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Duncan Sheik | |
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 Sheik in 2006 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1969-11-18)November 18, 1969 (age 56) Montclair, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels | |
Duncan Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Sheik is known for his 1996 debut single "Barely Breathing", which earned him aGrammy Award nomination forBest Male Pop Vocal Performance. He has composed music for motion pictures and Broadway musicals, winning the 2007Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations for his work on the musicalSpring Awakening.
Sheik is a native ofMontclair, New Jersey. Following his parents' divorce, he split time between his father's house in New Jersey and his mother's home in South Carolina.[1] He is the half-brother of Broadway actress Kacie Sheik.[2] Sheik'sJuilliard-trained grandmother introduced him to the piano, and he later took up the electric guitar. By age 12, he was playing guitar with high school students in a cover band.[3] After graduating fromPhillips Academy, Andover in 1988,[4] Sheik studiedsemiotics atBrown University;[5] while at Brown, he played guitar in a band with fellow Brown studentLisa Loeb. Following his graduation from Brown in 1992, he moved to Los Angeles.[3]
Early in his musical career, Sheik played guitar for other artists, includingLiz and Lisa (withElizabeth Mitchell andLisa Loeb). Sheik also played onHis Boy Elroy's 1993 album through his connections from a fellow Brown alum,Tracee Ellis Ross.[6]
In 1996, Sheik released his self-titleddebut album, which was certified gold.[7] The album featured the hit single "Barely Breathing", which peaked at number 16[8] and remained on theBillboard Hot 100 for 55 consecutive weeks.[9] "Barely Breathing" also enjoyed Top 20 success on Adult Contemporary radio,[8] reached No. 2 on the Adult Top 40 charts,[8] and garnered Sheik aGrammy Award nomination forBest Male Pop Vocal Performance.[10]
In 1998, Sheik recorded "Embraceable You" forRed Hot + Rhapsody, aGeorge Gershwin tribute to increase AIDS awareness, and also recorded "Songbird" for another tribute,Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.[citation needed] Also in 1998, Sheik releasedHumming, an experimental follow-up with string arrangements.[citation needed]
Sheik sang a duet with singerHoward Jones on Jones' 2000 single entitledSomeone You Need.[11]
Sheik releasedPhantom Moon, aNick Drake-influenced album on which he collaborated with poet and writerSteven Sater, in 2001.[citation needed] The following year, Sheik releasedDaylight, a brighter, more modern-sounding album which included the singles, "On A High" and "Half-Life".[citation needed] After a four-year recording break, Sheik releasedWhite Limousine (2006), an album which included companion software on aDVD-ROM to remix individual tracks.[citation needed] In 2008, Sheik was a judge at the 7th annual Independent Music Awards.[citation needed]
In 2009 he releasedWhisper House, a concept album which provided the score for the musical of the same name.[12] The stage musical premiered atThe Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in January 2010, after a workshop atVassar College, produced byNew York Stage and Film in 2009.[13][14]
In 2011, Sheik releasedCovers 80's, an album including covers of popular 1980s songs. Concert dates in support of the album were later canceled due to Sheik seeking treatment for alcohol addiction.[15] A remixed version of the album was released the following year.[16] Sheik released a new studio album entitledLegerdemain in October 2015.[17]
In addition to being a singer-songwriter, Sheik has also composed music for plays, musicals, and movie soundtracks. He composed original music for the 2002New York Shakespeare Festival production ofTwelfth Night.[18]
In 2004, he composed the score for the filmA Home at the End of the World. TheAllMusic reviewer wrote: "...takes the sensitivity and tension of the film's plot and crafts incidental music and new songs that complement the movie well."[19] He composed the score for the 2005 filmThrough the Fire with Pete Miser.[20][21]
Sheik wrote the music forSpring Awakening (2006) in collaboration withSteven Sater. Written over a period of eight years, the musical, which premiered off-Broadway during the summer, opened on Broadway to critical acclaim later in the fall. The musical was based on the controversial Germanexpressionist playThe Awakening of Spring, written byFrank Wedekind. Sheik won the 2006Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for his work onSpring Awakening,[22] and he and Sater won aTony Award for Best Original Score.[23] In addition,Spring Awakening won theTony Award for Best Musical[24] and aGrammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.[25] The guitar that Sheik used to compose songs forSpring Awakening was displayed at theNew York Public Library for the Performing Arts atLincoln Center.[26] As of 2012, Sheik was composing music for a feature-film adaptation ofSpring Awakening, an adaptation almost a decade in the making.[27]
In 2012, Sheik wroteAlice By Heart, an adaptation ofLewis Carroll'sAlice's Adventures in Wonderland, along with collaborator Sater. Directed byJessie Nelson with musical direction by Lance Horne, the musical was workshopped at theRoyal National Theatre and commissioned by theNational Theatre Connections.[28]
Sheik wrote the music and lyrics to the 2013 musical adaptation ofAmerican Psycho,[29] which opened at theAlmeida Theatre in London, and was later staged on Broadway in 2016.[30]
In 2013, Sheik wrote the music for the musical adaptation of the novelBecause of Winn-Dixie, which premiered at theArkansas Repertory Theatre.[31]Dixie was a collaboration with then-directorJohn Tartaglia andNell Benjamin, who wrote the book and lyrics.[31] The musical ran at theGoodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, Connecticut from July 2019 to September 2019, directed byJohn Rando.[32]
In 2015, Sheik wrote the musical thrillerNoir withKyle Jarrow. It premiered as part of New York Stage and Film's season in July to August 2015 at thePowerhouse Theater at Vassar College. Inspired by live radio plays and classic film noir, the musical was directed by Rachel Chavkin.[33][34][35]
In 2016 he prepared the music for theShakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.) production ofThe Taming of the Shrew, described inThe Washington Post as "an assortment of preexisting songs by singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik".[36]
Sheik produced singer-songwriter Micah Green's 2000 debut album[37][better source needed] as well as his 2012 follow-up.[38][39][40][better source needed]
In 2000, Sheik wrote the foreword toThe Way of Youth: Buddhist Common Sense for Handling Life's Questions, bySoka Gakkai International leaderDaisaku Ikeda.[citation needed]
In 2006, Sheik recorded the song "A Purple Trail" forOther Songs and Dances, Vol. 1. In 2008, Sheik participated inSongs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, an initiative to supportTibet,Dalai Lama, andTenzin Gyatso.[41]
Concert dates in support of Sheik's 2011 albumCovers 80's were canceled when Sheik sought treatment for alcohol use disorder.[15] In a message to fans on histumblr blog, Sheik noted that he had entered a treatment center on the same day his latest album was released and had told his staff, "My record is comingout and I’m checkingin."[42]
Sheik has a daughter with his girlfriend, modelNora Ariffin.[43][44]
Sheik practicesNichiren Buddhism and is a member of the US branch of the worldwide Buddhist associationSoka Gakkai International.[45]
| Year | Awards | Work | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Billboard Music Awards | Himself | Top Adult Top 40 Artist | Nominated |
| "Barely Breathing" | Top Adult Top 40 Track | Won | ||
| 1998 | Grammy Awards | Best Male Pop Vocal Performance | Nominated | |
| 1999 | BMI Pop Awards | Award-Winning Song | Won | |
| 2007 | Tony Awards | Spring Awakening | Best Original Score | Won |
| Best Orchestrations | Won | |||
| Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Won | ||
| Outstanding Orchestrations | Nominated | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding New Score | Won | ||
| 2008 | Grammy Awards | Best Musical Show Album | Won | |
| 2016 | Outer Critics Circle Award | American Psycho | Outstanding New Score | Nominated |
| 2020 | The Secret Life of Bees | Honored | ||
| Outstanding Orchestrations | Honored |
| Duncan Sheik discography | |
|---|---|
| Studio albums | 9 |
| EPs | 2 |
| Live albums | 1 |
| Compilation albums | 2 |
| Singles | 23 |
| Remix albums | 1 |
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [46] | US Heat [47] | |||
| 1996 | Duncan Sheik | 83 | 1 | |
| 1998 | Humming
| 163 | — | |
| 2001 | Phantom Moon
| — | — | |
| 2002 | Daylight
| 110 | — | |
| 2006 | White Limousine
| — | — | |
| 2009 | Whisper House
| 181 | — | |
| 2011 | Covers 80s
| — | — | |
| 2015 | Legerdemain
| — | — | |
| 2022 | Claptrap
| — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Live at the Cafe Carlyle (New York, NY / 2017)
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| Year | Album details |
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| 2012 | Covers 80s Remixed
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| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Brighter/Later: A Duncan Sheik Anthology
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| 2007 | Greatest Hits - Brighter: A Duncan Sheik Collection
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| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Rhino Hi-Five: Duncan Sheik
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| 2011 | Harvest (Music from the Motion Picture)(with David Poe)
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| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN [49] | US [50] | US AC [51] | US Adult [52] | US Dance [53] | US Pop [54] | ||||
| 1996 | "Barely Breathing" | 12 | 16 | 19 | 2 | — | 10 | Duncan Sheik | |
| 1997 | "She Runs Away" | — | — | — | 24 | — | — | ||
| "Reasons for Living" | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | |||
| "Wishful Thinking" | — | 103 | — | — | — | — | Great Expectations(soundtrack) | ||
| 1998 | "Bite Your Tongue" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Humming | |
| 1999 | "That Says It All" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2001 | "A Mirror in the Heart" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Phantom Moon | |
| 2002 | "On a High" | — | — | — | 21 | 1 | — | Daylight | |
| "Half-Life" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2005 | "White Limousine" | — | — | — | — | — | — | White Limousine | |
| "The Dawn's Request" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2008 | "We're Here to Tell You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Whisper House | |
| 2009 | "Earthbound Starlight" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Play Your Part" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2012 | "Shout" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Covers Eighties Remixed | |
| 2013 | "Lay Down Your Weapons" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| 2020 | "Barely Breathing 2020 'Dear 45'" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2021 | "Better Things For Better Living" (with Simon Kafka) | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2022 | "Experience" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Claptrap | |
| "Maybe" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Something Happening Here" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Chimera II" (featuring Oora) | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "There's No Telling" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
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