| Tim Rice-Oxley | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Timothy James Rice-Oxley |
| Born | 2 June 1976 Oxford, England |
| Genres | Alternative rock, piano rock, pop rock |
| Occupations | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Piano, bass, keyboards, backing vocals, keytar, guitar, synthesizer, recorder, harpsichord |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Associated acts | Keane, Gwen Stefani, Kylie Minogue, Mt. Desolation |
Timothy James Rice-Oxley (born 2 June 1976), is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as co-founder, the principal composer and pianist, backing vocalist of piano rock band Keane.
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He was born in Oxford, England to Charles Patrick and Margaret Rice-Oxley. He went to Tonbridge School, Kent with his best friends at the time, Richard Hughes and Tom Chaplin. Rice-Oxley's and Chaplin's mothers had become friends as Rice-Oxley's brother (also named Tom) was born soon after Chaplin, with their mothers becoming friends. He had piano lessons when he was a teenager but admitted to hating them and never practicing pieces because they were all classical music which he found boring. After his parents stopped his lessons, he developed a liking for piano and so taught himself how to play, mainly because of The Beatles.[1] Later, Rice-Oxley would give Chaplin after-school piano lessons.
In 1994, he began studying for a degree in Classics at University College London, where Hughes studied Geography. Friend and guitarist Dominic Scott suggested to Rice-Oxley that they form a band and he agreed. The two asked Hughes to join on drums. While there, he met Chris Martin, who was creating demos at the time with Coldplay. Rice-Oxley was invited by Martin to join after listening to his piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water in Surrey, but declined in order to concentrate on Keane with his friends.
Tim has a wife, Jayne Rice-Oxley, who he married in February 2005, and a daughter, Lilac, born on 22 September 2007. Chaplin was the best man at their wedding. He is currently living in Lewes, East Sussex.
In 1997, Rice-Oxley convinced Scott and Hughes to let Chaplin join the band. It was in this year that the band took the name Keane.
During their stint in London, Rice-Oxley shared a flat with Chaplin in Stoke Newington and they tried to get money for rehearsal time. When Scott left the band in July 2001, Rice-Oxley started playing the piano. He continues to play bass; however now the parts are pre-recorded and are sampled in live gigs through an Apple Powerbook.
In 2004, he won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Composer of the Year.
In 2006, he contributed on the song, "Early Winter," and on "The Girl Inside" (unreleased) on Gwen Stefani's second solo album, The Sweet Escape.
In 2009, he helped co-write the song "Everything Is Beautiful", for Kylie Minogue's eleventh studio album, Aphrodite.[2]
It was revealed in early 2010 that he was working on a side-project called Mt. Desolation along with his bandmate Jesse Quin,[3] which resulted in an album release and supporting tour.
Currently, he provides live and studio backing vocals for Keane, except for the studio songs "Sunshine", "This Is the Last Time" (demo version) and Your Love where he sings the lead vocals, as well as some Under the Iron Sea DVD and Perfect Symmetry demos.
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