| Peter Yanowitz | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Peter Yanowitz |
| Born |
September 13, 1967 |
| Instruments | Drums, Bass, Guitar, and Vocals |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Associated acts | The Wallflowers, Morningwood, Natalie Merchant, |
Peter Yanowitz, who also goes by Pedro Yanowitz, is an American musician, songwriter, and visual artist, who was born in Chicago, Illinois. Yanowitz was the original drummer of The Wallflowers, and for Natalie Merchant on her first three solo records Tigerlily, Ophelia, and Live in Concert. He also played drums for Money Mark, the Black Sabbath tribute band Hand of Doom with Melissa Auf Der Maur, and with Nina Nastasia, on her album Dogs. Other artists Yanowitz has played drums with include: Yoko Ono, Allen Ginsberg, and Wilco . Yanowitz is also the bass player, songwriter, and producer for the band Morningwood.
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Peter Yanowitz was born on September 13, 1967 in Chicago's Hyde Park, and was raised Jewish in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father, Frank Yanowitz is a jazz musician/composer, and a cardiologist. Yanowitz began playing drums at age 7. He received an English major from Tufts University in 1989.
In 1990 Yanowitz moved to Los Angeles and became one of the founding members and original drummer of the Wallflowers.[1] He made one record with the Wallflowers for Virgin Records co-writing on the song "After the Blackbird Sings".
Yanowitz met Natalie Merchant in Los Angeles in 1994 and soon moved to New York to work closely with Merchant on what was to be her first solo record Tigerlily. Featuring the 3 top 40 hits, "Carnival", "Wonder", and "Jealousy",[2] Tigerlily went on to sell over 5 million copies[3] and remains Merchant's best selling record to date. Yanowitz recorded 2 more records with Merchant, Ophelia, and Natalie Merchant Live in Concert. Yanowitz was Merchant's boyfriend from 1994 until their abrupt split in 2000.
In 2001, Peter Yanowitz took on the nickname Pedro and began writing his own songs . He soon met Chantal Claret at a party[4] and they started writing songs for what was to be Morningwood's first full length record.[5] They were signed to Capitol Records in 2003. Working with producer Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters) Morningwood recorded their first record in London at Rak Studios.[6] Yanowitz wrote the hits "Nth Degree", which was used by Lincoln-Mercury in several of their car commercials, and "New York Girls", which was featured in the movie Sex and the City.[7][8] After parting ways with Capitol, Morningwood wrote and recorded their second record, Diamonds & Studs, which Yanowitz co-produced with Junior Sanchez, and it was released in October 2009 by VH1/MTV records. VH1 and MTV incorporated several songs off Diamonds & Studs in their programming, including "Best of Me", which was the theme song for Daisy of Love, "Killerlife", which MTV used as a theme song for Peak Season, and "Sugarbaby" which is currently being used as the theme song for VH1's You're Cut Off.
In the early 1990s, Yanowitz struck up a friendship with Allen Ginsberg after meeting him at the Tibet House Benefit. They performed several times together at Carnegie Hall,[9] and stayed friends til his death in 1997. Yanowitz played percussion on the record Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg & Wilco [10] in 1998. Yanowitz also played drums with Nina Nastasia in 2000 on her cult classic[11] album Dogs which was produced by Steve Albini. In 2001 Yanowitz recorded and played live with long time friend Money Mark[12] on his critically lauded[13] record "Change Is Coming". With Melissa Auf Der Maur and her boyfriend at the time, Dave Grohl, Yanowitz started the band Hand of Doom,[14] a Black Sabbath tribute band, and recorded a live record at the Whiskey in 2002. In 2008 Yanowitz played drums in Yoko Ono's band when she headlined the Pitchfork Music Festival. The band also included Stephen Trask, and Thurston Moore. Yanowitz recently collaborated with Andrew W.K. on Andrew's EP titled "Party All Goddamn Night", featuring a track they wrote and produced together titled "We're All Women". After meeting Stephen Trask at a writer's retreat in Oklahoma in 2006, Yanowitz began collaborating on the music and lyrics for the broadway musical adaptation of Clueless.[15] Yanowitz and Trask are also currently writing the music and lyrics to the upcoming Broadway musical adaptation of "54" with librettest Rick Elice.
Peter Yanowitz currently lives in New York City and is married to fashion model Lisa Davies.
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