Jon Brion

Jon Brion
Brion at The Sunset Tavern in Seattle, September 2004 (Photo By Nadja Dee Witherbee)
Background information
Born	(1963-12-11) December 11, 1963 (age 53) Glen Ridge, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Rock, pop, hip-hop, jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, percussion, trombone, cello, vibraphone
Years active	1982–present

Jon Brion (born December 11, 1963) is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer. He performed with The Excerpts and The Bats in his early career, before going on to composing film scores, including Paul Thomas Anderson's Hard Eight, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love, as well as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I Heart Huckabees. Brion also works as a solo artist and released his debut solo album, Meaningless, in 2001.

Brion was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. He came from a musical family; his mother, LaRue, was an administrative assistant and singer, and his father, Keith Brion, was a band director at Yale. His brother and sister became a composer/arranger and a violinist, respectively. Brion had difficulties at Hamden High School and at the age of 17 left education, opting instead to play music professionally. From 1980–85 Jon was part of the band The Excerpts, along with Stephen Harris, Dean Falcone, Jim Balga, Bobby Butcher & Spike Priggen.

In the early 1980s, Brion and musician/producer Bill Murphy began a writing collaboration in New Haven, Connecticut. They eventually enlisted bassist Don "Riff" Fertman and together formed The Bats, (not to be confused with the New Zealand group of the same name). The Bats released a single, "Popgun" and one album How Pop Can You Get?, on Gustav records in 1982. The recordings had much critical acclaim, but little commercial success, and the trio eventually disbanded.

In 1987, Brion moved to Boston, where he played solo gigs, formed the short-lived band World's Fair and became a member of the last touring version of Aimee Mann's new wave band 'Til Tuesday. He contributed guitar work to Jellyfish's 1993 album Spilt Milk, and in 1994, joined Dan McCarroll, Buddy Judge and ex-Jellyfish guitarist Jason Falkner in the short-lived pop band The Grays. He also played guitar on The Wallflowers' hit song "One Headlight." Brion played numerous instruments on Sam Phillips' 1996 release Omnipop. Brion is featured as keyboardist and drummer on Marianne Faithfull's 2003 album, Kissin Time, and co-wrote a song, "City of Quartz", for her next work, 2005's Before the Poison.