Damien Rice

Damien Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success with some singles, but an anticipated studio album floundered because of record company politics. After leaving the band, Rice worked as a farmer in Tuscany and busked throughout Europe before returning to Ireland in 2001 and beginning a solo career. The rest of Juniper went on to perform under the name Bell X1.

This article is about the Irish musician. For the Australian actor, see Damian Rice.

Damien Rice
Rice performing in July 2010
Background information
Born (1973-12-07) 7 December 1973
Dublin, Ireland
OriginCelbridge, Ireland
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
  • record producer
Instruments
Years active1991–present
Labels
Associated acts
Websitedamienrice.com

In 2002, Rice released his debut album, O. It reached No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart, won the Shortlist Music Prize, and generated three top 30 singles in the UK. He released his second album, 9, in 2006. After eight years of various collaborations and gaining more popularity through the appearance of his songs in numerous films and television series, Rice released his third studio album, My Favourite Faded Fantasy, in 2014.[1] He has contributed music to charitable projects such as Songs for Tibet, the Enough Project, and the Freedom Campaign.

Early life

Rice was born in Dublin on 7 December 1973, the son of George and Maureen Rice. He grew up in Celbridge, Co. Kildare where he attended Salesian College.[2] He is the second cousin of Northern Irish singer Stevie Mann and English composer David Arnold.[3]

Career

Juniper

Rice formed the rock band Juniper along with Paul Noonan, Dominic Philips, David Geraghty and Brian Crosby in 1991. The band met whilst they were schoolmates in Celbridge. After touring throughout Ireland, they released their debut EP Manna in 1995.[4] Based in Straffan, the band continued touring and signed a six album record deal with PolyGram. Their recording projects generated the singles "Weatherman" and "The World is Dead", which received favourable reviews.[4] They also recorded but never released a song named "Tongue". After achieving some of his musical goals with Juniper, Rice became frustrated with the artistic compromises required by the record label, and he left the band in 1998.[5] He moved to Italy, where h sesettled in Tuscany and took up farming for a time, then returned to Ireland before busking around Europe.[5] He returned to Ireland a second time and gave a demo recording to his second cousin, English composer David Arnold, who then provided him with a mobile recording studio.[3]

Solo career
Rice performing at the 2007 Coachella Festival

In 2001, Rice's song "The Blower's Daughter" made a top-40 chart.[3] Over the next year he continued to record his album with guitarist Mark Kelly, New York drummer Tom Osander aka Tomo, Paris pianist Jean Meunier, London producer David Arnold, County Meath vocalist Lisa Hannigan and cellist Vyvienne Long. Rice then embarked on a tour of Ireland with Hannigan, Tomo, Vyvienne, Mark and Dublin bassist Shane Fitzsimons.

In 2002, Rice's debut album O was released in Ireland, the UK and the United States.[6] The album peaked at No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart and remained on the chart for 97 weeks, selling 650,000 copies in the US.[6][7] The album won the Shortlist Music Prize and the songs "Cannonball" and "Volcano" became top 30 hits in the UK.[7][8]

In 2006, Rice released his second album, 9, which was recorded during the two years prior.[9] 2007 was a year of touring with Rice appearing at England's Glastonbury Festival and the Rock Werchter festival in Belgium.[10] In 2008 he contributed the song "Making Noise" for the album Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace in support of the 14th Dalai Lama and Tibet.[11]

In 2010, Rice contributed the song "Lonely Soldier" to the Enough Project[12] and played at the Iceland Inspires concert held in Hljómskálagarðurinn near Reykjavík centrum.[13] Records released in the UK, Europe and other countries are published by 14th Floor Records via Warner Music.[14] In spring 2011, Rice featured on the debut album by French actress and singer Melanie Laurent. He appears on two tracks on her debut album En t'attendant while collaborating on a total of five tracks which feature on the album.[15] In May 2013, Rice told the audience at the South Korea Seoul Jazz Festival 2013 that he was working on a new album.[16]

On 4 September 2014, Rice's official Twitter account announced his third album, My Favourite Faded Fantasy, to be released on 31 October. On his official website the date given for the official release was 3 November 2014.[17] The album, featuring the first single "I Don't Want To Change You", was released worldwide on 10 November 2014 to critical acclaim from NPR's Robin Hilton, stating "The upcoming Damien Rice album is incredible" and the London Evening Standard said that "Damien Rice is returning with one of the albums of the year."

In 2020, Rice covered Sia's "Chandelier", which appears on the Songs for Australia benefit album.

Personal life

Rice participated in the Freedom Campaign, the Burma Campaign UK and the U.S. Campaign for Burma to free Burmese democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi.[18] He campaigned for her release by writing and performing the song "Unplayed Piano" at the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo.

Discography
Main article: Damien Rice discography
Studio albums

See also
  • List of songs performed by Damien Rice

References
  1. "iTunes Store (pre-order)". iTunes Store. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  2. "FAQ – Where was Damien born and where did he grow up?". DamienRice.com. n.d. Archived from the original on 2 May 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  3. "Damien Rice – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  4. "Should We Talk About The Weather?". Hot Press. Retrieved 12 September 2009. (Fee for article)
  5. "The story of O". Yahoo. Archived from the original on 20 February 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  6. "Official Charts Company for O". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  7. "Damien Rice Readies second album". Billboard. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  8. "Damien Rice singles placement". irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  9. "9 – Release info". DamienRice.com. n.d. Archived from the original on 18 May 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  10. "Last FM Concert Event Info". Last.fm. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  11. E-Online (22 July 2008) Sting, Matthews, Mayer Gamer for Tibet Than Beijing Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Raise Hope for Congo". Raisehopeforcongomusic.org. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  13. "Inspired By Iceland". Inspired By Iceland. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  14. "FAQ at". Damienrice.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  15. "Music". Damien Rice. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  16. "New Album Confirmation". Retrieved 19 May 2013 – via YouTube.
  17. "Album information". Damienrice.com/. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  18. "Aung San Suu Kyi the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient". The Burma Campaign UK. n.d. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
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