fiddle player specializing in Bluegrass music. He is best known for his work with the band Steep Canyon Rangers along with banjo player and comedian Steve Martin. Raised in San Francisco, he began studying classical violin aged five. At 17, he became concertmaster of the Young People's Symphony Orchestra in Berkeley, California. Later he would graduate Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts earning a BA in Music with a major in performance (violin). Other studies while at Berklee included 20th-century classical music composition and Film Scoring.
Bright Star is a musical written and composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. It is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in 1945–46 with flashbacks to 1923. The musical is inspired by their Grammy-winning collaboration on the 2013 bluegrass album Love Has Come for You and, in turn, the folk story of the Iron Mountain Baby.
Edie Brickell is the third solo album by American singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, released in January 2011, in the same month that she released another album with her new band, The Gaddabouts.
The Gaddabouts is the first album by The Gaddabouts, released in January 2011, in the same month that band vocalist Edie Brickell released her third solo album. The band consists of Edie Brickell, drummer Steve Gadd, guitarist Andy Fairweather Low and bass player Pino Palladino.
Look Out Now! is the second album by The Gaddabouts, released in April 2012 as a double CD. The band consists of Edie Brickell, drummer Steve Gadd, guitarist Andy Fairweather Low and bass player Pino Palladino.
Rocket is an album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. The album was released on October 12, 2018, and is their first album since 2006's Stranger Things. The band wrote the songs on the album during the rehearsals of their 2017 La Rondalla Benefit Concert. After that they decided to record them, and the band recorded seven songs in eight days. The lead singer of the band, Edie Brickell, says that the album doesn't have too much structure, and often bounces between genres. Brickell also hopes that this album is a new beginning for the band and will bring them back on the radar.
Hunter and the Dog Star is the fifth studio album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, released in 2021.