Gavin Friday

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Gavin Friday

Background information
Birth name Fionan Martin Hanvey
Born October 8, 1959 (1959-10-08) (age 48)
Dublin, Ireland
Genre(s) Alternative rock
Soundtrack
Post punk
Occupation(s) Vocalist, musician, producer, actor
Instrument(s) Vocals
Years active 1977 — present
Associated acts Virgin Prunes
Website gavinfriday.com

Gavin Friday (born Fionan Martin Hanvey, 8 October 1959, Dublin) is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer and painter.

Contents

[edit] Career

He was a founding member of the post punk group, Virgin Prunes and has recorded several solo albums and soundtracks. He has maintained a close friendship with U2's Bono since both were children, and they collaborated on the soundtrack for the Jim Sheridan film In the Name of the Father. In 2003 they wrote "Time Enough for Tears", the original theme tune for Sheridan's film In America, as sung by Andrea Corr.

In 2005 Gavin Friday played Billy Hatchet in the Neil Jordan film Breakfast on Pluto. On the soundtrack he sings "Wig Wam Bam" and "Sand", a duet with Cillian Murphy.

His main collaborator since beginning his solo work in 1985 has been multi-instrumentalist, Maurice Seezer.

In September 2006 a 2-CD collection of sea shanties called Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys, produced by Hal Willner, was released on the ANTI- label. Friday contributes to two tracks including the lewd "Baltimore Whores" and "Bully in the Alley" with ex-Virgin Prunes bandmates Guggi and Dave-id. The reunion of Friday, Guggi and Dave-id was the first time they had recorded together since the Virgin Prunes broke up in 1985.

Friday worked again with Hal Willner in June 2007, appearing in the concert "Forest of No Return - the Vintage Disney Songbook" as part of the Meltdown Festival presented at London's newly reopened Royal Festival Hall. Sharing a stage with artists such as Grace Jones, Nick Cave, Pete Doherty and curator Jarvis Cocker, Friday performed the classic Disney tracks "The Siamese Cat Song" and "Castle In Spain".

Taking time out from work on his fourth solo album with Herb Macken, Friday teamed up with English composer, Gavin Bryars, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Opera North for a new interpretation of Shakespeare's Sonnets touring as part of the 2007 Complete Works Festival. Opening in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Friday presented his take on Sonnet 40 ('Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all') and narrated Bryars' 40-minute piece 'Nothing Like The Sun'.

Friday and Macken composed the music for the Patrick McCabe play, The Revenant. The play's main theme is entitled 'Dreamland'. The Revenant is set to open for the first time as part of the 2007 Galway Arts Festival.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

  • "You Can't Always Get What You Want", 1987
  • "Man of Misfortune", 1990
  • "I Want to Live", 1992
  • "King of Trash", 1992
  • "Falling off the Edge of the World", 1993
  • "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart", 1994
  • "In the Name of the Father", 1994
  • "Angel", 1995 (Soundtrack from the film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet)
  • "You, Me and World War III", 1996
  • "The Last Song I Will Ever Sing", 1996 (Basquiat film soundtrack)

[edit] Soundtracks

[edit] Scores

[edit] Collaborations

In 1983 Friday appeared on the title track of Dave Ball's In Strict Tempo.

In 1984, Friday collaborated with cult English post-punk group The Fall, on three tracks: "Copped It" and "Stephen Song" appeared on the album The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall, and "Clear Off!" was a track on the "Call For Escape Route" EP. On all three tracks, Friday and Fall singer Mark E. Smith alternated vocals, occasionally backing each other up.

In the same year Friday provided vocals for the track "The Tenderness of Wolves" on the album Scatology by Coil.

Twelve years later, Friday collaborated with The Heads (former members of the Talking Heads without David Byrne) which consisted of Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth on a song called "Blue Blue Moon." This was included as the last of 12 tracks on The Heads' 1996 album No Talking Just Head. The song is credited to Gavin Friday, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, T. "Blast" Murray and Tina Weymouth. The remaining eleven tracks included collaborations with Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde), Michael Hutchence (INXS), Debbie Harry (Blondie), Andy Partridge (XTC), Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays/Black Grape) and others.

[edit] External links