Robyn Hitchcock
| Robyn Hitchcock | |
|---|---|
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, 6 October 2012
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| Background information | |
| Born |
3 March 1953 Paddington, London, England |
| Genres | Alternative rock, jangle pop, psychedelic folk, post-punk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, actor |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, bass |
| Associated acts |
The Soft Boys Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians The Venus 3 I Was A King |
| Website | robynhitchcock |
Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar.
After reaching prominence in the late 1970s with The Soft Boys, Hitchcock launched a prolific solo career. His musical and lyrical styles have been influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Syd Barrett. Hitchcock's lyrics tend to include surrealism, comedic elements, characterisations of English eccentrics, and melancholy depictions of everyday life.
He was signed to two major American labels (A&M Records, then Warner Bros.) over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, and was the subject of a live performance/documentary film (Storefront Hitchcock) by major motion picture director Jonathan Demme in 1998, but despite this, mainstream success has been limited. He has earned strong critical reviews over a steady stream of album releases and live performances, and a "cult following" for his songs.
Hitchcock was educated at Winchester College, where he was a "groovy and alternative" friend of Julia Darling. While at art school in London around 1972, Hitchcock was a member of the college band the Beetles. In 1974 he moved to Cambridge, where he did some busking, and joined a series of local bands: B.B. Blackberry and the Swelterettes, the Worst Fears, and Maureen and the Meatpackers. His next group, Dennis and the Experts, became the neo-psychedelia band The Soft Boys in Cambridge in 1976, recording their first EP, "Give It to the Soft Boys", at Spaceward studios, Cambridge, in 1977. After recording A Can of Bees (1979) and Underwater Moonlight (1980) the group broke up in 1981.
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