Justine Frischmann | |
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![]() Frischmann performing in August 1995 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Justine Elinor Frischmann |
Born | Twickenham, London, England | 16 September 1969
Genres | Alternative rock, Britpop |
Occupation(s) | Musician, painter artist |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
Years active | 1989–2002 (musician) 1999–present (painter, artist) |
Partner(s) | Brett Anderson (1988–1991) Damon Albarn (1991–1998) Ian Faloona (2008–present) |
Website | justinefrischmann |
Justine Elinor Frischmann (born 16 September 1969) [1] is an English artist and retired musician. She was the lead singer of the Britpop band Elastica after forming Suede, before retiring from the music industry and pursuing a career as an artist.
Frischmann was born on 16 September 1969 in Twickenham, London, the daughter of Wilem Frischmann, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who is the former chairman of the Pell Frischmann company of consulting engineers, and a Russian mother. [2] [3] [4] Her parents are both Jewish. She grew up in Twickenham, Greater London, [5] and attended St Paul's Girls School, [2] before studying at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London from 1989 to 1993. [6]
Frischmann began writing and studying music at age 11. [2]
She was a founding member of the band Suede with Brett Anderson, whom she met at UCL in 1988. She left the band in October 1991. [2] In the 2018 documentary The Insatiable Ones, Anderson cites her as a highly significant influence on the band's first album. [7]
Frischmann later founded and fronted her own band, Elastica. In 1994, Elastica were voted Best New Band by NME readers at the Brit awards. They were signed to Deceptive Records in the UK, and later with Geffen Records in Europe and the US. Their first album, Elastica , released in 1995, became the fastest-selling debut album in UK history. In 1995, Elastica were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for Elastica. The album went on to sell over a million copies worldwide. In 2001 the band announced an amicable breakup, citing, in part, burnout from a grueling touring schedule.
Frischmann spent the next few years developing artist M.I.A., whom she discovered. M.I.A. was Frischmann's friend and flatmate. Frischmann co-wrote and produced M.I.A.'s demos for her first album, Arular , most notably its 2003 single "Galang".
In 2017, Rough Trade Records released a remastered version of Elastica. In 2019, Rough Trade released a limited edition Elastica BBC sessions album on UK Record Store Day.
In 2003, Frischmann co-presented a series called Dreamspaces for the BBC Television about modern architecture. In 2004, she presented The South Bank Show and was a judge for the RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture.
In 2005, Frischmann moved to Boulder, Colorado, to enroll in a masters program in visual arts at Naropa University, a small, Buddhist-inspired liberal arts college, [8] and "become a nobody". In 2012 her work was shortlisted for the UK's Marmite Prize for painting, and she has been included in The Amsterdam List of 1000 Living Painters. [9]
In a 2016 interview regarding her art career, Frischmann stated, "I don't really have any desire to make music, to be honest." [10]
Frischmann has said, "The themes and ideas I am working with are in direct relation to an ongoing personal narrative; the big questions are reflected in the choices I make in my art ... [including] my ever-evolving relationship with my spiritual faith. I think my approach and aesthetics reveal internal struggles and speak to my family origins and history." [11]
Frischmann previously dated her Suede bandmate Brett Anderson. [12] She then dated Blur lead singer Damon Albarn from 1991 until the couple broke up in 1998, which served as inspiration for Blur's 1999 singles "No Distance Left to Run" and "Tender". She married UC Davis Professor Ian Faloona [13] in 2008 and lives in the North Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. [11] [14] [15]
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, in reaction to the darker lyrical themes and soundscapes of the US-led grunge music and the UK's own shoegaze music scene. The movement brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the larger British popular cultural movement, Cool Britannia, which evoked the Swinging Sixties and the British guitar pop of that decade.
Damon Albarn is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer from Whitechapel, London. He is the frontman and main lyricist of the rock band Blur and the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual band Gorillaz.
Suede are an English rock band formed in London in 1989 by singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Justine Frischmann, and bass player Mat Osman. Drawing inspiration from glam rock and post-punk, Suede were dubbed "The Best New Band in Britain" by Melody Maker in 1992, and attracted much attention from the British music press. The following year their debut album Suede went to the top of the UK Albums Chart, becoming the fastest-selling debut album in almost ten years. It won the Mercury Music Prize and helped foster 'Britpop' as a musical movement, though the band distanced themselves from the term.
Blur is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 10 February 1997 by Food Records. Blur had previously been broadly critical of American popular culture and their previous albums had become associated with the Britpop movement, particularly Parklife, which had helped them become one of Britain's leading pop acts. After their previous album, The Great Escape, the band faced media backlash and relationships between the members became strained.
13 is the sixth studio album by the English alternative rock band Blur, released on 15 March 1999. Continuing the stylistic shift away from the Britpop sound of the band's early career, 13 explores experimental, psychedelic and electronic music.
Elastica is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band Elastica. It was released in March 1995 through Deceptive Records in the UK and DCG/Geffen Records internationally. The album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. This is the only album to feature the original line-up, and guitarist Donna Matthews.
Brett Lewis Anderson is an English singer best known as the lead singer and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted the Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004–2006, and released four solo albums on which he also played guitar and keyboards. Suede re-formed in 2010; they continue to record and tour.
Suede is the debut album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in March 1993 on Nude Records. It was recorded in London at Master Rock studios late 1992 and early 1993 and was produced by Ed Buller. At the time the fastest-selling debut album in British history in almost a decade, Suede debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart, won the 1993 Mercury Music Prize, and is often cited as one of the first Britpop records. Displaying a sound of Britishness and glam rock, its music and lyrical content has been compared to the Smiths and early David Bowie.
"Stutter" is the debut single by the Britpop group Elastica and was written by lead singer Justine Frischmann. It was originally released as a single in the UK in November 1993 and in the US in September 1994. The song was later included on the band's 1995 self-titled debut album. The single, which received positive reviews from critics, charted in the US and Canada.
"The Drowners" is the debut single of English rock band Suede, released on 11 May 1992 on Nude Records. It was later included on the band's debut album, Suede (1993). "The Drowners" charted at number 49 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Trash" is the first single from English rock band Suede's third studio album, Coming Up (1996). Released on 29 July 1996 via Nude Records, "Trash" was the first single on which all the songs were written without guitarist Bernard Butler, since Richard Oakes had taken his place. The single is tied with "Stay Together" as the band's highest-charting single on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number three; however, it outsold the earlier single, thus making it their biggest-selling single. Outside the UK, the song topped the Finnish Singles Chart and reached the top five in Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden. Melody Maker ranked "Trash" number four in their list of "Singles of the Year" in 1996.
Justin Steven Welch is an English musician, best known as the drummer in Elastica, Suede, and later the drummer in Lush. Welch is currently the drummer of The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Elastica were an English rock band formed in London in 1992 by ex-Suede members Justine Frischmann and Justin Welch. The band was stylistically influenced by punk rock, post-punk and new wave music. The band's members changed several times, with Frischmann and Welch being the only members who remained in Elastica from its formation to its dissolution.
Donna Lorraine Matthews is a Welsh musician who was the lead guitarist of the Britpop band Elastica.
The Menace is the second and final studio album by English rock band Elastica, released in the UK via Deceptive Records on April 3, 2000, and internationally on August 22, 2000 through Atlantic Records.
Simon Gilbert is an English drummer and member of the English band Suede, one of the 'Big Four' Britpop bands of the 1990s, along with Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Gilbert is the third-longest serving member of Suede, and along with founders Brett Anderson and Mat Osman appears on every Suede album.
The Radio One Sessions is a compilation of BBC Radio One sessions recorded by Britpop group Elastica. The album is notable for the appearance of several songs not included on any other Elastica release.
Love and Poison is the official biography of the English alternative rock band Suede. The book, written by long-time band associate David Barnett, reveals the real stories behind singer Brett Anderson's battle with drugs, his relationship with Elastica's Justine Frischmann and the subsequent feud with Blur after she started stepping out with Damon Albarn.
"Waking Up" is a song by Britpop group Elastica. It was released as a single in February 1995 and reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. It preceded the release of their self-titled debut album, which came out the following month.