Adrian Belew
Encyclopedia : A : AD : ADR : Adrian Belew
Adrian Belew (born December 23, 1949 as Robert Steven Belew) is an American guitarist and vocalist (and sometimes drummer, pianist and bass player), perhaps best known for his work as a member of the progressive rock group King Crimson, which he first joined in 1981. He has also released a number of solo albums for Island Records and Atlantic Records, and has worked with many other musicians. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2005, for his single, "Beat Box Guitar", which was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
In addition, Belew is well-regarded for his contributions, particularly on guitar, to various other artists' recordings. In 1977, he performed with Frank Zappa, appearing in Zappa's 1979 concert film Baby Snakes, as well as Zappa's controversial album Sheik Yerbouti. In addition to playing lead guitar on David Bowie's 1979 album, Lodger, he also supported him on his Stage world tour in 1978 and the Sound + Vision world tour in 1990 as musical director, playing guitar and singing backing vocals.
Belew's other session credits include the 1980 album Remain in Light by the Talking Heads, Lights Out by Peter Wolf, and Paul Simon's landmark 1986 album Graceland. He worked with Laurie Anderson during the mid-1980s, appearing in her concert film Home of the Brave. During the 1990s, he contributed to two Nine Inch Nails albums, The Downward Spiral and The Fragile. He played synthesized guitar on the song "God Shuffled His Feet" by Crash Test Dummies in 1993.
In the late-1980s, Belew formed the pop band The Bears with ex-Raisins members and released two albums, The Bears and Rise and Shine. A third album, Car Caught Fire, followed in 2001.
He features prominently on Tori Amos's 2001 cover album, Strange Little Girls. He also contributed his lead guitar stylings to Porcupine Tree's latest album, Deadwing (2005) as well as to a track ("I Can't Get Behind That", also featuring Henry Rollins) on the 2004 Ben Folds-produced William Shatner album Has Been.
He even appeared in a series of Japanese advertisements promoting the mechanic company Daikin in which he emmulated animal noises with his electric guitar and appeared as the conductor, conducting a symphony in which all the members were himself playing guitar.
Discography
- Lone Rhino (1982)
- Twang Bar King (1983)
- Desire Caught By the Tail (1986)
- Mr. Music Head (1989)
- Young Lions (1990)
- Desire of the Rhino King (1991)
- Inner Revolution (1992)
- Here (1994)
- (1995)
- Acoustic Adrian Belew (1995)
- Op Zop Too Wah (1997)
- (1998)
- Salad Days (1998)
- Coming Attractions (2000)
- Stereotype Be (2001, with Kevin Max)
- Raven Songs 101 (2004, with Kevin Max)
- Side One (2005)
- Side Two (2005)
- Side Three (2006)
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||
| US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Mainstream Rock | UK | |||
| 1989 | "Oh Daddy" | #58 | #5 | - | - | Mr. Music Head |
| 1990 | "Pretty Pink Rose" (with David Bowie) | - | #2 | #24 | - | Young Lions |
| 1990 | "Men in Helicopters" | - | #17 | - | - | Young Lions |
External links
- [Adrian Belew] - official site
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.