Richard Hell
| Richard Hell | |
|---|---|
Richard Hell live at the Club Chitta Kawasaki Japan
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard Lester Meyers |
| Born |
October 2, 1949 Lexington, Kentucky, United States |
| Genres | Punk rock, rock & roll |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer, songwriter, writer |
| Instruments | Vocals, bass guitar |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Labels | Sire, Warner Bros., Red Star, Matador, Rhino |
| Associated acts | Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Television, Neon Boys, The Heartbreakers, Dim Stars |
| Website | www |
Richard Hell (born Richard Lester Meyers; October 2, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.
Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins.
Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, credited Hell as a source of inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude, as well as the safety-pin and graphics accessorized clothing that McLaren sold in his London shop, Sex. Hell was in several important, early punk bands, including Neon Boys, Television, and the Heartbreakers, after which he formed Richard Hell & the Voidoids. Their 1977 album Blank Generation influenced many other punk bands. Its title song was named "One of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock" by music writers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listing and is ranked as one of the all-time Top 10 punk songs by a 2006 poll of original British punk figures, as reported in the Rough Guide to Punk.
Since the late 1980s, Hell has devoted himself primarily to writing, publishing two novels and several other books. He was the film critic for BlackBook magazine from 2004 to 2006.
Richard Lester Meyers grew up in Lexington, Kentucky in 1949. His father, a secular Jew, was an experimental psychologist, researching animal behavior. He died when Hell was 7 years old. Hell was then raised by his mother, who came from Methodists of Welsh and English ancestry. After her husband's death, she returned to school and became a professor.
Hell attended the Sanford School in Delaware for one year, where he became friends with Tom Miller, who later changed his name to Tom Verlaine. They ran away from school together and were arrested in Alabama for arson and vandalism a short time later.
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Wikipedia