Biography
Fair was born in Coldwater, Michigan. In 1974, he and his brother David formed the lo-fi group Half Japanese. Since then, Half Japanese has released nearly 30 records. [4]
Besides Half Japanese, Fair performs and records as a solo artist, and collaborates with artists such as Terry Adams, Kramer, Norman Blake, Kevin Blechdom, Isobel Campbell, Eugene Chadbourne, DQE, Steve Fisk, Fred Frith, God Is My Co-Pilot, Richard Hell, Daniel Johnston, J. Mascis, Jason Willett, Monster Party, Weird Paul Petroskey, R. Stevie Moore, Thurston Moore, The Pastels, Phono-Comb, Steve Shelley, Strobe Talbot, Teenage Fanclub, The Tinklers, Moe Tucker, Bill Wells, Jason Willett, Adult Rodeo, Lumberob, Yo La Tengo, and John Zorn. [5]
In 1982, Fair released his first solo work, the single "The Zombies of Mora-Tau" followed by the full-length album Everyone Knew ... But Me one year later.
Besides his musical career Fair is also active as a visual artist, drawings, as well as papercuttings. He took up papercutting to alleviate boredom while touring on the road. [6] Many of the album covers are made by Fair. Four books of Fair's art have been published. Exhibitions of Fair's paper cuts and drawings have taken place in New York, Tokyo, Glasgow, Austin, Paris, London, Houston, The Hague at the State-X New Forms festival, and in Nantes at Le Lieu Unique together with Daniel Johnston.
It's Spooky is a 1989 collaboration album by Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair. [7] Strange but True is a collaborative album between the band Yo La Tengo and Jad Fair. It was released by Matador Records in 1998. [8] Song titles on the album were taken from outrageous newspaper headlines. In 2002, Fair recorded an album with R. Stevie Moore, titled FairMoore, described as "a lovely, heartfelt effort that shows both in top form" by Dave Mandl, who stated that it "brings together two fiercely original figures in the American music underground", the album consisting of Fair reciting his poetry over Moore's instrumental backing. Words Of Wisdom And Hope is a collaboration between Glasgow, Scotland's Teenage Fanclub, and Fair, released in 2002.
In 2008, experimental instrument builder Yuri Landman constructed for Fair a special two-string instrument called the Bachelor QS. In 2011, Half Japanese reunited as a live band and toured through Europe. In 2011, Thick Syrup Records released the compilation album '78 LTD. This album features the track "36 Perfect Ways I Ching of Love" Fair made with Ken Stringfellow (Posies, R.E.M.). In 2012, Fair contributed to the Landman album That's Right Go Cats with a 22-minute vocal contribution on side A of the record. The Nantes-based venue Le Lieu Unique organised a large exhibition of graphical work made by Fair and Daniel Johnston in April 2012. In the same month Fair released a lost album called Songs from a Haunted House with Gilles Reider on Interbang Records.
In 2012, Jad Fair released a collaboration with French experimentalist trio Hifiklub and German guitarist/producer kptmichigan on Joyful Noise Recordings. The band was originally assembled to provide the audio component to Jad Fair's art exhibition at Le Dojo – Nice in France, 2011. [9]
