Thom yorke

Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire) is a British musician, vocalist and main songwriter for the alternative rock group Radiohead. Known for his falsetto voice, the main instruments he plays are guitar and piano, but also synthesizer, bass, and drums.

Thom was born in 1968 in Northamptonshire and later moved with his family to Oxfordshire, where he attended Abingdon School and founded Radiohead with schoolmates. After finishing their studies at the University of Exeter, Radiohead signed with Parlophone; Their early hit "Creep," and later the album OK Computer (1997), made the group a celebrity, and Radiohead achieved critical acclaim and multi-platinum sales. The album Kid A (2000) expanded his work to electronic music.

In 2006, he released his debut solo album, The Eraser. In 2009 she formed the supergroup Atoms for Peace to perform songs from The Eraser and in 2013 she released an album with the band, Amok . In 2014 he released his second solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes. He has collaborated with artists like Flea, DJ Shadow, Björk, Flying Lotus or PJ Harvey. With artist Stanley Donwood he creates the covers and other artwork for Radiohead's albums.

He has been critical of the music industry and has pioneered alternative forms of music publishing, such as pay-what-you-want (pay-what-you-want) and BitTorrent, with Radiohead and solo. Outside of music, he is an activist for human rights, environmentalists, and anti-war causes.

In 2002, Q named Yorke the sixth most powerful person in music. In 2005, the readers of Blender and MTV2 voted him the 18th greatest singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Yorke as the 66th greatest singer of all time.

Early Years

Childhood

Abingdon school, where Yorke formed Radiohead with classmates.

Thom Yorke was born with facial paralysis, which forced him to undergo several operations in his childhood, leaving him with amblyopia. He has stated that his last operation was a complete mistake that caused his eyelid to droop.

His family moved often before settling in Oxfordshire, where Yorke's father was a nuclear physicist and worked as a chemical and equipment salesman, a position that required him to make constant trips across the country.

Thom entered the world of music at the age of seven, when he got his first guitar, encouraged by seeing Brian May at a televised Queen concert. Later, at around 10 years old, Yorke built his own homemade guitar, trying to imitate what May had done with his Red Special, although he was not satisfied with the result. He began to compose early. His first song, & # 34; Mushroom Cloud & # 34; described a nuclear explosion. At the age of 10 he joined his first music group. He received classes at Abingdon Private School, where he met his classmates Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway, Colin Greenwood and Colin's little brother, Jonny.

His first band was called On A Friday, as Friday was the only day all the boys could rehearse. Yorke initially played guitar and sang, while continuing to improve his skills in composing both music and music. letters. Yorke has stated in relation to the musical influence he received from him during his time at the school that he was able to bear his being there because the music department was separate from the rest of the school. This department had pianos and small rehearsal rooms, where he used to spend a lot of time after class.' The school's music teacher, Terence Gilmore-James, became the band's mentor at school. According to the statements of the band members, he was the only one who encouraged them to keep going. Colin Greenwood stated "When we started, his support was very important to us, because we didnt receive any from the director. What's more, he even once sent us an invoice, charging us for the use of private school property, for rehearsing in one of the premises on a Sunday".

Stay at the University

Thom Yorke attended the University of Exeter, where he studied fine art and English literature. Yorke remembers a Siouxsie Sioux show in Oxford in 1985 that inspired him to become a musician, while he was DJing and playing occasionally with the bands Headless Chickens and Flickernoise. He also worked for a while in a psychiatric hospital. His last job before signing with EMI was as a men's suit salesman.During his sophomore year he was able to use and be impressed by the Macintosh computers the university had purchased. Around this time he met Stanley Donwood, an artist who since 1994 would become an important collaborator on Radiohead's albums and singles. Yorke used the alias 'The White Chocolate Farm,' or 'Tchock' while working with Donwood. Together they would win a Grammy for Best Album Packaging in 2002, for the special limited edition of Amnesiac.

In 1987, Yorke and his girlfriend were involved in a car accident. Although he was unharmed, his girlfriend sustained a whiplash to the neck from the impact. This accident is the cause of Yorke's phobia of cars, which would later be present in songs like "Airbag", "Killer Cars", "Stupid Car" and "Drunkk Machine".

Musical career

Radio Head

Thom Yorke at a concert with Radiohead in 2012.

"On A Friday" it met again in 1991, when its members were finishing their university degrees. Meanwhile, Yorke got a job selling men's suits. They moved back to Oxford, where they signed a contract with the Parlophone record company and changed their name to Radiohead, taken from a Talking Heads song from their True Stories album. Radiohead became one of the most successful groups in the world. Because of this, Yorke's songs became synonymous with the culture of the late 20th century. Themes like technology, urban existentialism, disease and love dominate his lyrics. Thom uses the pseudonym Tchock when he does the artwork for the albums.

He is good friends with R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, both of whom go to each other's band concerts as they are mutual fans. Thom has often confessed that Michael was the source of inspiration for a lot of his songs, as well as helping him get out of the depression he suffered in the time between the albums OK Computer (1997) and Kid A (2000). Yorke has also been noted for his campaign in political activities such as Fair Trade, peace movements and Amnesty International.

Both Thom Yorke and the other members of Radiohead are influenced by various musical genres, including Rock by Queen and Elvis Costello; '80s Alternative Rock like R.E.M., Pixies, The Smiths, Talking Heads and Sonic Youth; singer-songwriters like Neil Young and Scott Walker; Post-Punk by Clinic, Joy Division, Magazine and Siouxsie And The Banshees; 1960s Pop-Rock including The Beatles and The Beach Boys; the Electronica of the nineties like Boards of Canada, DJ Shadow, Aphex Twin, Autechre; the Krautrock of Can and Neu!; the Jazz of Charles Mingus and Miles Davis; classical music of the XX century as Olivier Messiaen; Krzysztof Penderecki; Ennio Morricone.

Other projects

The Yorke supergroup, Atoms for Peace, during a concert.

In 1998 he collaborated with the group Unkle on the song "Rabbit in Your Headlights", composed by Thom with DJ Shadow and included on the album Psyence Fiction. That same year she participated, along with Jonny Greenwood, in the soundtrack of the movie Velvet Goldmine where both were part of the supergroup Venus in Furs, created especially for it. In 2004, he and Jonny were part of the supergroup Band Aid 20, where Thom was responsible for playing piano on a new version of the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?".

Yorke's first solo album, The Eraser, was released on July 10, 2006 through XL Recordings in the UK and a day later in the US. The album was produced by Nigel Godrich and Jonny Greenwood was involved in writing the album's title track. The Eraser received generally positive reviews and was nominated in the Best Alternative Music Album category at the 2007 Grammy Awards. On November 22 of that year, he released the EP Spitting Feathers in Japan, which included the B-sides of The Eraser. In 2009, she recorded a cover of the song "All for the Best" with her brother Andy. by Miracle Legion for the compilation Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy. That same year he participated in the soundtrack of the film The Twilight Saga: New Moon , creating for it the song & # 34; Hearing Damage & # 34;. On September 21, 2009, Yorke released two tracks edited to a single: "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses", dating from the 2001 sessions, and the previously unreleased "The Hollow Earth".

At the end of 2009, Yorke formed a new group, also made up of Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Joey Waronker, Mauro Refosco and their producer Nigel Godrich, to play the songs from The Eraser and previously unreleased material. In February 2010, Thom Yorke named the new group Atoms for Peace and toured the United States, including at the Coachella Festival. On June 25, 2010, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood they performed surprise at the Glastonbury Festival, performing both Thom solo songs and Radiohead tracks. In an interview on 21 September 2011, Thom revealed that he and Flea were finalizing the first Atoms for Peace album. Flea further claimed the involvement of Nigel Godrich as a producer. On September 6, 2012, Atoms for Peace released the single "Default" on iTunes, at the same time as they present their website. On February 25, 2013, Atoms for Peace released their first album, titled Amok, under the XL Recording label. On February 28, 2013, the video clip for the song "Ingenue", belonging to the album, is uploaded to YouTube. In it, Thom Yorke dances with contemporary dancer Fukiko Takase. That same year the supergroup went on tour again.

On September 26, 2014, Yorke released his second solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, via the BitTorrent portal. It was produced by Nigel Godrich. On February 25, 2015, the soundtrack of the protest documentary The UK Gold (2013), composed by Yorke and Robert Del Naja (Massive Attack), was released. It was released for free via the UK Uncut website and on SoundCloud to mark the documentary's television premiere that same day. His fellow Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood, Guy Garvey (Elbow) and Euan Dickinson (Massive Attack sound engineer) also participate in it. Thom also made the soundtrack for the film Suspiria (2018), directed by Luca Guadagnino and remake of the 1977 Italian classic.

In May 2021, he performed at the virtual edition of the Glastonbury festival alongside guitarist Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner, in a project called The Smile, which featured a set of previously unreleased songs along with a new version of "Skirting on the Surface”, which were later confirmed by producer Nigel Godrich as part of the album A Light for Attracting Attention.

Yorke has also collaborated with singers like PJ Harvey and Björk, rock bands like Drugstore, and electronic music artists like Flying Lotus, Modeselektor, Burial, and Four Tet.

Personal life

Yorke practices yoga and meditation. He was romantically involved with the visual artist Rachel Owen (died 2016) for 23 years, whom he met at the University of Exeter. They were married privately in May 2003 and had a son, Noah (born in 2001, to whom she dedicated the album Amnesiac and the song "Sail to the Moon") and a daughter, Agnes (born 2004, to whom he dedicated his solo work The Eraser). On August 15, 2015, he announced his separation from Rachel & # 34; after 23 highly creative and happy years & # 34;. In 2016 it came to light that he is in a romantic relationship with the Italian actress Dajana Roncione. His younger brother, Andy Yorke, was a singer with the band Unbelievable Truth from 1993 to 2000.

Voice

Thom has a great facility for falsetto. According to various sources, he has a range of 4 octaves, and his voice ranks 66th among the best singers in the history of Rolling Stone magazine.

Vision of the music industry

Yorke has been critical of the music industry and has made many controversial statements about it. In July 2013, Yorke and Nigel Godrich removed all music from Atoms for Peace and Yorke's solo career from the music streaming service Spotify, accompanying several tweets justifying this action. In 2013, Yorke called Spotify "the last gasp of the old industry," adding that only big labels with big back catalogs benefited, and encouraged artists to create their own " direct connections" with the audience.

In addition, he has pioneered alternative forms of music publication, such as pay-what-you-want (pay-what-you-want), used in the publication of In Rainbows (2007), or BitTorrent, in the case of his solo album Tomorrow's Modern Boxes (2014). In June 2015, Yorke allowed his music to be streamed on Apple Music, Apple's streaming service.

Activism

Yorke distributing the newspaper The Universal Sigh during promotion The King of Limbs (2011).

Since the 2000s, Yorke has been outspoken on various contemporary political and social issues. The Radiohead group had read No logo: the power of brands by Naomi Klein during the recording sessions for Kid A (in fact, the name of this book was considered as a possible title for the album) and all the members would have been heavily influenced by it, although Yorke claimed: "He didn't teach me anything I didn't already know."

Yorke's activism in support of fair trade practices, alongside his Anti-WTO and anti-globalization stance, drew particular attention in the 2000s. Yorke had previously referred to maquiladoras in the one-sided headline B for Radiohead in 1995, and denounced the International Monetary Fund in "Electioneering" from 1997. Yorke is also an avowed fan of Noam Chomsky's political writings and is a vegan.

Yorke is also recognized as a political activist on behalf of human rights, environmental and anti-war causes, including Jubilee 2000, Amnesty International and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Green Party of England and Wales, and Friends of the Land.

Radiohead have played at the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concert (the latter with just Thom and Jonny), and at an Amnesty International concert in 1998, among other charity events. In 2005, Yorke participated in an all-night vigil for the Fair Trade Movement. That same year, Yorke was appointed spokesperson for the NGO Friends of the Earth (Friends of Earth, in English) to participate in their campaign to reduce the consequences of the greenhouse effect, called The Big Ask. In 2006, Jonny Greenwood and Yorke performed a special benefit concert for Friends of the Earth. Yorke made headlines the same year for refusing Prime Minister Tony Blair's request to meet with him to discuss climate change, declaring that Blair "had no environmental credentials."

Yorke has subsequently been critical of his own use of energy. He has said that the music industry's use of air transport is dangerous and unsustainable, and that he would take this issue into account when planning his tours if new carbon emissions regulations do not force the situation. improve. Radiohead commissioned a study by the group Best Foot Forward, which has helped them choose venues and methods of transportation that will significantly reduce the carbon spent on their 2008 tour. The band also made use of a new low-low LED lighting system. consumption and encouraged festivals to offer reusable plastics.

In December 2009, Yorke gained access to the 2009 International Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen, posing as a member of the media. In the same year she lent her support to the 10:10 project, a movement to encourage people to take positive action on climate change by reducing their carbon emissions.

On December 16, 2013, Yorke co-wrote with Ed O'Brien (Radiohead), Peter Gabriel (Genesis), Serj Tankian (System of a Down) and Tjinder Singh (Cornershop), a petition launched by the Free Tibet campaign for Wu Aiying, China's Minister of Justice, calling for the release of eight Tibetan singers imprisoned in China: Lolo, Chakdor, Pema Trinley and Shawo Tashi, convicted in 2013, Kalsang Yarphel, arrested in 2013, and Ugyen Tenzin, Achok Phulsung and Choksal, convicted in 2012.

Discography

Thom Yorke with Radiohead at the Daydream Festival in Barcelona (2008).

Yorke at the 2010 Glastonbury Festival.

With Radiohead

Studio albums

• 1993: Pablo Honey
• 1995: The Bends
• 1997: OK Computer
• 2000: Kid A
• 2001: Amnesiac
• 2003: Hail to the Thief
• 2007: In Rainbows
• 2011: The King of Limbs
• 2016: A Moon Shaped Pool

With Atoms for Peace

Studio albums

• Amok (2013)

With The Smile

Studio albums

• A Light for Attracting Attention (2022)

Solo

Studio albums

• The Eraser (2006)
• Tomorrow's Modern Boxes (2014)
• Anima (2019)

EP

• Spitting Feathers (2006)

Compilation Albums

• The Eraser Rmxs (2008)

Simple

As main artist

From The Eraser

• "Black Swan" (2006)
• "Harrowdown Hill" (2006)
• "Analyse" (2006)

From The Eraser Rmxs

• "And It Rained All Night" (Burial remix) / "Skip Divided" (Modeslektor Remix) / "Analyse" (Various Remix) (2008)
• "Atoms For Peace" (Four Tet Remix) / "Black Swan" (Cristian Vogel Spare Parts Remix) / "Black Swan" (Vogel Bonus Beat Eraser Remix) (2008)
• "The Clock" (Surgeon remix) / "Harrowdown Hill" (The Bug Remix) / "Cymbal Rush" (The Field Late Night Essen Und Trinken Remix) (2008)

Other

• "Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses" / "The Hollow Earth" (2009)
• "Ego" / "Mirror" (with Burial and Four Tet) (2011)
• "Shipwreck" (with Modeselektor) (2011) - From the album Monkeytown
• "This" (with Modeselektor) (2012) - From the album Monkeytown
• "Youwouldn'tlikemewhenI'mangry" (2014)

As a guest artist

• "The President" (with Drugstore) (1998) - From the album White Magic for Lovers
• "Rabbit in Your Headlights" (1998) - From the album Psyence Fiction
• "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (2004) - He played piano as part of Band Aid 20
• "Nattura" (with Björk) (2008)

Promo singles

• "I've Seen It All" (with Björk) (2000) - From the album Selmasongs
• "All for the Best" (with Andy Yorke) (2009) - From the album Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy
• "Hearing Damage" (2009) - From the soundtrack of the film The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Soundtracks

As a composer

• The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009). Just the song "Hearing Damage."
• Fashion parade Rag " Bone (2012).
• The UK Gold (2015). Documentary. Composed with Robert Del Naja.
• Prohibition The Panic Office (2015). Stanley Donwood's art exhibition in which he contributed with the theme "Subterranea", 18 days long.
• Old Times (2015). Theatre work of Roundabout Theatre Company.
• Suspiria (2018). Luca Guadagnino film. First soundtrack of a film composed entirely by Yorke alone.
• Why Can't We Get Along (2018). Advertising short film of clothing brand Rag " Bone led by Benjamin Millepied, Aaron Duffy and Bob Partington.

As an interpreter

• Velvet Goldmine (1998).