Rachel Fuller | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Ipswich, England | 24 July 1973
Genres | Rock, pop |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician, composer |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano |
Labels | Various |
Spouse(s) | |
Website | myspace |
Rachel Fuller (born 24 July 1973) is a British musician. She is a pop music artist, a composer, and occasional collaborator with her husband rock musician Pete Townshend.
Born in Ipswich, England, Fuller later moved with her family to Southend-on-Sea. She started playing piano at the age of six and composing music at the age of ten, and her original ambition was to be a concert performer. She attended St. Michael's, a private school in Leigh, where her mother was the school deputy.
Rachel Fuller's teenage years were filled with numerous music competitions, songwriting with her best friend Mikey Cuthbert and a lengthy stint as an organist in a funeral home, [1] where she performed up to eleven times a day.
As an in-demand orchestrator, with her works recorded by the London Chamber Orchestra, Fuller met The Who's Pete Townshend in 1996, becoming the arranger for his The Lifehouse Chronicles album and subsequent concerts at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. [1]
With Townshend she co-wrote a song titled "It's Not Enough" featured on The Who's studio album Endless Wire , released in 2006. [2] This song also appeared in Pete Townshend's musical The Boy Who Heard Music , along with the song "I Can Fly," written solely by Fuller. Townshend later contributed material to Fuller's musical Ash.
Cigarettes and Housework, her first album, was released in 2004 after she was signed to Universal Records by Doug Morris. [3] The album includes musical contributions from Townshend, Pino Palladino and Mark Brzezicki. The track "Around This Table" featured a spoken vocal from her friend Jerry Hall, who invited Fuller in turn to appear as her sidekick on VH1's reality program Kept . Fuller appeared as herself in the episode "Gamesmanship".
Fuller has collaborated with Delerium, performing her own track "Touched" on their 2003 Nettwerk release Chimera. Her song "Wonderland" was picked for the soundtrack of the movie Shall We Dance? , released in 2004 [4] on the Casablanca label, starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez. In 2006 she released an EP of five songs, called Shine. The songs were partially or wholly reworked versions of ones she had previously released on her first blog, or added to her profile on the Independent Artists Company website.
Fuller scored a classical adaptation of The Who's Quadrophenia . The adaptation was issued on CD as Classic Quadrophenia featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Oriana Choir, along with tenor Alfie Boe. Pete Townshend and Billy Idol also recorded vocals. The two joined also appeared for the work's live concert premiere, on 5 July 2015 at London's Royal Albert Hall. [5]
Beginning in 2005, Fuller hosted the show In the Attic , a live webcast of music and guests, including The Flaming Lips, E, The Raconteurs, Foy Vance, Adele and Martha Wainwright from Townshend's Oceanic studios in London and also from the road at UK summer music festivals. [6] Though casual in presentation, the broadcasts use state-of-the-art satellite broadcast technology and they are an attempt to change the way live performances of musical artists can be accessed.
In 2006 and 2007, Fuller went on tour with The Who, producing live webcasts of In the Attic and performing her own music live at various venues, including South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
In July 2008, feeling she had been neglecting her singer-songwriter side, Fuller embarked on an ambitious week-long journey to record a full album while staying in her flat in Kew, west London, [7] limiting her excursions to its few local shops.
Fuller shared the flat with no one aside from Townshend's dog, Wistle (named after John Entwistle), and online fans following each step of the process via a dedicated 'Week In Kew' website. She crafted one song each day, writing lyrics on the walls of the flat and documenting the experience in the website blog. [7] Fuller also involved her fans by providing interactive services including a live chat room and forum where users could leave feedback and listen to song samples as they were produced.
At the close of her week in Kew, Fuller made the entire album available for free on the website. The songs are a reflection of the artistic process Fuller experienced, joining personal stories with observations and reflections on her time spent in Kew, as well as an homage to her chat room fans.
On 11 August 2008, a workshop performance of Fuller's musical Ash was performed at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston Kingsland, North-East London, as part of the Grimeborn Festival. [7] With a book by Jack Shepherd, Ash revolves around the lives of and relationship between a teenager, Sarah, who works as an organist in a crematorium and feels caged, and her mother, Louise, who by contrast lives a life with even more abandon than that her daughter herself desires. The show examines themes of life and death and contemporary attitudes to both.
Fuller and Jack Shepherd had been introduced by a mutual friend who worked at the Globe Theatre. Ash contains autobiographical elements of Fuller's life, and as part of research, she and Jack Shepherd visited Southend Crematorium [8] in early 2008.
She resides in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames with her husband Pete Townshend, whom she married in 2016. [4] Rachel is a dog lover and is affiliated with PAAWS Antigua, a non-profit animal rescue shelter in Antigua and Barbuda.
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century. Their contributions to rock music include the development of the Marshall stack, large public address systems, the use of synthesizers, Entwistle's and Moon's influential playing styles, Townshend's feedback and power chord guitar technique, and the development of the rock opera. They are cited as an influence by many hard rock, punk, power pop and mod bands. The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. His aggressive playing style and poetic songwriting techniques, with the Who and in other projects, have earned him critical acclaim.
Quadrophenia is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Who, released as a double album on 26 October 1973 by Track Records. It is the group's third rock opera, the previous two being the "mini-opera" song "A Quick One, While He's Away" (1966) and the album Tommy (1969). Set in London and Brighton in 1965, the story follows a young mod named Jimmy and his search for self-worth and importance. Quadrophenia is the only Who album entirely written & composed by Pete Townshend.
Psychoderelict is a concept album written, produced and engineered by Pete Townshend. Some characters and issues presented in this work were continued in Townshend's later opus The Boy Who Heard Music, first presented on the Who's eleventh studio album Endless Wire (2006) and then adapted as a rock musical.
Endless Wire is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Who, released on 30 October 2006 in the UK through Polydor Records and the following day in the US by Universal Republic. It was their first new studio album of original material in 24 years following the release of It's Hard in 1982, as well as their first since the death of their founding bassist John Entwistle. It was originally due to be released in early 2005 under the working title WHO2.
The discography of the English rock band the Who consists of 12 studio albums, 18 live albums, four soundtrack albums, 36 compilation albums, four extended plays, 58 singles and 25 video albums.
Simon Townshend is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the younger brother of the Who's guitarist Pete Townshend, and is most associated with The Who and the various side projects of its original members. Simon Townshend has also performed with numerous other acts including Pearl Jam, Dave Grohl and Jeff Beck.
Then and Now is a 2004 greatest hits compilation album by The Who released internationally by Polydor Records and by Geffen Records in the United States. It features 18 Who classics and two new tracks—"Real Good Looking Boy" and "Old Red Wine"—which were the first Who originals since "Dig" from Pete Townshend's 1989 album The Iron Man. "Real Good Looking Boy" is a tribute to Elvis Presley, and "Old Red Wine" is a tribute to former band member John Entwistle, who died in 2002. The album was re-released in 2007 and replaced "Old Red Wine" with "It's Not Enough" from the 2006 album Endless Wire and "Summertime Blues" was replaced by "Baba O'Riley".
"5:15" is a song written by Pete Townshend of British rock band The Who. Part of the band's second rock opera, Quadrophenia (1973), the song was also released as a single and reached No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart, while the 1979 re-release reached No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"The Real Me" is a song written by Pete Townshend on The Who's second full-scale rock opera, Quadrophenia in 1973. This is the second track on the album, although it is the first with lyrics. It concerns a boy named Jimmy, a young English Mod with four distinct personalities. The song describes how he angrily deals with several individuals to identify "the real me". The song was released as a single in the United States and Canada in 1974.
"Love, Reign o'er Me", subtitled "Pete's Theme", is a song by English rock band The Who. Written and composed by guitarist Pete Townshend, it was released on 27 October 1973 as the second single from the band's sixth studio album and second rock opera, Quadrophenia. It is the final song on the album, and has been a concert staple for years. The song peaked at number 76 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 54 on Cash Box.
"I'm One" is a song by The Who. It was released on the group's 1973 rock opera album Quadrophenia. Written and sung by Pete Townshend, the song has since become a fan favorite.
Mikey Cuthbert is an English singer-songwriter still based in Essex. Cuthbert's work is published by Eel Pie Recording Production Limited, Pete Townshend's publishing company.
In the Attic was a live weekly webcast from Pete Townshend's Oceanic studios in London hosted by British singer-songwriters Rachel Fuller and Mikey Cuthbert. This lively show features regular guest appearances by Pete Townshend, Simon Townshend and Jerry Hall. The shows feature musical numbers, short films and other special guests. In the Attic began in October 2005 as a way to entertain Fuller's devoted web fans. It has gained a steady following on the internet as it attracts a blend of fans, mainly those of Rachel Fuller, The Who, Pete Townshend's solo work, and Simon Townshend's band, 'The Casbah Club'.
Peter Huntington is a British drummer for Rachel Fuller, and occasional drummer for her partner, Pete Townshend. Due to Zak Starkey's touring commitments with the band, Oasis, Huntington was the main drummer for The Who's first album in 24 years, Endless Wire. Huntington also completed the drumming on the expanded 2011 Quadrophenia box set. He has also played for Darren Hayes, formerly of Savage Garden.
Jolyon Keith Dixon is an English guitarist and a member of Rachel Fuller's band. He played guitar on The Who's 2006 album Endless Wire.
"Drowned" is a song written by Pete Townshend, the guitarist for the Who, for their sixth album, Quadrophenia.
Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock was the title of an unreleased 1972 autobiographical album by the British rock band The Who. In the liner notes for the Who's 1974 rarities collection Odds & Sods, guitarist and lead songwriter Pete Townshend said, "I had an idea once for a new album about the history of The Who called Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock. That idea later blossomed into Quadrophenia." The sessions for the album spanned from 19 May to 6 June at Olympic Studios in London. Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock was to be produced by The Who and Glyn Johns and scheduled for release in October 1972, but although the album was nearly completed the band felt as though it sounded too much like their 1971 LP Who's Next. Townshend later stated that Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock was also going to be a TV special about The Who.
Quadrophenia is a stage musical based on the sixth studio album by English rock band The Who, released on 19 October 1973, and a film of the same name, released in 1979. The album was the group's second full-length rock opera, and the story reveals social, musical and psychological events from an English teenager's perspective. The music and songs were composed by Pete Townshend and the story is set in London and Brighton in 1964 and '65.
Quadrophenia Live in London is a live release from British rock band, The Who. It documents their 8 July 2013 concert at London's Wembley Arena, the final show of their 2013 tour. It is available as a double-CD album, DVD, Blu-ray and deluxe box set and was released on 9 June 2014. The DVD debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Music Video Sales Chart.