Stephen Lynch (musician)

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Stephen Lynch

Stephen Lynch (born July 28, 1971), is an American musician, Tony Award nominated actor and a comedian famous for comic lyrics.

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[edit] Biography

Although Lynch was born in Abington, Pennsylvania[1], he grew up in the suburbs of Saginaw, Michigan.[2] He attended Western Michigan University and graduated with a B.A. in drama in 1993. During his time there, he learned to play the guitar.[2] As a child in Michigan Lynch performed in community theater, and has experience in musical theater from high school, university and, later, summer stock.[2][3][4][5]

Considering himself a musician first and a comedian second[2][6][7], Lynch cites great singer/songwriters Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell as his childhood inspirations, rather than comics.[2] The mockumentary This is Spinal Tap was his greatest inspiration, and led him to decide his career path[8].

After spending his first year out of college with friends in California[9], Lynch moved to New York City in 1996 with the intention of becoming an actor.[10] Upon his arrival, a friend at the West Bank Cafe on 42nd Street suggested Lynch play some of the comic songs he'd written while attending university for an audience[4]. He soon found great success in comedy clubs and other venues around the city (notably Catch a Rising Star[2] and Caroline's[11]), and became a regular on radio shows such as Opie and Anthony[2][8]. Lynch spent his early years in New York City doing what he called "totally mindless work" in copy shops and banks. He quit such temporary jobs permanently in the year 2000, and signed with the famed William Morris Agency in 2001[9]. Over the next few years, he toured colleges, universities and nightclubs around the country, avoiding as much as possible the comedy club crowd, which he has stated is not to his taste. He periodically satisfied his love of the stage by returning to Michigan and doing summer stock.[3][5] [12]

As a result of the duality of his act, Lynch turned heads in the music industry as well as on the comedy circuit. He attracted extra attention usually not available to comics by playing venues more often suited to music than to comedy (eventually graduating to hugely famous locations such as the House of Blues, The Town Hall[7] and the esteemed Kennedy Center)[11]. He gained great national exposure with his Comedy Central Presents special in 2000, one of the highest rated in the network's history. He has made appearances on Comedy Central's Premium Blend, The World Comedy Tour and The World Stands Up. He has also made four appearances on Last Call with Carson Daly, and has performed at the prestigious Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, Canada.[8] In addition, Lynch was voted by an Atlanta, Georgia columnist as one of America's sexiest men, and has acquired a devoted following of besotted female fans.

Lynch has opened for comedians Jay Mohr, Jeff Foxworthy, Steven Wright, Bobcat Goldthwait and Lewis Black. In the summer of 2004, he went on a tour co-headlining with Mitch Hedberg. The tour was such a success that they added an extra leg and ran into 2005. This was the last tour of Hedberg's before his death.

He has also appeared in five short films, including The Love Seat in 1999 and The Confetti Brothers in 2001[3][13][1]. Both films were written and directed by Kirker Butler. The Confetti Brothers, a satire, screened to packed houses at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. It continues to play the film festival circuit.[14] As of July 2, 2002, Butler has announced to The Courier Journal that Lynch will compose the music for his upcoming feature-length movie musical, Bats: The Vampire Baseball Musical Comedy.[14]

Lynch is currently playing the title role of Robbie Hart in the Broadway musical version of the 1998 New Line Cinema film (starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore), The Wedding Singer, which opened on Broadway on April 27, 2006 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.[4] The musical, Lynch's Broadway debut[1][4], co-stars two-time Tony Award nominee Laura Benanti in the Barrymore role of Julia Sullivan. The April 2006 opening followed a successful preview run in Seattle at The 5th Avenue Theatre which ran from January 31-February 19. Previews began in New York on March 30.[4] His performance has earned him nominations for Drama League and Drama Desk awards,[5] as well as a nomination for the coveted Tony Award.[15]

It has been announced as of October 2006 that The Wedding Singer will close on December 31, 2006. [1]

[edit] Family and friends

Family and friends prove to be an important influence on Lynch's work and career. He married Erin Dwight on a private beach on Lake Michigan[5] in September 2003, and she is generally the first person to hear his original ideas for songs. He trusts so deeply in her taste that if she doesn't laugh at the initial concept, he will scrap the idea completely.[6] Dwight recorded a short film while her husband was away touring, called Lynch and Teich in Brooklyn, to show that she missed him. This was included in the extras on his 2004 concert DVD, Live at the El Rey. She also co-created the cover concept for his latest album, The Craig Machine, with her mother, Kalamazoo photographer Fran Dwight.

Lynch has a younger brother, Drew Lynch, who also writes comedic songs, and they occasionally tour together. Their parents are a former priest and a former nun[16][9], making it an amusing surprise to some that they are very supportive of their sons' risque comedy and have attended several of their shows. Both parents became teachers.[4] Lynch has stated that religion was not forced upon him growing up, and although he was raised Roman Catholic he no longer attends church. His upbringing included liberalism as well as religion, which is reflected through his father's past as part of a singing duo that attended many peace rallies and antiwar protests during the Vietnam War[9]. Like his sons, Lynch's father is a stage actor as well as a singer, and musical talent and interest runs in their family. Lynch's earliest work in the theater was performing with his father in local community theater productions in Saginaw as a child. The first live musical he got to see was Man of La Mancha, a community theater production in which his father played the role of the Padre.[4][5]

As Lynch's repertoire of material includes some duets and also a few songs for three voices, close university pals and fellow comedians Mark Teich (of The Second City) and Rod Cone (of The Rod Cone Situation) are also very frequent guests on his tours, and he rarely tours alone. [17]

Stephen Lynch resides in Brooklyn, New York with his wife.[5]

[edit] Albums

On June 7, 2006, What Are Records? added a new Lynch CD to its catalog. Titled Cleanest Hits, this album was primarily produced to offer at performances of The Wedding Singer, however it is also offered on the What Are Records? website and at select Wal-mart locations. This release contains no new material from Lynch, but instead assembles a selection of Lynch's songs with the swear words removed.

On October 4, 2005, Lynch released his third official album of new material, The Craig Machine, with What Are Records?. The CD was recorded live at Symphony Space in New York City, and debuted as #2 on Billboard Magazine's Comedy Charts.

His second official album, Superhero, released in 2002, was also a live album, and generally received better reviews than the first, partly because of strong audience response. The title track, "Superhero", was 8 minutes and 57 seconds long, and largely consisted of Lynch receiving the audience's suggestions for names for superheroes. A much shorter version of "Superhero" was part of his Comedy Central Presents special, along with "Taxi Driver." The remainder of the special was material that can be found on his only studio album, A Little Bit Special, released in 2000, in the order that they appear on the album: "Lullaby (The Divorce Song)", "Special", "HermAphrodite" and "Gay." A Little Bit Special was called "an instant comedy classic" by CDNOW.[2]

Collectively, A Little Bit Special and Superhero have sold over 160,000 copies to date. On July 4, 2005, iTunes named both of these as two of the 100 best-selling independent albums in iTunes's history.[8]

In 2004, Lynch released his first live concert DVD, Live at the El Rey, with Razor & Tie. It was recorded live at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles in December of 2003. It features 70 minutes of live performance (16 songs) and over an hour of bonus material, and it has sold over 35,000 copies to date.[8] On February 8, 2006, Live at the El Rey was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. [18] [19] [20]


[edit] Discography

Lynch has produced seven albums:

And one Broadway cast album:

  • The Wedding Singer, original Broadway cast recording (release date: June 6, 2006) [21]


[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Stephen Lynch, Star File: Broadway.com Buzz
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Razor & Tie: Artist Detail: Stephen Lynch
  3. ^ a b c William Morris Agency: Stephen Lynch
  4. ^ a b c d e f g ZacharyPincus-Roth.com: One to Watch: Stephen Lynch
  5. ^ a b c d e f Playbill Celebrity Buzz: THE LEADING MEN: The Ring and I
  6. ^ a b Recoil: Interview with Stephen Lynch
  7. ^ a b UGO.com Music - Stephen Lynch Interview
  8. ^ a b c d e Stephen Lynch: Press
  9. ^ a b c d Monsters and Critics: Stephen Lynch: From comic songster to 'Wedding Singer'
  10. ^ New York Daily News - Entertainment: 'Wedding' Zinger
  11. ^ a b Stephen Lynch: Tour History
  12. ^ Broadway World.com: Video: Wedding Seattle
  13. ^ IMDb: Stephen Lynch (II)
  14. ^ a b courier-journal.com: Louisville Scene: Hollywood's Kentucky connection adds a link
  15. ^ The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards: NOMINEES & AWARDS: 2006 Nominations
  16. ^ Technique - 2005-11-18: Stephen Lynch satisfies with Craig Machine
  17. ^ Lynch-mob.net
  18. ^ RIAA: february06certs.pdf
  19. ^ Stephen Lynch
  20. ^ flickr: Stephen Lynch g... trade shot.jpg
  21. ^ SonyMusicStore: Soundtrack The Wedding Singer - Original Broadway Cast Recording

[edit] References

Further reading and external links:

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