Roger O'Donnell

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Roger O'Donnell
Roger O'Donnell.jpg
O'Donnell performing in 2008
Background information
Born (1955-10-29) 29 October 1955 (age 68)
East London, England
Genres Post-punk, gothic rock, dark wave, alternative rock, new wave, synthpop
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • composer
Instrument(s)
  • Keyboards
  • tambourine
Years active1976–present
Member of The Cure
Formerly of The Psychedelic Furs
Berlin

Roger O'Donnell (born 29 October 1955) 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.

Contents

Career

O'Donnell was born in East London into a musical family, next to the piano in his parents' home. [1] O'Donnell briefly attended art school but left to pursue a career as a professional musician; his first paying gig was in 1976, backing Arthur Brown. [2] He also played in local bands, primarily in the jazz fusion genre, with future Cure bandmate Boris Williams. [3]

O'Donnell joined Thompson Twins as touring keyboardist in 1983, playing alongside Williams. During this period he also served as a session and touring keyboardist for Berlin and the Psychedelic Furs. [4] O'Donnell began a long association with synthesizers produced by Sequential Circuits, and while performing with the Psychedelic Furs he set a record for having the most Sequential models onstage at one time. [5]

In 1987, O'Donnell was recruited to join The Cure as touring keyboardist, at the recommendation of Williams who had been the band's drummer since 1984. [6] The Cure needed an additional keyboardist to supplement founding member Lol Tolhurst, who had become unreliable due to alcohol abuse. O'Donnell joined just before the release of the album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me and appeared in the videos for two of that album's singles, though he did not play on the studio recordings. [1]

At the end of the ensuing tour, group leader Robert Smith invited O'Donnell to join the Cure as an official member. [1] O'Donnell was a major contributor to their 1989 album Disintegration. [7] [8] Unhappy with the large stadium-sized shows that the Cure played during that album's tour, and with personal differences among bandmates, O'Donnell left the band for the first time in 1990. [1]

O'Donnell self-released the solo album Grey Clouds Red Sky in 1994. During this period, Smith revamped the lineup of the Cure due to multiple recent departures and invited O'Donnell to rejoin in early 1995. O'Donnell played on the band's next three albums: Wild Mood Swings , Bloodflowers , and The Cure . He was dismissed by Smith in 2005 in another revamping of the band's lineup. [1]

O'Donnell released three solo albums in the following years, including The Truth in Me , [9] and formed a record label called 99X/10 with longtime partner Erin Lang. [10] [11] He also contributed to a documentary about synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog. [2] In 2011 he and former Cure bandmate Lol Tolhurst discussed a collaboration to commemorate the band's early albums. The Cure themselves had been discussing such a project of their own, and O'Donnell and Tolhurst joined the band onstage at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. [12] O'Donnell then officially rejoined the Cure and remains with the band to the present day. [1]

In 2019, O'Donnell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cure. [13] Since rejoining the band, he has continued to release solo works regularly, most recently the album 2 Ravens in 2020; [14] and composed a classical suite called "Quieter Trees" for orchestral performance. [15]

Discography

Albums and compositions

EPs

Songs and scores

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cure</span> English rock band

The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith has remained the only constant member, though bassist Simon Gallup has been present for all but about three years of the band's history. Their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys (1979), along with several early singles, placed the band at the forefront of the emerging post-punk and new wave movements that had sprung up in the United Kingdom. Beginning with their second album, Seventeen Seconds (1980), the band adopted a new, increasingly dark and tormented style, which, together with Smith's stage look, had a strong influence on the emerging genre of gothic rock as well as the subculture that eventually formed around the genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Smith (musician)</span> English rock musician

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<i>Disintegration</i> (The Cure album) 1989 studio album by the Cure

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<i>Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me</i> 1987 studio album by the Cure

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Roger Joseph Manning Jr. is an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the bands Jellyfish, the Moog Cookbook, and Imperial Drag. He has also spent several years as a member of Beck's backing band, contributed to several recordings by the band Air, and toured or recorded with acts such as Jay-Z, Blink 182, and Johnny Cash. In 2005, he released his first solo record, Solid State Warrior, followed with Robo-Sapiens, Catnip Dynamite (2008), and Glamping (2018). He is usually credited by his full name to avoid confusion with the folk musician Roger Manning.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lol Tolhurst</span> British drummer and keyboardist

Laurence Andrew Tolhurst, known professionally as Lol Tolhurst, is an English musician, songwriter, producer, and author. He was a founding member of The Cure, for which he first played drums before switching to keyboards. He left the Cure in 1989 and later formed the bands Presence and Levinhurst. He has also published two books and developed the Curious Creatures podcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catch (The Cure song)</span> 1987 single by The Cure

"Catch" is a song by English rock band The Cure released on 22 June 1987 as the second single from their album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987). It was only released as a single in the UK, where it charted at No. 27, and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lullaby (The Cure song)</span> 1989 single by the Cure

"Lullaby" is a song by English rock band the Cure from their eighth studio album, Disintegration (1989). Released as a single on 10 April 1989, the song is the band's highest-charting single in their home country, reaching number five on the UK Singles Chart. It additionally reached number three in West Germany and Ireland while becoming a top-10 hit in several other European countries and New Zealand. The music video, directed by Tim Pope, won the British Video of the Year at the 1990 Brit Awards.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presence (band)</span>

Presence were a British rock band formed in 1990, best known for its associations with The Cure. They released the album Inside in 1992 and split the following year.

Levinhurst is an English electronica band formed by keyboardist/drummer Lol Tolhurst, a founding member of The Cure, and his wife Cindy Levinson on vocals. The band's name is a portmanteau of their surnames. To date, Levinhurst has released three studio albums.

The Cure: "Reflections" refers to a set of shows in which The Cure played their first three albums Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds and Faith in full at the VividLive festival at the Sydney Opera House on 31 May and 1 June 2011. All three albums were played in their entirety on both nights, along with several other tracks from the same era.

<i>Los Angeles</i> (Lol Tolhurst, Budgie, and Jacknife Lee album) 2023 studio album

Los Angeles is a collaborative studio album by Lol Tolhurst, Budgie, and Jacknife Lee. The album was released by PIAS Recordings on 3 November 2023. Tolhurst and Budgie, the drummers of the Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, respectively, wrote and composed the album with producer Lee in Los Angeles. It was recorded with guest singers and musicians, such as LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, U2 guitarist the Edge, Primal Scream vocalist Bobby Gillespie, and Modest Mouse singer Isaac Brock. The album is the solo debut of both Tolhurst and Budgie.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Price, Simon (2023). Curepedia: An A-Z of The Cure. New York, NY: William Morrow. pp. 263–265. ISBN   978-0-06-306864-3.
  2. 1 2 Lennon, Andi (14 October 2016). "Interview: Roger O'Donnell on finding his voice outside of The Cure". collide. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  3. ↑ Price, p. 415.
  4. ↑ "Interview with Roger O'Donnell of The Cure". Synth History. 21 March 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  5. ↑ "The Haunting of Roger O'Donnell | An Interview with The Cure Keyboardist and 2 Ravens composer". Post-Punk.com. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  6. ↑ "All My Keyboards: Roger O'Donnell". Synth History. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  7. ↑ "Making The Cure: Disintegration". Classic Pop Magazine. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  8. ↑ Brown, Jake (6 January 2010). "Recording Disintegration: 20 Years Ago". Glorious Noise. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  9. ↑ Uncut, ed. (2016). "The Cure". The Ultimate Music Guide. p. 144.
  10. ↑ "Roger O'Donnell (The Cure) releases new solo album '7 Different Words For Love' on 18th November on his own label 99X/10". 15 November 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  11. ↑ "Ten Questions with Roger O'Donnell". Textura. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  12. ↑ "The Cure playing first 3 albums in Sydney with ex-members Lol Tolhurst, Roger O'Donnell". Slicing Up Eyeballs. 5 May 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  13. ↑ Grow, Kory (30 March 2019). "Read Cure Frontman Robert Smith's Gracious Rock Hall Induction Speech". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  14. ↑ "Roger O'Donnell's album '2 Ravens' is perfect for quiet reflection". 3 September 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  15. ↑ Raggett, Ned (3 August 2015). "Love And Other Tragedies: Roger O'Donnell Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
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