Devendra Banhart
| Devendra Banhart | |
|---|---|
Banhart in 2007
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| Background information | |
| Born |
May 30, 1981 Houston, Texas, United States |
| Genres | Freak folk, psychedelic folk, folk rock, New Weird America, latin, lo-fi |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician, visual artist |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals, piano |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | XL, Young God, hinah, Reprise, Nonesuch |
| Associated acts | Vetiver, Michael Gira, Megapuss, Beck, CocoRosie, Antony Hegarty, Little Joy, Joanna Newsom, Noah Georgeson , MGMT , The Strokes, Rodrigo Amarante |
| Website | devendrabanhart.com |
Devendra Obi Banhart (born May 30, 1981) is a Venezuelan American singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Banhart released his debut album in 2002, continuing to record his material on the Young God and XL labels, as well as other work on compilations and collaborations.
Banhart was born May 30, 1981 in Houston, Texas, to a Venezuelan mother, Maria Eugenia Risquez and an American father, Robert Gary Banhart. His given name is a synonym for Indra, the king of Gods (Hindu), which was suggested by Prem Rawat, an Indian religious leader whom Banhart's parents followed. Banhart's middle name Obi was modeled after Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Star Wars character. Banhart's parents divorced two years after his birth and he moved with his mother to Caracas, Venezuela. His mother later remarried and Banhart's stepfather moved the family to Los Angeles, when Banhart was 14 years old.
Banhart cites Axl Rose, Kurt Cobain, Mick Jagger, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Ali Farka Toure as his inspirations to begin singing. When he found that he could not match their singing styles, he found success in singing in a “feminine style.”
In 1998, Banhart began studying at the San Francisco Art Institute on a scholarship while living in The Castro, San Francisco's gay neighborhood. He began to busk instead of attending classes and played his first show in a church at a gay wedding, performing Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" and the classic hymn "How Great Thou Art." Banhart dropped out of art school in 2000 and left San Francisco after the dot-com bust worsened the city's economy. He moved to Paris over the summer and opened shows for indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth. Banhart returned to the United States in the fall of 2000 and played music in San Francisco and Los Angeles, until he was discovered by Michael Gira, owner of Young God Records, after Siobhan Duffy, Gira's wife, bought a copy of Banhart's demo CD The Charles C. Leary and gave it to Gira.
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