Damien Rice | |
|---|---|
 Rice performing in 2010 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1973-12-07)7 December 1973 (age 52) Dublin, Ireland |
| Origin | Celbridge, Ireland |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels |
|
| Website | damienrice |
Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter.[2] He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock groupJuniper, who were signed toPolygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success in Ireland with two released singles, "The World is Dead" and "Weatherman."[3] After leaving the band in 1998, Rice worked as a farmer inTuscany and busked throughout Europe before returning to Ireland in 2001 and beginning a solo career. The rest of Juniper went on to perform under the nameBell X1.
In 2002, Rice released his debut album,O. It reached No. 8 on theUK Albums Chart, won theShortlist Music Prize, and generated three top 30 singles in the UK. He released his second album,9, in 2006. After eight years of various collaborations, Rice released his third studio album,My Favourite Faded Fantasy, in 2014.[4] He has contributed music to charitable projects such asSongs for Tibet, theEnough Project, and the Freedom Campaign.
Rice was born inDublin on 7 December 1973, the son of George and Maureen Rice. He grew up inCelbridge,County Kildare where he attended Salesian College.[5] He is the second cousin of Irish singerStevie Mann and English composerDavid Arnold.[1]
Rice formed the rock bandJuniper along withPaul Noonan, Dominic Philips,David Geraghty andBrian Crosby in 1991. The band met whilst they were schoolmates in Celbridge. After touring throughout Ireland, they released their debutEPManna in 1995.[6] Based inStraffan, the band continued touring and signed a six-album record deal withPolyGram. Their recording projects generated the singles "Weatherman" and "The World is Dead," which received favourable reviews.[6] They also recorded a song named "Tongue," which was later released on theBell X1 album Music in Mouth. The song "Volcano" was also written with Juniper but not released. It was later released by both Bell X1, on the albumNeither Am I, and on Rice's debut albumO.
After achieving some of his musical goals with Juniper, Rice became frustrated with the artistic compromises required by the record label, and he left the band in 1998.[7] He moved to Italy, where he settled inTuscany and took up farming for a time, then returned to Ireland before busking around Europe.[7] He returned to Italy a second time and gave a demo recording to his second cousin, English composerDavid Arnold, who then provided him with a mobile recording studio.[1]
In 2001, Rice's song "The Blower's Daughter" made the top-40 chart.[1] Over the next year, he continued to record his album with guitarist Mark Kelly, New York drummerTom Osander aka Tomo, Paris pianist Jean Meunier, London producer David Arnold, County Meath vocalistLisa Hannigan and cellistVyvienne Long. Rice then embarked on a tour of Ireland with Hannigan, Tomo, Vyvienne, Mark and Dublin bassist Shane Fitzsimons.
In 2002, Rice's debut albumO was released in Ireland, the UK and the United States.[8] The album peaked at No. 8 on theUK Albums Chart and remained on the chart for 97 weeks, selling 650,000 copies in the US.[8][9] The album won theShortlist Music Prize and the songs "Cannonball" and "Volcano" became top 30 hits in the UK.[9][10]
In 2005, Rice participated in the Freedom Campaign, theBurma Campaign UK, and theU.S. Campaign for Burma to free Burmese democracy movement leaderAung San Suu Kyi.[11] He campaigned for her release by writing the song "Unplayed Piano," which he performed at the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Concert inOslo.[12][13]
In 2006, Rice released his second album,9, which was recorded during the two previous years.[14] 2007 was a year of touring, with Rice appearing at England'sGlastonbury Festival and theRock Werchter festival in Belgium[15] In 2008, he contributed the song "Making Noise" for the albumSongs for Tibet: The Art of Peace in support of the14th Dalai Lama andTibet.[16]
In 2010, Rice contributed the song "Lonely Soldier" to theEnough Project[17] and played at the Iceland Inspires concert held in Hljómskálagarðurinn nearReykjavík centrum.[18] Records released in the UK, Europe and other countries were published by14th Floor Records viaWarner Music.[19] In spring 2011, Rice featured on the debut album by French actress and singerMelanie Laurent. He appears on two tracks on her debut albumEn t'attendant while collaborating on a total of five tracks which feature on the album.[20] In May 2013, Rice told the audience at the South KoreaSeoul Jazz Festival 2013 that he was working on a new album.[21]
On 4 September 2014, Rice's official Twitter account announced his third album,My Favourite Faded Fantasy, to be released on 31 October. On his official website, the date given for the official release was 3 November 2014.[22] The album, featuring the first single "I Don't Want To Change You," was released worldwide on 10 November 2014 to critical acclaim from NPR's Robin Hilton and the LondonEvening Standard.[23]
In 2020, Rice coveredSia's "Chandelier," with his cover appearing on theSongs for Australia benefit album.
While performing inValencia, Spain, in late July 2023, Rice found out thatSinéad O'Connor had died when the audience shouted it at him during the show. After taking a moment to process the news, Rice played "Nothing Compares 2 U" as a tribute to O'Connor.[24]
fellow singer-songwriter Damien Rice had been a huge inspiration
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
