 |
Mickey O'Brien | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, musician, radio presenter |
| Instrument(s) | Piano, flute, keyboards, drums |
Mickey "Beans" O'Brien is an English composer and musician.
| |
Mickey O'Brien | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, musician, radio presenter |
| Instrument(s) | Piano, flute, keyboards, drums |
Mickey "Beans" O'Brien is an English composer and musician.
O'Brien was raised in an Irish Catholic family in Wandsworth, South London. She started playing piano at the age of eight, learning to play through genres such as classical, swing and ragtime.
O'Brien is a classically trained pianist and flutist, but she is also a self-trained composer and arranger.
While studying for a degree from King's College London, she also spent time playing with Past Caring and was part of the squat gig scene with The Libertines, The Others and Left Hand. O'Brien also worked in a vintage shop in Camden Market where many of her peers were musicians from the early 2000s Camden scene.
O' Brien is the only original touring member of La Roux since 2008 and has toured the world playing numerous gigs, including Glastonbury and Coachella. She and bandmate Elly Jackson met when her sister recommended O'Brien as a keyboardist. O'Brien was in the band Ali Love, but they disbanded and O'Brien joined Jackson. They have remained very good friends ever since. [1]
She had a brief role as a burger seller [2] in Mat Whitecross' Spike Island, a film about The Stone Roses because she cites The Stone Roses as one of her favourite bands. She was in a scene with her ex-boyfriend Jim Sturgess.
O'Brien's extensive knowledge and opinions on music as well as friendly handling of guests, won her a show Boogaloo Radio after being a guest on John Brices' Boogaloo Show commemorating the death of Mark E. Smith of The Fall.
Every Monday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm; O'Brien hosts her own radio show live on Boogaloo Radio called Beans on Boogaloo. [3] Her style is informal and friendly, and she chats with guests whilst playing music. Her past guests have included Alan McGee, Ian Broudie, Mark Collins from The Charlatans, and Elly Jackson, her friend and bandmate from La Roux.
Currently she is a panelist on CirKT a Mayor Of London run program encouraging musicians and grassroots venues to flourish in London. She appeared on London Live on 4 March with organizer Anna Doyle to promote the program.
Her work of note includes composing the score for Paul Sng's film documentary Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle . This was aired on Channel 5 under the title: Social Housing, Social Cleansing. [4]
O'Brien also provided the title music for the trailer of the launch of the book: Invisible Britain: Portraits of Hope and Resilience.
Currently O'Brien is composing the score for the documentary Theodore and working on music for a documentary on X-Ray Spex' seminal singer, Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliche .
In January 2019, O'Brien composed a piece of music for British designer Edward Crutchley for his show at the Truman Brewery during London Fashion Week.
O'Brien plays very few solo gigs. However; she has collaborated with The Preservation Room on a few occasions and throughout 2015/2016 played gigs for the creator John Kye. [5] She also played for a fundraising gig in Dalston for Poly Styrene, and another charity gig at The Windmill Brixton organised by prolific producer and musician Dan Carey. In July 2018 she played a gig at The Phoenix Arts Bar in Soho.
X-Ray Spex was an English punk rock band formed in 1976 in London.
David Lloyd Stewart is an English keyboardist and composer known for his work with the progressive rock bands Uriel, Egg, Khan, Hatfield and the North, National Health, and Bruford. Stewart is the author of two books on music theory and wrote a music column for Keyboard magazine (USA) for thirteen years. He has also composed music for TV, film and radio, much of it for Victor Lewis-Smith's ARTV production company. He has worked with singer Barbara Gaskin since 1981.
Koko is a concert venue and former theatre in Camden Town, London, England.
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Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, known by the stage name Poly Styrene, was an English musician, singer-songwriter, and frontwoman for the punk rock band X-Ray Spex.
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Flowered Up were an English indie pop-alternative dance band, formed in Camden Town, London, in 1989, active during the Baggy movement. Their 13-minute single "Weekender" reached the UK top 20. The band split up in 1994 amid drug problems. Following a failed reformation attempt in 2007 and a solo record deal that fell through, frontman Liam Maher died from a heroin overdose in 2009, followed by his brother Joe from complications of long-term ill-health, in 2012.
Diane Catherine Sealy, known as Dee C. Lee or Dee C Lee, is a British singer. Born to Saint Lucian parents, she grew up in south-east London. Early in her career, she was a member of the British band Central Line under the aliases Dee Sealy in 1981 and Dee C. Lee in 1983. She was a backing singer for Wham!, then released her first solo single, "Selina Wow Wow", in 1984. She started working with The Style Council in 1984, while continuing as a solo artist.
Roger O'Donnell is an English keyboardist best known as a longtime member of The Cure, which he first joined in 1987 and for which he has served three different tenures. O'Donnell has also performed as a touring and session keyboardist for many artists and maintains an active solo career.
Lucy O'Brien is a British author and journalist whose work focuses on women in music.
Helen Lindsay Marnie is a Scottish musician, known as the lead vocalist and one of the keyboardists and songwriters of the electronic band Ladytron. In 2012, she started a solo career as Marnie and released her debut solo album Crystal World on 11 June 2013. Her second solo album, Strange Words and Weird Wars, was released on 2 June 2017.
"Back Off Boogaloo" is a song by English rock musician Ringo Starr that was released as a non-album single in March 1972. Starr's former Beatles bandmate George Harrison produced the recording and helped Starr write the song, although he remained uncredited as a co-writer until 2017. Recording took place in London shortly after the pair had appeared together at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows in August 1971. The single was a follow-up to Starr's 1971 hit song "It Don't Come Easy" and continued his successful run as a solo artist. "Back Off Boogaloo" peaked at number 2 in Britain and Canada, and number 9 on America's Billboard Hot 100. It remains Starr's highest-charting single in the United Kingdom.
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Carl "Cubby" Patrick O'Brien, better known by his nickname Cubby, is an American drummer and former child actor. He is known as one of the original Mouseketeers on the weekday ABC television program The Mickey Mouse Club from 1955 to 1958.
Lora Logic is a British saxophonist, singer and songwriter from Wembley, London. Logic was a founding member of London punk band X-Ray Spex, and wrote the saxophone parts for their debut album, Germfree Adolescents. After leaving X-Ray Spex, Logic founded her own band, Essential Logic, which released one full-length album in 1979. Logic has been called "one of post-punk's most notable atypical girls."
La Roux is an English synth-pop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album La Roux (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles such as "In for the Kill" and "Bulletproof". Recording of a follow-up album was marred by unsuccessful collaborations, the cancellation of two planned release dates, and reported conflict between the duo.
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Gerald Thomas Moore is an English singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist with a recording career that stretches back to the early 1970s. Moore recorded and performed with numerous musicians such as Jimmy Cliff, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Thin Lizzy, Johnny Nash, and Joan Baez, and Airto Moreira covered his songs.
Supervision is the third studio album by English singer Elly Jackson, known professionally as La Roux. It was released on 7 February 2020 through Jackson's own independent label Supercolour Records. It is her first album recorded entirely as a solo act, following 2014's Trouble in Paradise, on which former member Ben Langmaid still contributed to a number of songs. Musically, Supervision continued the style of the preceding album, exploring the music of the 1980s and referencing funk and disco.