Mark Oliver Everett

Mark Oliver Everett

Everett playing live in Sydney, Australia in 2003
Background information
Also known as E, MC Honky
Born (1963-04-10) April 10, 1963
Virginia, United States
Genres Alternative rock
Occupation(s) Singer/songwriter, producer
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboard, drums, bass, harmonica, programming
Years active 1985–present
Labels Polydor, DreamWorks, EWorks, Vagrant
Associated acts Eels, MC Honky
Website eelstheband.com

Mark Oliver Everett (born April 10, 1963) is the American lead singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and sometime drummer of the independent rock band Eels. Also known as "E", Everett is known for writing songs tackling subjects such as death, mental illness, loneliness and unrequited love.

Biography

Mark Oliver Everett is the son of physicist Hugh Everett III, originator of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum theory and of the use of Lagrange multipliers for general engineering optimizations. Everett's maternal grandfather was Harold "Kid" Gore, a legendary men's basketball, football and baseball coach at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.[1]

In 1987, Everett moved from his family home in Virginia and resettled in California. There, Everett began his professional musical career with two major-label albums: A Man Called E and Broken Toy Shop. The pseudonym "E" was used for both of these early recordings. While it may have caused some confusion in record stores and radio stations, the single-letter name gave the press a playful handle. This playfulness was evident in a review by the eminent writer Daniel Levitin which began: "Excellent eponymous effort, energizingly eclectic. Early enthusiasm effectively ensures E's eminence."[2] A Billboard magazine review of his second album was similarly positive.[3]

In July 2014 Everett was given the Freedom of the City of London, at a ceremony held prior to his concert at the Barbican.[4]

Everett is an atheist.[5]

Everett's family

Everett's family has been an inspiration to him, e.g. the song "Things the Grandchildren Should Know" (he would later publish an autobiography of the same name) and the song "3 Speed", referencing the writings of his sister Liz. Everett made a documentary about both his father's theory and his own relationship with his father entitled Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives for the BBC that was aired on the PBS series NOVA in 2008.[6]

Everett's father, Hugh, died of heart failure when Everett was 19.[7] His sister, Elizabeth, committed suicide in 1996,[7] and in 1998 his mother, Nancy Everett née Gore, died of lung cancer.[7] Following these tragedies, Everett and the Eels released Electro-Shock Blues in 1998.

His cousin, Jennifer Lewis née Gore, was a flight attendant on the plane that struck The Pentagon during the September 11, 2001 attacks.[8] The plane struck the side of the Pentagon where his father had worked, and Everett remarks in his autobiography that he wonders whether the plane hit his father's old office.[9]

In 2000 he married Anna, a Russian dentist he met at a salad factory which doubled as a psychologist's offices. The song What is this note? on the Souljacker album is in tribute to the happy days in the early days of the marriage. The marriage ended after 5 years. Although he titled his autobiography Things the Grandchildren Should Know, he does not have any children of his own.[10]

Career

Everett has used everything from a toy piano in his early "Symphony for a Toy Piano in G Minor" to hammers on a radiator as percussion in 1998's "Cancer for the Cure". Despite his constant denials, he is suspected of being the man behind MC Honky, who released the album I Am the Messiah in 2003.[11]

Everett's music has also been featured on a number of films, including American Beauty ("Cancer for the Cure"), Road Trip ("Mr. E's Beautiful Blues"), Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas ("Christmas is Going to the Dogs"), Holes ("Eyes Down," "Mighty Fine Blues"), Shrek ("My Beloved Monster"), Shrek 2 ("I Need Some Sleep"), Shrek The Third ("Royal Pain" and "Losing Streak"),Shrek the Halls ("The Stars Shine in the Sky Tonight"), Hellboy II: The Golden Army ("Beautiful Freak"), Henry Poole is Here (Love of the Loveless), The Big White (Last Stop;This Town) Hot Fuzz ("Souljacker, pt.1"), as well as most of the music in Yes Man.

During 2005, Everett and his ad hoc Eels went on tour promoting his album, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. It was during this recording that he worked with long-time hero and influence Tom Waits. In November 2007, Everett published his autobiography, entitled Things the Grandchildren Should Know.[12][13]

The 2007 BBC Scotland / BBC Four television documentary "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives", followed Everett as he talked to physicists and his father's former colleagues about his father's theory.[14][15] The documentary won a Royal Television Society award on March 19, 2008.[16] The documentary was shown in lieu of a support act during their UK, US, Irish and Australian[17][18] tours in the spring of 2008. In the U.S., the PBS program Nova broadcast the documentary in October 2008.[19]

The seventh Eels studio album—Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire—was released on June 2, 2009.[20]

On January 19, 2010, Everett released his eighth Eels album, entitled End Times, which deals with themes of aging and divorce.[21] On August 23, 2010, Eels released a 9th album, 'Tomorrow Morning', which represents the final part of the trilogy begun by 'Hombre Lobo.'[22]

Everett plays an acoustic version of the Eels tune ‘What I Have to Offer’ in a deleted scene from This Is 40,[23] and follows his performance by telling Rudd’s record-executive character that the band has decided to sign a contract with a competing label.

On February 4, 2013, the tenth album of Eels, Wonderful, Glorious, was released, followed by The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett, released only a year later on April 21, 2014.

Discography

Main article: Eels discography

References

  1. ↑ Everett, Mark Oliver. "Things The Grandchildren Should Know". Book - Things the Grandchildren Should Know. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
  2. ↑ Levitin, D. J. (March 16, 1992). "E: A Man Called (E)". Recording-Engineer-Producer (REP) (Overland Park, KS: Intertec) 23 (2).
  3. ↑ Levitin, D. J. (December 18, 1993). "E's New Polydor Set Proves He's No Mere Man of Letters". Billboard.
  4. ↑ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a586519/eels-frontman-mark-oliver-everett-awarded-freedom-of-the-city-of-london.html#~p3DD1fbJJPnqRZ
  5. ↑ Everett, Mark (2008). Things The GrandChildren Should Know. Little, Brown. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-316-02787-8.
  6. ↑ "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives". BBC. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
  7. 1 2 3 James Lachno (24 April 2014). "Eels: no one does misery like Mark Oliver Everett". The Telegraph UK. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  8. ↑ "America At War - The Human Toll". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  9. ↑ Everett, Mark (2008). Things The GrandChildren Should Know. Little, Brown. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-316-02787-8.
  10. ↑ "Review of Things the Grandchildren Should Know". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  11. ↑ Leah Della Croce (August 9, 2012). "Brighter Days". Modern Rock Review.
  12. ↑ "Fiction & Non-Fiction Authors Published by Little, Brown Book Group". Littlebrown.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  13. ↑ Charles Shaar Murray (2008-01-25). "Things the Grandchildren Should Know, By Mark Oliver Everett - Reviews - Books". The Independent. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  14. ↑ Parker, Robin (2007-11-06). "BBC4 to explore parallel universe | News | Broadcast". Broadcastnow.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  15. ↑ Thompson, Andrew (2007-11-26). "Science/Nature | The rock star and the quantum mechanic". BBC News. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  16. ↑ "Eels: Official Band Website". Eelstheband.com. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  17. ↑ "An Evening With EELS". Enmore Theatre. 2008-04-27. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  18. ↑ "Oceans Never Listen". Oceansneverlisten.blogspot.fr. 2008-04-28. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  19. ↑ "The Many Worlds Theory Today". PBS. October 21, 2010.
  20. ↑ Thom Jurek. "Hombre Loco: 12 Songs of Desire". All Music Guide. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  21. ↑ "End Times News". Eels. 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
  22. ↑ Thom Jurek. "Tomorrow Morning". All Music Guide. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  23. ↑ Included in the bonus features on the dvd/Blu-ray release of This Is 40

External links

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